War Memorial Losing Its Luster

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  A unique Vietnam War memorial at Huntington Beach High School is a year old, but unlike the shrine-like wall in Washington, this commemoration to the war dead is not having the impact that the teacher who inspired it had hoped.

A few students still praise the idea and say the memorial is important to young people on campus. During a recent noon break, for instance, Shadd Holyfield, a 16-year-old sophomore, stood in front of the memorial and said he found it meaningful. “I think it makes people remember,” he said.

But Len Ewers, a government teacher who inspired the memorial, said he thinks most students this year are paying little or no attention to it. The memorial has plaques listing all of Orange County’s dead or missing in action.

“I’m disappointed,” Ewers said in a recent interview. “I couldn’t be prouder of the kids who did the work for this last year. But this year, if I didn’t mention it in class, there would be no discussion of the memorial. I don’t think they know how to react to it. They know it’s here. But I don’t think they know how to respond to it. . . .

“Students don’t seem to want to think about it. Maybe it’s a (psychological) defense mechanism. This recent conflict in the Mideast brought war pretty close to them. They realized they could be the next to go if the war became prolonged.”

Ewers said he had hoped that the high school memorial would focus thoughts and emotions about the young Orange County men who died in the war.

“The (Vietnam War Memorial) wall in Washington, you know, generates so much sorrow, so much pain, even for those who were not directly connected to war dead,” he said. “I don’t know. Perhaps I was too idealistic in my expectations about this memorial. I keep forgetting that most of today’s high school students were born about the time the war in Vietnam finally was drawing to a close. Maybe the Vietnam War is as distant to them as the Civil War.”

Ewers teaches American government classes at the high school. He focuses part of his courses on the impact of the Vietnam War.

“For eight years I kept saying (in class) that I thought we should have a memorial to our war dead,” Ewers said. “And finally we got it.”

Walt Ruskin, a senior in Ewers’ 1989-90 class, led a student drive last year to raise about $4,000 in private funds for a campus shrine to the Vietnam War dead.

The memorial consists of bronze plaques naming all 330 of the war dead from Orange County. There are separate plaques for each hometown, ranging from Anaheim to Yorba Linda. Names of those whose bodies were never recovered are marked by a blue star that signifies “MIA/POW,” or missing in action/prisoner of war.

A haunting charcoal drawing of three Vietnam-era servicemen also hangs with the plaques. Kayo Nakamura, who graduated last June, made the drawing and took part in the memorial’s dedication ceremonies last May 30.

The memorial is in the foyer of the high school’s auditorium-bell tower building. The gleaming Vietnam plaques share space with an older, dull-bronze memorial to all the high school’s veterans of World War II.

Many students walk by the Vietnam memorial as they go to assemblies in the auditorium. James Sechler, 15, a sophomore, passed by the plaques recently and paused to give his viewpoint.

“I think it’s pretty good how they did it and set it up--all the names,” he said. He added that it makes him think about the war and its dead.

Monique Le Fors, 16, a junior, similarly praised the memorial. “I think it demonstrates a lot of patriotism,” she said. “Our high school is representing the county as a whole with this memorial. It shows a lot of support for our troops. It took a whole year last year to do this, and it was really a big thing. We had a big ceremony last year.”

State officials in Sacramento last year praised Huntington Beach High’s memorial, saying no other California high school had such a tribute.

Ewers said that he also remains very proud of the high school’s memorial to the Vietnam War. And he said that as months go on, he hopes more students will pause to study the memorial and reflect on that faraway war.

As time goes on, he said, maybe the memorial will take a deeper emotional hold on the students.

“Maybe it’s too early right now,” he said.