Vietnam Remembrance Site to be dedicated at Homecoming ’15

VietNam committee copyForty years after the end of the Vietnam war for Americans, Stetson University will dedicate a campus space honoring alumni and students who served there or during that era (1964-1975).

On Homecoming Saturday, Nov. 14, at 11 a.m., the Stetson University Vietnam Remembrance Site will be dedicated near Griffith Hall.

Since being announced last August, plans for the site have moved forward quickly under the leadership of alumnus Jay Mechling ’67, Ph.D. (Mechling, center, is pictured along with the other members of the planning committee: (l to r) Grady Ballenger, Richard Swartz ’68, Sue Ryan and Kate Pearce.) With the blessing of President Libby, a group of administrators, faculty, staff and alumni have selected a pleasant and readily accessible outdoor site that will encourage meditation on national service during a time of war that tested our campus and America.

The site will include a granite marker honoring Stetson’s Vietnam and Vietnam-era veterans, a set of benches, native palms and plantings, and a small fountain. Bricks will be engraved with the names of Stetson alumni and students who served in Vietnam or during that era.

Kate Pearce, assistant vice president of Development and Alumni Engagement, notes how gratifying it has been to see the quick response to the initiative. Gifts and pledges totaling over $12,000, just over half the cost of the project, came in even before plans were fully developed.

“We were prepared to install the Remembrance Site in phases,” Mechling says, “but several larger gifts and wide interest in this memorial have made us hopeful that we can have everything in place by the Homecoming dedication.”

Gifts, in any amount, to support the Vietnam Memorial Site are welcome. “You can send a check to the Office of Development, or to pay by credit card, you can use the University’s Development webpage,” Pearce explains. “Please indicate ‘other’ for the category of your gift, enter the amount, and use the designation ‘Campus Vietnam Memorial.'”

Mechling notes that one of the initiative’s goals is to have students work on recording the stories of the Stetson men and women whose names are engraved at the site. “We currently are working with a list of 70 names, but we continue to learn about others,” Mechling says. “In too many cases we’ve reached out to veterans or their families only to learn that they have died. That’s why we’re pushing so hard to gather their stories and honor their service now.”

Forty years after the fall of Saigon, Americans are still coming to grips with the war. “We are more aware than ever that the impacts of war continue in veterans’ lives long after their return home,” Grady Ballenger, Ph.D., professor of English and a member of the planning committee, notes.

Thanks to Sue Ryan, dean of duPont-Ball Library and a strong supporter of the project, and Archivist Angela Story, oral histories from Vietnam, along with images and memorabilia, are already being collected in the Library.

Plans are also underway for courses and cultural events in the coming years focusing on the Vietnam era and the experience of Stetson alumni, students, faculty and staff. During the Homecoming weekend, for instance, Julie Schmitt ‘97, Ph.D., professor and director of Stetson’s Theatre Department, will stage a readers’ production based on letters from servicemen and women in Vietnam.

“I hope that Stetson students, faculty and staff will also consider joining the effort to fund the project,” Ballenger adds. “Many of us have a family member, mentor or friend who served. This is a chance for us to honor them too, and perhaps an opportunity to learn history directly from them.”

To learn more about the project, contact Jay Mechling ([email protected]), Grady Ballenger ([email protected]), or Kate Pearce ([email protected]). Please join us for the dedication at Homecoming, Saturday, Nov. 14, at 11 a.m.!