Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project Building a permanent Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall in Citrus Heights, CA honoring the service and sacrifice of Vietnam Veterans.

Creating a place where families remember, communities reflect, and future generations can understand the true cost of freedom.

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 21, 1968They entered the Bến Củi rubber plantation expecting a reconnaissance missi...
08/22/2026

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 21, 1968

They entered the Bến Củi rubber plantation expecting a reconnaissance mission.

Instead, they found a regiment waiting.

On the morning of August 21, 1968, Company C, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry — the Bobcats of the 25th Infantry Division — moved out from Dầu Tiếng into Tây Ninh Province.

Shortly after 11:00 a.m., sniper fire began.

Then came machine guns.

RPGs.

Mortars.

Hundreds of enemy troops moved against the company.

The forward platoon was pinned down and its acting leader was killed.

Staff Sergeant Marvin Rex Young took command.

Young moved through the fire organizing the platoon and directing his soldiers.

When the order came to withdraw, he stayed behind.

When he discovered that several men could not get out, he went back for them.

Enemy fire shattered his face.

He kept fighting.

He was wounded again in the arm and leg.

He refused treatment because stopping would slow the withdrawal.

He remained behind with his rifle and gr***des, covering his men until the enemy finally overwhelmed his position.

Marvin Rex Young was 21 years old.

For his actions near Bến Củi, he received the Medal of Honor posthumously.

His name is engraved:

MARVIN R YOUNG
Panel 47W • Line 24

Sixteen other Americans from Company C and its attached medic were killed in the Bến Củi fight that day.

Among them was SP4 Michael Robert Mangan, who continued fighting from his armored personnel carrier until an enemy rocket struck it. He received the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously.

And August 21 holds many other Vietnam stories.

In 1967, Marines and Army Duster crews fought a major convoy ambush near Ca Lu while Navy and Air Force aviators were lost over North Vietnam.

In 1969, three Marines and two Navy corpsmen from 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines died on the same day—four in a tragic friendly-fire incident.

In 1970, Army helicopter crewman WO Robert Frasch and Air Force pilot Capt. Charles McLeish were among those lost.

By 1971, South Vietnamese Marines were carrying an increasing share of the ground war near the DMZ.

Different years.

Different services.

Different kinds of sacrifice.

One date on the calendar.

The Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project remembers the Americans, South Vietnamese and allied personnel who served—and the men whose lives ended on August 21.

Their names are not statistics.

They were sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, friends and Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen.

HELP BUILD THEIR LEGACY

HONOR • EDUCATE • PRESERVE

CHVMP.org

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 19, 1966The patrol moved into the mangroves southeast of Saigon.At the front was Ra...
08/19/2026

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 19, 1966

The patrol moved into the mangroves southeast of Saigon.

At the front was Radarman Second Class Billy Wayne Machen, U.S. Navy SEAL Team ONE.

Machen was the point man.

His team was searching Viet Cong territory for camouflaged sampans when it entered an ambush.

Machen had a choice.

He could fall back toward his teammates—or turn toward the enemy.

He attacked.

By exposing himself and drawing enemy fire, Machen gave the rest of his patrol a chance to survive.

He did not.

On August 19, 1966, Billy Machen became the first U.S. Navy SEAL killed during a combat mission in Vietnam.

He was 27 years old.

His name is engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial:

BILLY W MACHEN
Panel 10E • Line 19

He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.

But August 19 carries many other stories.

One year earlier, Marines were still fighting Operation Starlite, the first major American ground offensive of the war.

In 1967, Navy carrier pilots and Air Force B-57 crews were flying combat missions across Southeast Asia.

In 1969, nine soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division died in a tragic friendly-fire incident near Quần Lợi.

In 1970, CPL Frank Rocco Fratellenico of the 101st Airborne Division gave his life attacking fortified enemy positions and was later awarded the Medal of Honor.

And by 1971, American advisers such as CAPT Christopher Morbitzer and SFC Jerome Browder Jr. were serving alongside South Vietnamese forces as responsibility for the war increasingly shifted to the Republic of Vietnam.

