Feature Stories

Most veterans memorials ask us to remember. Milford's new Vietnam Memorial also asks us to understand.

Tucked behind the town's World War II Memorial just off the Oval, the new monument isn't immediately obvious to passersby. Visitors have to step beyond the older memorial before discovering a quiet circular space where every wall, pathway, engraving, and date has been included with a purpose. Rather than simply honoring those who served, the memorial invites visitors to spend a few minutes exploring one of the most complicated chapters in American history.

Plans for a Milford Vietnam Memorial first took shape in 1999. Over the next quarter century, committees formed, plans changed, fundraising continued, and more than once it appeared the memorial might remain little more than drawings on paper. Today, after twenty-five years of persistence—and around $150,000 in private donations—the memorial is finally ready to welcome visitors.

As committee chairman Jerry Guthrie puts it, the memorial has always had one central goal: "to tell the story of the Vietnam years."

Appropriately, the memorial is laid out like an open book. Its two granite walls resemble facing pages. One tells the story of the war in Vietnam while the other follows events unfolding back home in America. Between them runs a bluestone pathway representing the Pacific Ocean. The walls separate at a 17-degree angle, recalling the 17th Parallel that divided North and South Vietnam. Even the walls themselves are divided, reflecting the reality that both Vietnam and the United States experienced deep divisions during the war.

Around the memorial, a timeline traces the Vietnam years through events both overseas and at home. Battles and developments in the war appear alongside anti-war protests, political upheaval, and cultural moments such as Woodstock. Taken together, the design reveals a memorial that is remarkably thoughtful in both its symbolism and simplicity. Rather than relying on grand monuments or elaborate sculpture, the committee created a memorial that invites visitors to explore, ask questions, and better understand the Vietnam years.

The storytelling may eventually extend beyond the granite itself, with plans for a QR code linking visitors to songs from the era, Vietnam War films and documentaries, and information about veterans who served in Vietnam and later made Milford their home.

The memorial also includes a few distinctly Milford touches.

Much of the granite was recycled from the former Garden Street School, while additional Milford granite was brought back home for the project. In the Granite Town of the Granite State, that seemed especially appropriate. The memorial also includes the names of Milford veterans who served in Vietnam, while four trees and plaques honor the four Milford servicemen who lost their lives during the war, including Roger McAllister, who was killed in Vietnam in 1965. His story is told elsewhere in this edition of the Milford Historian.

Beyond the around $150,000 raised through private donations, the Town of Milford supplied materials and labor, local companies donated granite and transportation, and volunteers contributed countless hours over the years.

Even as the memorial neared completion this summer, workers were still adding the finishing touches. Using sandblasting equipment, they slowly revealed helicopters, maps, and other images from the granite, one careful pass at a time.

Asked what moment from the twenty-five-year project he thought he would remember most, Guthrie recalled the dedication ceremony. As Taps echoed across the memorial, those gathered spotted an eagle circling overhead. The moment has stayed with Guthrie ever since.

There will undoubtedly be other such moments as visitors discover the memorial for themselves. Some will come to remember a family member, a friend, or a fellow veteran. Others may stop to follow the timeline, study the images, and learn a little more about the war and the country that struggled through it. If the committee has accomplished what it set out to do, Milford's new memorial will be a place not only to remember, but to better understand.