Fort Worth could give $200,000 to boost proposed Tarrant County Vietnam War Memorial
The city of Fort Worth could give a boost to a years-long effort to build a Vietnam War Memorial just west of the city’s Cultural District.
The nonprofit Tarrant County Vietnam Memorial Foundation is raising funds to build the structure in Veterans Memorial Park, which sits just west of the intersection of Camp Bowie Boulevard and Crestline Road.
The group held a ceremonial ground breaking in 2020, and has been raising funds ever since. So far, the foundation has raised $55,000 of the estimated $355,000 needed to build the memorial.
The city of Fort Worth is considering matching up to $200,000 of the project cost to help make the memorial a reality, city parks director Dave Lewis told the City Council at its April 1 work session meeting.
The goal is to get the memorial built in time for Veterans Day 2026, Lewis said.
Fort Worth City council member Charles Lauersdorf, a Marine Veteran whose father served in the Vietnam War, praised the effort.
“Memorials like this are extremely important. I think it’s the least we can do for those who did make the ultimate sacrifice or who were willing to make that sacrifice,” he said.
The memorial design features a nine-sided granite structure at its center with the names of the 223 Tarrant County residents who died in the Vietnam War sorted by year. On top of that structure will be cylindrical tree branch sculpture with a bronze sword in the middle to symbolize the fallen warrior, according to the foundation’s website.
The City Council will vote on whether to authorize the $200,000 of matching funds at its 6 p.m meeting on April 8.
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