Why NDVA Awarded $2.5M Grant for Vietnam War Memorial

After a much-needed $2.5 million infusion of state cash, the dirt finally is moving at the site of the future Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Papillion.

Graders and bulldozers are reshaping the hills to create the parklike plaza, which will feature a restored UH-1 Huey command-and-control helicopter, 11 memorial obelisks, and an array of flagpoles, benches and gardens. A V-shaped block of granite will list the names of the 396 Nebraskans who died in Vietnam.

A year and a half ago, on March 29, 2022, former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and then-Gov. Pete Ricketts headlined a groundbreaking ceremony attended by about 500 people.

But the nonprofit Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation fell short in its fundraising when the cost ballooned from $3.65 million to $7.3 million after the pandemic. So nothing more was done at the site after those few ceremonial shovelfuls of dirt were turned.

“Supply chain and logistics just blew up,” said Lisa Cuevas-Jorgensen, the foundation’s vice president. “We didn’t anticipate the costs going up so much. It’s almost double what we thought it would be.”

Local veterans Thomas Brown, George Abbott and Howard Ball, who all served in Vietnam, conceived the memorial in 2017, and sold the idea to veterans across the state. The City of Papillion donated 2 acres immediately south of the SumTur Amphitheater.

But the COVID-19 pandemic struck soon after the foundation began to raise money for the project, slowing the initial round of fundraising.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC

When the pandemic finally eased, it fueled inflation and snarled supply chains, which drove up the costs of marble and other materials.

By the time of the groundbreaking, the foundation had raised nearly $5 million of a cost that was then projected at $5.65 million. The group expected to raise the additional money quickly and cut the ribbon on the completed monument within a year.

Unfortunately, the costs kept mounting. Fundraising lagged, as it had for many nonprofits after the pandemic.

Early this year, the foundation asked the Nebraska Legislature to make up the $2.5 million shortfall. Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha sponsored a bill to provide state funds and shepherded it through a hearing of the Appropriations Committee Feb. 28. He said Nebraska is the only state without a monument to its Vietnam War veterans.

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Why NDVA Awarded $2.5M Grant for Vietnam War Memorial

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