In 1975, shortly after the fall of Saigon, North Vietnamese communists traveled to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) National Cemetery of Bien Hoa - the country's equivalent to America's Arlington - and toppled its symbolic "Mourning Soldier" statue. They went on to lay waste to the graves of thousands of South Vietnamese Soldiers, leaving the site desecrated and dilapidated.

Following the war, Vietnamese Soldiers who had fought for the south's freedom were frequently persecuted.  However, U.S. Humanitarian Operations such as the Refugee Act of 1980 allowed thousands of South Vietnamese and their families to immigrate to the United States. There are currently more than 1.2 million Vietnamese living in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with more than 40,000 living in Western Washington.

In 1990, Lan Phan Jones came to the U.S. with her father (a former ARVN captain who had spent five years in a communist "reeducation" camp), mother, grandparents and two of her six siblings.

For years, she and her family have attended Memorial Day services at the Washington State Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Olympia to pay tribute to American servicemembers who died fighting for her country's freedom.  Members of the Vietnamese community also hold their own Memorial Day service honoring South Vietnamese Soldiers who fought and died for their freedom.

Just as the U.S. remembers the 58,267 American Servicemembers who gave their lives fighting in Vietnam, so too do Vietnamese immigrants and their families remember the more than 250,000 fallen South Vietnamese Soldiers.

About five years ago, Jones, who lives in Tumwater with her husband Allen, a business manager for the Tumwater School District, approached the state government and asked if it was possible to have a permanent memorial to South Vietnamese Soldiers erected alongside the state Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Olympia.  "Americans and Vietnamese, we were fighting for the same cause," she said. "They fought for my country, for freedom."

Jones was referred to the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA), which took on the cause and brought her together with Dale Parsons of the Vietnam Veterans Committee of Washington, which was coordinating its own effort to have three flagpoles erected at the site.

The two factions have joined forces and are seeking to raise $50,000 for the flagpoles (which will fly U.S., Washington State and Prisoner of War flags) as well as a plaque depicting the Mourning Soldier with inscriptions in both Vietnamese and English reading "We remember with gratitude the soldiers of the Republic of Vietnam and the United States who fought and died for freedom and democracy in Vietnam."

The memorial will provide a place for Vietnamese families to mourn their dead alongside the Americans, Jones said. "We want to show our gratitude for what they did for my country," she said. "And say thank you to the (South Vietnamese) survivors."

The fundraising effort is being coordinated through the WDVA. The group hopes to have funds in place by the end of the year so the new memorial can be erected and dedicated next Memorial Day. Donations are tax deductable. For more information visit www.dva.wa.gov/VietnamMemorialFundraising/VietnamMemorialFlagpoleProject.html. To donate, call (800) 562-0132 (option 1) or e-mail colleen@dva.wa.gov.