At the Campbell County Fiscal Court meeting on April 6, members of the Vietnam Veterans of America Bluegrass Chapter No. 88 addressed the court, asking for a Vietnam Veterans memorial to be built in Campbell County.
Both Boone and Kenton Counties have Vietnam Veteran memorials to honor those from each county who died in the war. Campbell County has 34 names that have never been recognized, according to the president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Bluegrass Chapter No. 88, Ron Allari.
“What I’d like to ask the court is to get the support to be able to do some of the things we need to do,” Allari said. “Basically, asking for one, what do you think the community would like to see? You represent the community, so what do you think they would like to see?”
Some of the things that Allari said himself and others do not want to see are things like a big monument with a tiny plaque where the names are barely legible. The names of the veterans should be at the forefront of the memorial. He also said as far as location goes, they do not want to see it shoved down at the southern border of the county where no one will see it, nor do they want it somewhere like Newport on the Levee where there is already a Pearl Harbor monument.
The memorial in Kenton County had an extensive fundraising effort back in 1982; according to Allari, the three-paneled granite monument ran about $70,000. The names of 48 Vietnam veterans who died are on the outer two panels. The middle section has a map of where Vietnam is and an engraving that says, “In memory of those Kenton County Vietnam veterans who gave their lives in Southeast Asia.”
Back in May 2021, Allari and other members of the veteran’s group asked the City of Erlanger, where the memorial is at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue, for help maintaining it. A responsibility that the group had taken on for years. Erlanger Mayor Jessica Fette agreed that the city would take over the monument’s maintenance.
The Veterans Memorial in Boone County was created in 1995 by Vietnam veteran H.B. Deatherage. The memorial at the Florence Government Center honors 78 names of veterans from WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the “war on terror.”
“I’m going to try to get more ideas and thoughts from people in the chapter and any other veteran that wants to put his two cents in to continue to brainstorm and try to come up with a basic plan with some options on types of designs, and maybe even some locations,” Allari said. “And I’d like to come back to the court next meeting and show you that and see if we can’t figure out some ways to do some major fundraising.”
Campbell County Commissioner Tom Lampe said there would be a lot of legwork to get the project rolling, and the Fiscal Court will be relying on the chapter to relay what they think is deserving.
“I think it’s going to involve a lot of details in terms of feasibility studies,” Lampe said. “The main issue being funding, but to also utilize this knowledge in your group, you said earlier, what you want or how you want to look like, so there’s a lot of information. It’s going to be compiled, and it’s going to come to a number probably that may be difficult to achieve.”
Campbell County Commissioner Brian Painter said monument building is something the court seldom deals with. They would need to talk with their staff and Judge/Executive Steve Pendery to see what the next steps would involve.
