Group to Honor Those Who Died in Vietnam War : Memorials: Vietnamese American leaders hope to raise $1 million for the Vietnam Monument of Freedom project in a Westminster cemetery.

A group of Vietnamese American leaders announced plans Thursday to build a $1-million monument here honoring those who died in the Vietnam War, which ended 20 years ago this month.

Titled the Vietnam Monument of Freedom, the project planned for the center of Westminster Memorial Park is intended to complement the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

The monument will “honor all the people, both Vietnamese and American allies, who fought for freedom,” said Trang Nguyen, president of Little Saigon TV & Radio, a Vietnamese-language broadcasting venture.

“We, the Vietnamese Americans, have come a long way since 1975,” she said. “This is our way of saying, ‘Thank you, America.’ ”

Nguyen is spearheading the memorial project with Westminster City Councilman Tony Lam.

Orange County is home to an estimated 150,000 Vietnamese immigrants, the largest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam. The monument, Lam said, may someday become the “West Coast Statue of Liberty.”

Westminster Memorial Park will donate the land where the monument will stand.

Additionally, the park is developing Orange County’s first Asian American cemetery, with a capacity of 3,000 graves. The Asian Memorial Garden is called “Vuo Vinh Cuu,” or the Garden of Peaceful Eternity in Vietnamese.

Construction is expected to begin in May and be completed by fall, said Stephen Conley, the park’s executive vice president and general manager.

Enclosed by a bubbling lake, the garden’s landmark will be an ornate pavilion where services can be held. Bamboo and lotus will bloom at the entrance and surround four animal figures--the lion, dragon, phoenix and turtle--all common in Asian myths and legends.

“Death is an important part of people’s traditions,” Conley said. “We want to be able to provide an opportunity for people to practice those traditions.” A fund-raising gala for the monument, scheduled on April 28 at the Irvine Marriott hotel, is organized through a community effort called Beyond 20. The evening will include Vietnamese music, puppet folk dance and fashions.

Organizers hope to raise up to $60,000 at the dinner. Most of the funds will help finance the Vietnam Monument of Freedom, but project planners said part of the proceeds will go toward a series of cultural events in the coming year.

This project is to “keep an eye toward the future, without losing sight of our culture and our past,” Nguyen said.

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