A new memorial honoring Vietnam veterans was unveiled Wednesday, March 29, at the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum on the 50th anniversary of the last American troops withdrawing from the war – a milestone in Richard Nixon’s presidency.
Wednesday was also the national Vietnam War Veterans Day.
The bronze statue depicts a Marine running through the jungles of Vietnam. Though it is meant to represent all veterans of the war, a Marine was chosen as a nod to the presidential library’s proximity to Camp Pendleton and the prevalence of the Marine community in Southern California, said Joe Lopez, spokesperson for the Nixon Foundation.
The monument’s artist, Ron Pekar of Long Beach, also created the “Traveler” horse statue at USC, a statue of Dick Kun at Snow Summit and “The Handoff” sculpture on display at the Rose Bowl.
Using a committee that included veterans of the war, the image portrayed was researched for accuracy to make sure it was something the war’s veterans “will be proud of,” Lopez said. This Marine would reflect the equipment and look of an American on a tour of duty in 1971 or 1972.
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By that time, American troops had officially been involved in the Vietnam War since 1955, and ground troops had been in the country since 1965. In 1969, the presence of American troops peaked at more than 540,000, but that year, Nixon also ordered the first drawdown of troops.
“From the time he entered office, President Nixon was committed to ending the war without jeopardizing the future of South Vietnam,” said Bob Bostock, a Nixon scholar and consultant to the Nixon Foundation.
That policy became known as the Vietnamization of the war, and it aimed to train and equip the South Vietnamese to successfully defend their country when American troops left.
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