Present Day
The park hosts thousands of annual visitors, many moved emotionally by the sacrifice of the Vietnam veterans. In 2005, the site became New Mexico's 33rd state park. It is operated in partnership with the David Westphall Veterans Foundation, which allows it to be the only New Mexico State Park that does not charge a fee.
The Visitor Center, dedicated in 1986, features photographs and banners from some of the 210 units which served in Vietnam. There is a media room which shows the 86-minute Home Box Office documentary film Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. A Veteran's Room honors the military personnel killed or missing in action. The POW/MIA flag waves outside the center. The center seeks to educate Americans about Vietnam and to maintain a haven for healing and reconciliation.
The memorial maintains a Huey helicopter known originally as "Viking Surprise," one of the first smokeships used in Vietnam. On March 26, 1967, the helicopter, while rescuing service personnel, was so bady damaged – 135 bullet holes – that it was returned to the United States for repairs. The copter returned to Vietnam and was later sent to the New Mexico National Guard, which donated it to the Angel Fire memorial.
The memorial also maintains a statue by Doug Scott of Taos, entitled "Dear Mom and Dad." It depicts a soldier, with his rifle on his shoulder, writing a letter home. There is also a scale model of the Vietnam Women's Memorial by Glenna Goodacre of Santa Fe (born in Lubbock, Texas), which was unveiled on the Washington Mall in 1993.
Read more about this topic: Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park
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