Decades in the making, SJ war monument marks milestone for Vietnamese community

A LONG DELAYED monument to fallen Vietnam War fighters will finally be unveiled at San Jose’s Vietnamese Heritage Garden, a planned cultural gathering space waylaid by community divide.

The life-size statue of two armed soldiers — one American and one South Vietnamese — could be ready for public viewing this month or early July. It would mark a major milestone for turning the garden at Kelley Park into a communal oasis and tribute to San Jose’s Vietnamese enclave, the largest of any city outside Vietnam. The concept spawned close to 40 years ago, but has since passed through different eras of leadership, stalling multiple times due to shaky funding and disputes over who was in charge. Meanwhile, the statue was a separate effort. Now both are coming together in one place through a combination of city and county funding.