THE DAYTON FAC MEMORIAL
AT THE
National Museum of the United States Air Force
Memorial Park
This Memorial was dedicated during the 2006 FAC Reunion in Dayton on Thursday Oct 5th, 2006 A special effort was made to invite the families of all those who served, especially those who lost loved ones.
(Click on the pictures below to see an expanded view)
Front Side Back Side
A word about how the Dog Tag concept came about. In the Spring of 2004 Stacy Hansen, a firefighter/paramedic from California was traveling in Vietnam. While there she found about 300 dog tags, one of which was from KIA Covey FAC, Rick Meacham. Stacy's goal wa to return the tags, first to the owner (if they are still living,) then to the family of KIA/MIAs and in the event neither is available, she would offered the tag to someone who would treasure it. Stacy reported that she found Rick's daughter, Mindy Meacham and Rick's dog tag now is home with her. Mindy was at the reunion and participated in the dedication for the Memorial. Incorporating the Dog Tag into the memorial seemed to be a fitting way to honor our fallen and bring closure to their loved ones.
In addition to Stacy's work with dog tags, at the 2004 Memorial Day service at the Dayton Vietnam Veterans Memorial I met Judy Powell, twin sister of KIA Barky FAC John Powell. Judy was wearing John's tags for the special event and she is on the Dayton Vietam Veteran's Memorial Committee. Judy joined the 2006 FAC Reunion Committee and helped make the Memorial happen. She thought the Dog Tag theme was fitting and she suggested we inscribe the names of the KIA/MIA which would allow people to touch the names of their loved ones as they can with the Wall in Washington, DC. The Memorial is meant to symbolize a fallen comrade, leaning against his comrades in arms. The story of FACs and a little about our history is written on the vertical stones. Unit patches of the 504th TASG and the 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd TASS, and the Ravens are on the sloped area of the base.
Another issue is what is the memorial to be a memorial to? After FACNET and other inputs it has been decided that we will limit the scope to those who served and died in SEA. In that regard it will be parallel to the Hurlburt Memorial. Although the stories of FACs starts a long time ago and there were FAC heroes in WW-II, Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq, this will be to our fallen comrades from SEA. The theme - "All Gave Some - But Some Gave All" was chosen. This memorial compliments the FAC related exhibits inside the Museum. Why another Memorial? We honor our fallen and the National Museum of the United States Air Force generates 1.3 million visitors each year, far above what will ever stop at any of the other sites.
Once we had the theme of a dog tag, we made five scale 3D models of the different concepts. As we showed the models to various people (from the Reunion Committee, the NMUSAF, the monument company and my friends) one of the designs seemed to leap out as the preferred approach. That concept is the physical memorial we built.
The Memorial is black granite and it stands about 60" high and 102" wide. It sits on two sub bases which are about 18" high and 120" wide. The monument sits on a dog tag shaped concrete base that is sufficiently large to allow future addition of benches and still support handicap access to the Memorial. The design is optimize for longevity and looks with such details as the apex top - so that the birds don't perch and if they do it washes off. The site was built with volunteer labor, almost all of whom were Vietnam Vets. While the site was build we incorporated lots of nickels, dog tags, POW/MIA bracelets, wings and other items of significance into the foundation. Even today we occasionally find a nickel on the Memorial.
Zot Barazzotto
Covey 250 / Rustic 55
2006 FAC Reunion Chairman
For those who have never seen the Hurlburt Memorial, here is a link to pictures
This is a link to the remarks made at the dedication of the Hurlburt Memorial