Different branches.

Different missions.

Different phases of the war.

One obligation: remember them.

The Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project is working to preserve these names, these stories and the history behind them for generations that did not witness the war themselves.

HELP BUILD THEIR LEGACY

Honor • Educate • Preserve

CHVMP.org

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 18, 1966Sixty years ago today, a little over one hundred Australian and New Zealand...
08/18/2026

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 18, 1966

Sixty years ago today, a little over one hundred Australian and New Zealand soldiers entered a rubber plantation near Long Tan, South Vietnam.

Before the afternoon was over, they were fighting for their lives.

D Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, accompanied by a New Zealand artillery forward-observation team, encountered a Communist force numbering more than 2,000.

Then the monsoon rain came.

Visibility collapsed.

Enemy troops attacked again and again.

The Australians held.

Artillerymen at Nui Dat fired continuously in support. Royal Australian Air Force helicopters flew ammunition through the storm. Armored personnel carriers carrying reinforcements eventually fought their way forward.

When the battle ended, 17 Australians had been killed and 25 wounded. One of the wounded later died.

The battle became known simply as Long Tan.

Today—August 18—is observed throughout Australia as Vietnam Veterans’ Day, honoring everyone who served in that war.

But August 18 holds another major Vietnam anniversary.

Exactly one year earlier, on August 18, 1965, more than 5,000 U.S. Marines launched Operation Starlite south of Chu Lai—the first major regimental-sized offensive operation conducted solely by American forces in Vietnam.

Marines came from helicopters and from the sea.

Navy ships fired in support.

The battle marked a profound change in America’s role in Vietnam.

Two August 18s.

One year apart.

1965 — American Marines enter large-scale offensive combat.

1966 — Australians and New Zealanders make their stand at Long Tan.

And in the years that followed, August 18 would claim more Americans—soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen—from riverine crews in the Mekong Delta to Marine helicopter crews supporting Republic of Korea Marines.

The Vietnam War was never the story of one service.

It was never the story of one nation.

Today the Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project remembers the Americans, Australians, New Zealanders, South Vietnamese, South Koreans and other allied personnel who served—and the men whose names remain forever connected to August 18.

Different uniforms. Different flags. Shared sacrifice.

HELP BUILD THEIR LEGACY

Honor • Educate • Preserve

CHVMP.org

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 16, 1954Before American soldiers fought in the Ia Drang Valley, before Marines land...
08/16/2026

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 16, 1954

Before American soldiers fought in the Ia Drang Valley, before Marines landed at Da Nang, and before American aircraft began sustained combat operations over Southeast Asia, U.S. Navy ships were already carrying Vietnamese families across the sea.

On August 16, 1954, the Navy began Operation Passage to Freedom.

Vietnam had just been temporarily divided following the Geneva agreements.

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese began moving from the Communist-controlled North toward the South.

The United States formed Navy Task Force 90 to help.

Transport ships, landing vessels, sailors, medical personnel and Seabees moved civilians, military personnel, vehicles and thousands of tons of equipment south.

By the operation’s conclusion, U.S. Navy vessels had transported 293,002 civilians and 17,846 Vietnamese military personnel.

It was one of the largest humanitarian sealifts of the Cold War.

And it happened more than a decade before most Americans would recognize the words “Vietnam War.”

August 16 would later become a date of sacrifice.

Soldiers and Marines died on this date in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970.

On August 16, 1971, Air Force Capt. John William Kennedy disappeared while flying an O-2A Skymaster reconnaissance mission over Quảng Tín Province.

Different branches.

Different missions.

Seventeen years separating a Navy refugee evacuation from an Air Force reconnaissance loss.

Together they tell something important:

America’s history in Vietnam did not begin with the first major battle—and it did not belong to any one service.

Today the Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project remembers those who served, those who sacrificed and the history that connects their stories.

