The Vietnam War Memorial in the Universal Shopping Center, 11360 Bellaire Boulevard, in southwest Houston's Little Saigon, was dedicated on June 11, 2005. Two copper figures, each 27 feet tall, show a South Vietnamese soldier and an American soldier side by side with weapons raised. They stand on an oval pedestal of nine steps, nine being a lucky number in Vietnam, in front of a black granite wall carrying the flags of South Vietnam, the United States and Texas. The figures were the work of Thong Pham, a Houston sculptor who had served in South Vietnam's military, commissioned in 2003; he died in November 2016. The site was donated by the shopping center's owner, Hubert Vo, later a state representative.
The architect Nghiep Nguyen designed the pedestal and wall and, as chairman of the Vietnamese and Allied Defenders Memorial Foundation, raised $350,000 for the project within six months, by Houstonia's account. Nguyen had been a third-year medical student in Saigon when the city fell on April 30, 1975. By his own account he escaped on a small boat captained by his brother, a naval officer, with about 140 refugees aboard, and reached the United States by way of the Philippines and Guam. He moved to Houston in 1989.
Pham also made a second sculpture for the center, Refugees, showing a woman, a child and a group of men facing the unknown together. Each April 30 the memorial has been the site of ceremonies marking the fall of Saigon, including the 50th anniversary in 2025.
Getting there
29.7042, -95.5805
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