By Sara Beth Williams–
The Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project, a nonprofit veterans organization, plans to construct the first permanent 80 percent-replica Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on the west coast by 2026.
On Wednesday, the nonprofit received a $100,000 donation from the Citrus Heights Rotary Foundation and was awarded $20,000 in grant funding by the Citrus Heights City Council during the Oct. 23 council meeting. The acquired funds will go toward the design phase for the eventual construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
“This is a project bigger than our district and is going to have far reaching implications for our community. I’m so proud of your club for doing this,” Steve Turner, Rotary International District Governor for District 5180, said following the presentation of the donation at the Citrus Heights Rotary Club’s meeting on Wednesday.
Bob Churchill, Chair of the Citrus Heights Rotary Foundation, said the foundation had been setting aside money for the right project and said, “This is it.”
All four City Council members unanimously voiced support for the Vietnam Memorial project during Wednesday night’s City Council meeting. Councilmember Porsche Middleton said the project was “tremendous,” and Mayor Jayna Karpinski-Costa called the project “fantastic.” Councilmember Tim Schaefer said he wished he could give more money toward the project.
“Years from now, when we’re all gone, that structure will still be here honoring those individuals and reminding people of what true American heroes are all about,” Paul Reyes with the American Legion Post 637 said of the project. Reyes previously spearheaded bringing the mobile Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall That Heals to Citrus Heights, which was temporarily erected at Rusch Park in 2023. Reyes is also on the board of the Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project.
The project is proposed to be constructed on the premises of Calvary Cemetery and will be visible from eastbound Interstate 80, according to Scott Miller, Chief Operating Officer with Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services, which owns Calvary Cemetery. Miller is also on the board of the veterans nonprofit and the Chair for the Veterans Wall Committee. Miller said the wall will be an 80 percent replica of the original wall located in Washington, DC, constructed of India Black granite, and the names will be engraved, not etched, just as they are on the wall in Washington, DC.
The Citrus Heights Vietnam Memorial Project will be responsible for raising funds for construction and for an endowment for future maintenance of the memorial. The anticipated construction costs are estimated to exceed $3.5 million, according to the city. Miller said several integral partnerships with companies and organizations across the country, including the Missouri National Veterans Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, have already helped reduce the overall costs of the project through offering steep discounts on services and expertise.
The City Council also unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Citrus Heights, Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services of the Diocese of Sacramento, Inc., and the Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project.
The city’s participation would include waiving fees and accelerated processing of plans and inspections, according to Citrus Heights City Manager Ash Feeney, as well as making formal requests to partner agencies to do the same.
In 2023, Citrus Heights was selected to host The Wall That Heals, a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veteran Memorial, along with a mobile Education Center. The Wall That Heals honors the more than three million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in the Vietnam War, and it bears the names of the 58,281 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.