HELP BUILD THEIR LEGACY

Honor • Educate • Preserve

CHVMP.org

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 15, 1973On this date, American combat operations in Southeast Asia came to an end.L...
08/15/2026

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 15, 1973

On this date, American combat operations in Southeast Asia came to an end.

Late in the afternoon, U.S. Air Force A-7D Corsair IIs flew toward targets near Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Maj. John J. Hoskins and Capt. Lonnie O. Ratley carried out what Air Force history records as the last American bombing raids of the Vietnam War era.

It was also the final day of Operation Arc Light.

For more than eight years, B-52 crews had flown across South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Tactical fighters, reconnaissance crews, rescue aircraft and tankers had filled the skies above Southeast Asia.

On August 15, 1973, Congress’ cutoff of funding for further combat operations took effect.

The bombing stopped.

The aircraft returned to their bases.

And for the first time since major American combat operations began, the United States was no longer directly fighting the war in Southeast Asia.

But the war itself was not finished.

South Vietnamese forces continued fighting. Cambodia’s civil war continued. North Vietnamese forces remained in the field.

Saigon would not fall until April 30, 1975.

August 15 therefore marks something specific:

the end of direct American combat intervention.

And the date carries other memories.

On August 15, 1967, ten Americans—nine Marines and a Navy corpsman—were killed near Hội An when a Marine patrol encountered devastating explosive devices.

Other August 15s claimed soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen from the Central Highlands to the Mekong region and from South Vietnam to the skies over Southeast Asia.

Their names remain on the Wall.

The Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project is working to build a permanent place where those names, those stories and the history behind them remain visible.

The fighting eventually ends.

The obligation to remember does not.

HELP BUILD THEIR LEGACY

Honor • Educate • Preserve
CHVMP.org

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 9, 1967On this date, soldiers of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry...
08/09/2026

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 9, 1967

On this date, soldiers of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division air-assaulted into a small landing zone in Quảng Ngãi Province known as LZ Pat.

As the final helicopters lifted away, North Vietnamese troops opened fire.

Three helicopters were brought down. On the ground, enemy soldiers surged toward the isolated American perimeter. For roughly four hours, the cavalrymen fought while artillery and tactical aircraft hammered the surrounding positions.

By the time the enemy withdrew, 11 Americans were dead and 27 wounded.

Among those lost were infantrymen, a medic and helicopter crewmen from the 1st Cavalry Division.

Their deaths remind us that Vietnam’s battlefields were rarely defined by one service or one job. Infantry depended on aviators. Aviators depended on crews and maintainers. Medics went wherever the wounded were. Artillerymen and aircrews fought battles they sometimes could not even see.

And LZ Pat was not the only Vietnam story unfolding on August 9.

That same date in other years claimed Marines, soldiers and an Air Force aviator. Elsewhere on August 9, 1967, the Marine Corps was preparing Operation Cochise in the Que Son Basin alongside a companion ARVN operation.

The war was never one battle, one branch or one generation of veterans.

Today, the Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project remembers those whose sacrifice is recorded on August 9—and everyone who served beside them.

Their names deserve more than a line in a database.

They deserve to be remembered.

HELP BUILD THEIR LEGACY

Honor • Educate • Preserve
CHVMP.org

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 8, 1966On this date, soldiers of A Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry...
08/08/2026

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 8, 1966

On this date, soldiers of A Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division fought for their lives near Landing Zone Juliet in the Central Highlands.

What began as a search during Operation Paul Revere II became an hours-long battle when the lead platoon encountered a large North Vietnamese force and Company A came under intense attack.

Artillery thundered around the perimeter. Tactical aircraft struck enemy positions. Reinforcements from the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry moved toward the fight.

By the time the enemy withdrew, 25 Americans had been killed at LZ Juliet and 36 wounded.

That same day near Cam Lộ, Marine Capt. Howard V. Lee flew with a tiny relief force to reach a surrounded platoon of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines. Wounded by gr***de fragments, Lee continued directing the defense through the night. His actions saved the beleaguered Marines and later earned him the Medal of Honor.

And elsewhere in Vietnam, other Americans were lost—including eight 1st Cavalry soldiers in two helicopter crashes.

