A black granite monument was unveiled Saturday near the front entrance of Garfield High School, engraved with the names of the 582 former students who served in the military during the Vietnam War.

Veterans, families, elected officials and community supporters filled the auditorium to capacity as the Vietnam Era Monument was dedicated in honor of those who served in Southeast Asia from Feb. 28, 1961 to May 7, 1975. The ceremony was the culmination of more than three years of work by a small group of Garfield alumni, who envisioned a monument engraved with the names of their classmates and fellow servicemen.

“Here is this great generation of men who contributed to our society and were not honored as the heroes they are when they returned from war.  It was time,” said Ruben Garcia, a 1971 graduate and former Marine, who launched the effort to get the monument built. “Many men were wounded in action, either physically or mentally, and this monument was part of their healing.”

Garcia and other veterans – many of them retired or semi-retired businessmen and professionals – brought together elected officials and local supporters. They formed the Vietnam Era Veterans Committee, which raised tens of thousands of dollars and got the necessary approvals to erect the monument in Garfield’s Jaime Escalante Plaza.

“We all felt this was important so we figured out a way to make it happen,” Carlos Venegas, a member of the Class of ’68, who served in the Army. “Some committee members had never fund-raised. We had to figure out how to confirm a Veteran’s role in Vietnam and attendance to Garfield High School, and we had to navigate our way through the District.  But we worked as we were trained in the military – always move forward.”

The names of the servicemen are listed by the year they graduated and their branch of service: Army, Navy, Marines Air Force or Coast Guard.

In a special tribute to the 17 Garfield students killed in Vietnam, the ceremony included a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps. The names of the fallen servicemen were read aloud and a flag was ceremoniously folded and placed on the monument.

“I finally got closure. It’s been 47 years but tonight I feel I will finally rest,” said Linda Valdez, whose brother, Army Spc. David Medina Valdez, died in Vietnam on Aug. 6, 1969.

Families came from all over California, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada to see their names or that of their father’s, husband or grandfather’s on the campus where they went to school.

“It was a very emotional and bittersweet moment to see my dad’s name engraved on the wall. I wish he was alive to see it,” said Lori Nuñez Simpson of Las Vegas, whose father, Fernando Nuñez, served in the Army after graduating in 1960.

School Board member Mónica García played an important role in making the monument a reality on school grounds.

“This is an amazing community – past and present,” she said. “It came together to honor the service of the men who came from the streets outside this school. We are honored to have this monument here.”

Venegas said the committee is still collecting the names of Garfield High students who served during the Vietnam Era and will be adding them to the monument. The group also plans to create a college scholarship and add a veterans’ services component to their work.

“We played in the streets together and then we went to war together,” Ruben Garcia said. “And when we came back, we didn’t complain. We just got on with our lives. Today is our day.”