Citrus Heights raising $3 million for replica Vietnam veterans memorial wall
CITRUS HEIGHTS — The City of Citrus Heights has a project in the works that will honor fallen veterans and bring awareness to their service.
Paul Reyes is on the Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project's board of directors. Reyes is a veteran himself and had an idea after seeing a traveling Vietnam veterans' wall a few years ago.
"I thought, 'We need to do something more. We need a more permanent structure,' " he said.
So he worked on a plan to build one locally and started raising the anticipated $3 million for construction. The Catholic Diocese of Sacramento suggested Calvary Cemetery in Citrus Heights.
"It's the perfect location for a memorial of this magnitude," said Scott Miller, COO of Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services with the diocese and another board member for the project. "Fronting right against I-80 so it's visible day-in and day out, just to travelers to folks that are visiting in the cemetery to everyone in the region and traveling through the region. We are excited to be a part of this project."
The wall will sit in the cemetery and look similar to a replica wall constructed in Perrysville, Missouri. In all, there are 30 across the country. Having one locally is important to Reyes. He sees this as an opportunity to memorialize the past.
"I was asked, 'Why are you doing this?' First of all, not for any pats on the back or 'atta boys,' but for the veteran community, for the 58,281 whose names are on that wall," Reyes said.