To honor our community’s Vietnam Veterans and those who gave their lives for our Nation in Vietnam more than 50 years ago, the Vietnam War Memorial Initiative (VWMI) and the Augusta Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW), will hold a special Memorial Dedication Ceremony at 1:00 pm, March 29, 2019, which is National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The ceremony will be held at the intersection of 4th and Broad Streets in Augusta, Georgia.

The highlight of the ceremony will be the unveiling and dedication of the Augusta-Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) Vietnam War Veterans Memorial. The memorial will honor the 169 CSRA military service members who gave their lives for our Nation in Vietnam, our community’s 3 EX-POWs (Vietnam), 1 MIA, and 1 of 8 female service members who lost their lives in Vietnam, as well as the 15,000 + Vietnam War Veterans currently living in the Augusta-CSRA region. The VWMI has raised more than $100,000, over the past 18 months, to fund the project in its entirety and the memorial was placed on site, yesterday, March 18, 2019.

The ceremony’s Key Note Speaker will be Major General James E. Livingston, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret), Medal of Honor Recipient, 1970, for actions above and beyond the call of duty in the Republic of South Vietnam, May 1968. General Livingston was born and raised in Telfair County, Georgia and currently resides in South Carolina.

The ceremony will include the recognition of all Vietnam War Veterans and Gold Star Vietnam War Family Members present, special music, bagpipe selections, poetry, an honor guard, a firing detail, and the playing of Taps provided by the Fort Gordon Installation Support Detachment. Vietnam era military vehicles will also be on display at and around the ceremony site.

Remarks will be delivered by several elected and appointed officials including Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr. and Georgia Veterans Services Commissioner Michael Roby, as well as a representative from the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon. The Reverend Robert D. Fain, Church of the Good Shepherd, Augusta, Georgia will serve as Clergy. 

Dr. James Brady, faculty at East Georgia State College, Augusta, who is the founder and steering committee chair of the Augusta-CSRA Vietnam War Memorial Initiative said, “The completion of this project is gratifying in so many ways. The men and women who proudly served our Nation in Vietnam and sacrificed so much for our freedoms and liberties are patriots and heroes. They exemplified what ‘Duty, Honor, and Country’ are all about. They never faltered and they never failed. They completed the mission our Nation asked them to complete and they never asked for anything in return. We are so very proud of them and are so happy to present them with a permanent ‘Thank you! Job well done!’”