Inspiration for memorial born out of pain
Posted on Mon, Feb. 26, 2007
Inspiration for memorial born out of pain
Supporters of Vietnam veterans come together in Clinton to build shrine to Ohio's dead
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Dan DeLa Rosa was only 9 years old when his brother, Jesus DeLa Rosa Jr., was killed in Vietnam.
The Mansfield man remembers seeing two soldiers come to his house in San Antonio to deliver the bad news to his family.
He remembers his father's cries of ``Dear Lord, no, no,'' as he learned of the death of his son.
The pain of that moment from July 19, 1966, when his brother -- a helicopter pilot with the 119th Assault Helicopter Company -- was killed is the inspiration for what will become the Ohio Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Park to be built in Clinton.
The memorial will include the names of all 3,095 Ohioans who died in Vietnam and will be located on a 1.7-acre section owned by the Clinton Cemetery Association on the east side of Cleveland-Massillon Road.
Dan DeLa Rosa, 49, a service technician, was looking up the medals his brother had been awarded in the war on the Internet when a post caught his eye. North Canton resident, retired Lt. Col. Thomas Jones, wrote on the Web site that he had seen Warrant Officer DeLa Rosa's UH-1 ``Huey'' helicopter crash in midair with another aircraft in Vietnam.
Jones, 66, said in a phone interview from Hilton Head, S.C., where he lives in the winter, that he was supposed to be on the helicopter.
``They went down like rocks,'' said Jones, who was involved in raising money for a memorial to the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii that was dedicated last fall.
He said the ``marvel of the Internet'' brought him together with Dan DeLa Rosa.
DeLa Rosa then spoke with others who served with his brother, and the idea of a memorial got off the ground.
He is now president of the nonprofit, tax-exempt Ohio Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Park organization.
Agreements were signed with the Clinton Cemetery Association this month for the memorial to be located on vacant cemetery property, across the street from the Clinton cemetery.
Sandra Dreuery, 69, of Clinton, secretary-treasurer of the cemetery group, said, ``We think it will be a great plus for our village.''
Mayor Phyllis Mayberry said it is an honor for the village to be the future home of the memorial.
``I feel it will attract visitors, but it won't be a 24/7 thing,'' she said.
Sue Reid, a project manager for the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition, said the memorial won't be too far from the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath and the scenic byway, an auto route that follows the towpath.
``It will be something visible to people'' who come through Clinton because of the towpath, she said.
Plans for memorial
Ken Noon, owner of Summit Memorials Inc. of Akron, is designing the memorial.
He said there will be two helicopters -- a Huey and a Cobra -- on the site, as well as several monuments and statues, including one of a Gold Star mother and another of a medic treating a wounded soldier.
The black granite monument with the names of those killed in Vietnam, listed in alphabetical order, will be 125 feet long.
On the back side of the wall will be a collage of etchings from photos taken during American battles from World War I through Operation Iraqi Freedom.
There will also be a six-sided walkway entrance to the memorial that will recognize the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines.
Tom Burke, 61, of New Philadelphia and Buckeye State Council president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, called the plan long overdue.
He said that to the best of his knowledge, this will be the only memorial in Ohio to list all of those from the state who died in Vietnam.
``It's a thing that will bring tribute to those who died,'' Burke said.
Doc Higgins, 55, of New Franklin, a Vietnam veteran and member of the memorial's board of trustees, said he gets emotional when he even thinks of the memorial.
``All these guys are my brothers,'' he said of Vietnam veterans and those who died whose names will be on the memorial.
``It's a good way to say thank you to all the guys who came home from 'Nam.''
Raising funds
DeLa Rosa said the effort is in the early stages of raising $1.7 million for the memorial, which is to include $500,000 for perpetual upkeep as well as the cost of a small information center/cemetery office building.
Bricks are being sold for $75 and $125, and trees are available for planting at the memorial, with plaques available for $1,500 each.
The group is also seeking donations from the public and major corporations and hopes to hold an event at the site on Memorial Day. The groundbreaking has not been scheduled.
Even though his brother's name will not be on the Vietnam memorial because he was from Texas, DeLa Rosa said he feels complete peace being involved in the project.
``This has brought closure regarding my brother's death,'' he said.
The name of Jesus DeLa Rosa Jr. and the others who died with him in the helicopter-plane crash will be on a plaque at the Huey helicopter, along with a description of the accident.
To hear stories from the families of their loved ones and to see the tears that still fall from Vietnam veterans ``keeps that fire burning in me,'' DeLa Rosa said.
He said he thanks ``the Lord Jesus Christ for helping my family close that chapter in our lives and begin a new one. The new one is the Ohio Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Park.''
For information about the memorial, go to www.hack1966.com/memorial, or call Summit Memorials Inc. at 330-773-2385.
E-mail Dan DeLa Rosa at ohiovietnam@aol.com.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
Ellie
