United States involvement in the Vietnam War began shortly after the end of World War II, first an extremely limited capacity and escalating over a period of 20 years. The U.S. military presence peaked in April 1969, with 543,000 American combat troops stationed in Vietnam. By the conclusion of the United States involvement in 1975, over 3.1 million Americans had been stationed in Vietnam.
A Sub-Committee was formed in August 2009 to design and raise funds to have this Memorial built. It was the first Memorial built for a specific theater of war. The County agreed to match whatever we raised for this Memorial and to date, January 1, 2016 $95,000 dollars has been raised. This Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 2011 in a ceremony that was attended by three different TV networks and hundred’s of people from all over the state of Florida. When Jim Basta passed the Memorial was dedicated to his memory.
The Vietnam Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 2011 in a ceremony that was attended by hundreds of people from all over the state of Florida. The black granite memorial wall includes the names of the 159 warriors from Hillsborough County who gave the ultimate sacrifice. The Memorial includes a reproduction of the Women’s Memorial to the Nurse Corp in Washington, DC as well as a replica of a War Dog that was released to its’ handler. The memorial includes two Helicopters which the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association of Florida procured and then repaired, painted and donated to Hillsborough County Veterans Memorial Park. Each of these Helicopters spent some time in Vietnam. The Huey came from Fort Knox and the Cobra from Camp Drum, NY, 10th Mtn Division.
