Volunteers from the Flower Mine work on refreshing the Vietnam Memorial in San Manuel.
March 29 is celebrated as National Vietnam War Veterans Day, and you may be wondering why that specific date was chosen. The answer is simple and appropriate for the question: on that day in 1973, the last combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam and the last prisoners of war held in North Vietnam arrived on American soil. Appropriately, on Feb. 26, 1974, President Nixon proclaimed that March 29 would be the first Vietnam Veterans Day.
The current iteration of the day came about with the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act, signed into law in 2017, which formally designates March 29 of each year as National Vietnam War Veterans Day. That may sound like a semantical difference, but what sets them apart is that Nixon made a proclamation in 1974, whereas the 2017 edition was signed into law and recognized as a National Day of Observance.
Today, here in our town, seven Vietnam Veterans are honored with the San Manuel Memorial. These brave men were sons, brothers, uncles, friends of our local Tri-Community of San Manuel, Oracle. Mammoth, and the former Tiger AZ.
The Flower Mine is now the owner of this wonderful tribute and honored to have been chosen. We thank you, Mr. Bill Haro, and all previous volunteers for your endless time creating and maintenance the memorial.
A special thanks to a few Flower Mine employees: Nathaniel Lopez, Tyler Jones, Ryen Clemo, Chad DeCino, along with local community residents, Richard Bracamonte, Veteran Marine Paul Gonzales and wife Lizbeth Gonzales for their current volunteered time in brightening up the memorial and making it ready for the National Vietnam War Veterans Day, this Saturday March 29, 2025.
Article submitted by ID Navarro