August 8 reminds us that there was never just one Vietnam War happening at a time.

Soldiers fought in the Central Highlands. Marines fought near the DMZ. Sailors served offshore. Airmen flew above them. South Vietnamese and allied forces fought their own battles beside the American effort.

Behind every operation name were individual lives.

Today, the Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project remembers all who served and all who did not come home.

We are working to build a permanent place where their names, service and stories remain visible to the generations that follow.

HELP BUILD THEIR LEGACY

Honor • Educate • Preserve
CHVMP.org

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 6, 1967On this date, A Company, 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, fought th...
08/06/2026

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 6, 1967

On this date, A Company, 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, fought the Battle of Suối Châu Pha in the jungles of Phước Tuy Province.

What began as a patrol during Operation Ballarat became a brutal close-range battle against a reinforced company of the Viet Cong 274th Regiment.

The fighting continued for hours through dense jungle and monsoon rain. Australian soldiers maneuvered at distances measured in meters while Australian and American artillery struck enemy positions around them.

Above the battlefield, crews of No. 9 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, flew repeatedly into enemy fire to evacuate the wounded. One Iroquois was hit before it could complete its first hoist, yet its crew returned safely and the evacuation continued.

Six Australian soldiers died as a result of the battle:

Donald Aylett
James Hayes
Edward Brophy
Barleif Harstad
David Milford
John O’Connor

Today, we remember them, the men who fought beside them, the aircrews and medical personnel who risked everything to bring the wounded home—and every American service member whose official casualty date is August 6.

Their service crossed national boundaries. Their sacrifice deserves permanent remembrance.

The Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project is building a place where the names and stories of the Vietnam generation can be preserved for those who follow.

Help build their legacy.

Honor • Educate • Preserve
Donate at CHVMP.org

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 4, 1964On this date, USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy reported that they were under at...
08/04/2026

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 4, 1964

On this date, USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy reported that they were under attack by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The destroyers maneuvered, fired into darkness and reported radar and sonar contacts. Yet no enemy boats were seen by supporting aircraft, no wreckage was found and no North Vietnamese records confirmed an attack.

Later intelligence reviews concluded that the second Gulf of Tonkin attack did not occur.

The report nevertheless changed the course of the war.

President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered retaliatory air strikes and asked Congress for broad authority to act in Southeast Asia. Three days later, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution—the measure used to support the major escalation of American involvement in Vietnam.

The verified August 2 attack and the disputed August 4 report must not be treated as the same event. History demands that distinction.

Today, we remember the sailors who stood watch in the Gulf of Tonkin and every American whose official casualty date is August 4.

The Citrus Heights Veterans Memorial Project is working to build a permanent place where their service, names and sacrifices can be preserved for future generations.

Help build their legacy.

Honor • Educate • Preserve
Donate at CHVMP.org

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 2, 1964On this date, USS Maddox was attacked by three North Vietnamese torpedo boat...
08/03/2026

THIS DAY IN VIETNAM HISTORY — AUGUST 2, 1964

On this date, USS Maddox was attacked by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats while conducting an intelligence patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The destroyer maneuvered to evade torpedoes, returned fire and received air support from F-8 Crusaders launched by USS Ticonderoga. Maddox sustained minor damage, and no Americans were killed.

The engagement itself was brief. Its consequences were not.

A second attack was reported two days later, although later evidence raised serious doubt that it occurred. Congress then passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad authority to expand American military operations in Southeast Asia.

The resolution became a decisive step toward the full-scale commitment of U.S. forces to the Vietnam War.

Today, we remember the sailors who stood watch aboard Maddox—and every American service member whose official casualty date is August 2.

Their names represent lives, families and sacrifices that must never become abstractions in a history book.

The Citrus Heights Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project is building a permanent place where those names can be seen, remembered and taught to future generations.

Help us build their legacy.

Honor • Educate • Preserve
Donate at CHVMP.org

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7889 Lichen Drive, #113
Citrus Heights, CA
95621

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