New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Last fall Don and I were enjoying the exhibits at The Spirit of the Jerseys State History Fair in Monmouth Park, New Jersey (link from when we went in 2015) when we met a man from the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Holmdel, New Jersey -- a site I did not know existed.

As with much of life, I mentally tabled visiting the place for another time. Fortunately I remembered and put the visit on our calendar while Ashley was at rehearsal.

Begun in 1993, the museum and memorial were dedicated in 1998 by New Jersey Governor Christina Todd Whitman, whose husband, John Whitman, was a Vietnam War Veteran. A lot of planning went into every detail both the museum and the memorial. To date, it is the only place like it in the country.

What truly sets this place apart from other museums and memorials is that all of the docents are Vietnam War Veterans. Each has their own story, and wants to share it. If they didn't, they would not be there. Many (if not all) suffer from health issues as a result of the time they served our country. We were told Gary, the gentleman who told us about the museum and memorial in September, was undergoing cancer treatments. He was not alone with that diagnosis.


A lot of details are in the memorial garden, which is why they have docents sharing the details. There are 366 panels (one for each day of the year) throughout the garden. The panel representing the last day of the fighting faces Hanoi. 

The garden has two entrances -- one on the east and one on the west -- representing coming into Vietnam and leaving to go home again. There is a ramp separating the top from the bottom. The top half is covered in green ground cover representing the jungles of Vietnam; the lower half has red flowers representing the bloodshed.

The statue includes white male soldier, a black male soldier, and an Hispanic nurse representing the different people in the War. There are bricks representing people who died as a result of war, but after its conclusion. Not included are the soldiers who took their own lives. "Maybe someday" was the response by the docent. Clearly he felt they should be included.

Inside the museum is a circular room divided halfway up by two separate timelines. One covers what was happening in Vietnam (both leading up to the war, and during the war), and the upper half was about pop culture at the time. As Ashley is taking US History 3 this semester, which includes this time period, I shared the information with her teacher. He thanked me because though he had heard about it, he had not yet visited it even though it has been open for over 20 years.

We were among the six visitors they had that day.

Feels like a well-kept secret worth sharing. Please visit while the docents are still alive and healthy enough to share their stories. The youngest one we talked to is 68, most were much older. 

Memorial to the lone nurse from New Jersey

Inside the museum