A group of veterans opposed to placing a memorial honoring South Vietnamese soldiers has come up with a new proposal for Veteran's Memorial Park in order to keep the new monument out. The group is led by John Wilson, who met with Wichita City Manager Bob Layton on Wednesday. The transcript of the proposal follows:

July 15, 2009

Today the Veterans Committee and the Vietnamese Community met in the Wichita City Manager’s office to try to reach a compromise on the ongoing Veterans Park issue.

At the start of the meeting I rejected the proposal offered on July 7th citing the fact that of all the Veterans I had been able to reach by meetings, the website and by email, 91% of them had indicated to me by vote or verbally to reject the proposal. The most common reason given to reject the proposal was the placement of the memorial was so close to the park that they perceived it as being part of the park.

We were unable to get a concession to place the proposed memorial on another piece of land. There were however some further concessions made to the Veterans.

The tentative agreement or proposal from the City is:

1. A memorial to the United States, South Vietnam, allied soldiers that fought in the Vietnam War and to the citizens of the United States (Not sure of the exact wording here, the last was added by the Vietnamese) would be constructed in a City park, located north and west of the existing Veterans Memorial Park. The memorial would be buffered from Veterans Memorial Park by a berm (minimum of 6 feet to 8 feet tall and further with shrubbery and trees planted on the berm itself) and landscaping. Access for the park would be provided from the riverfront trail. The suggested location and buffering are depicted in the attached drawings.

2. Additional park ground would be dedicated to the Veterans Memorial Park for future memorials.

3. Any land dedicated to the City by Westar Energy in the future would be added to Veterans Memorial Park, if it is adjacent to the park.

4. The City and Veterans Memorial Park of Wichita, Inc. would develop a master plan for the future development of the park.

5. The City Council would be asked to designate Veterans Memorial Park as a memorial park dedicated to the service of United States Armed Forces.

6. The height of the berm surrounding the proposed South Vietnamese Memorial and the shrubbery planted on it must deny visual access to Veterans Memorial Park from the proposed South Vietnamese Memorial.

7. A binding resolution must be received from the City of Wichita providing that no future alterations of changes will be made to this plan to, in effect, make the proposed South Vietnamese Memorial appear to be a part of Veterans Memorial Park.

8. A clearly marked sign will be placed on the upper walkway at the south end of the proposed berm at the pedestrian traffic way pointing east carrying the message, “Veterans Memorial Park.

9. Clear assignment of a specific City employee with the responsibility for assisting Veterans groups to develop plans for long-range inclusion of additional Veterans Memorials will be accomplished immediately.

In addition to the above:

a) The City Manager is in agreement that the Park Department and the City will work with the Veterans in good faith in regard to the development of Veterans Memorial Park in the future.

b) The name of the proposed Vietnamese park as suggested by the Vietnamese representative Kenny Nguyen will be “The South Vietnamese Community Memorial”.

c) The two flagpoles flying the United States flag and the South Vietnamese flag will not be of the same height. (The City made the comment that they had noticed on the artists drawing that the flagpoles were the same height and commented that they would not be the same height. Kenny Nguyen said that the flags appearing in the drawing to be at the same height was a mistake of the artist and the Vietnamese community had never intended to fly the South Vietnamese flag at the same height as the United States flag and the United States Flag would be higher than the South Vietnamese flag.)

d) To be considered later and not binding in this proposal is the possible future agreement from the City of Wichita to assume responsibility for maintenance of Veterans Memorials within the Park when the originating Veterans groups who built them are no longer able to maintain them.

That is the proposal offered by the City. Be advised that Robert Layton the City Manager has given me additional time to consider this new proposal. I have until Monday to phone in to the City Manager my acceptance or rejection of this proposal. If this proposal is rejected, the City Manager will turn this matter back over to the City Council for their vote on Tuesday the 21st of July with the recommendation that this proposal be accepted as is and voted on by the City Council.

If the proposal is rejected, it is planned that the City Council will hear discussion from the audience on this park issue and then vote to either allow the proposed memorial into Veterans Memorial Park or not. They can then implement all, part or none of this proposal as they will not be bound by it.

Veterans need to study this proposal carefully. We won’t have a printed proposal from the City before Friday the 15th of July, but I think I have everything correctly stated and there will be no significant changes to the above proposal I have outlined.

I am calling a meeting for all Veterans, no matter what Veterans Organization they belong to for Sunday the 19th of July at the American Legion Post 136, Mulvane, KS for 1pm to answer any question and to discuss this issue.

This proposal will be posted on the KSVAC website www.ksvac.info and I will need your vote either in person or by email by Monday morning stating your wish to accept or reject this proposal along with your name and Post or organization if you have one. You may email me at john@ksvac.info

John Wilson
KSVAC