The local Vietnam/ERA Veterans Association (VEVA) will hold its annual Capitol Lake War Memorial cleanup (rain or shine) tomorrow (May 11) from 9-11am. The efforts help prepare the site for the Memorial Day weekend. Participants should arrive at 8:45am.
Volunteers will clean and shine all the bronze statues, granite, flue which leads to the lake, Purple Heart Memorial and Law Enforcement, Firefighters and EMT Memorials. Also planned is trash pickup around Capitol Lake and power washing all sidewalks around the Memorial site.
At 11am, there will be a brief ceremony honoring the South Dakotans who were killed or missing in action in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Desert Storm, Afghanistan and first responders who died in the line of duty.
All local Vietnam, Vietnam ERA, other veterans and first responder families are encouraged to attend to help with the cleanup and attend the ceremony. Vietnam or Vietnam ERA veterans DO NOT NEED TO BE a member of VEVA to participate and are encouraged to wear an article of clothing identifying them as a Vietnam or Vietnam ERA veteran.
Anyone wishing to contribute to help defray costs may drop donations off with any VEVA member at the Memorial Site during the cleanup project.
Beck Motors will provide beverages and the Dakota Radio Group will provide the Dakota Cruiser playing 1960’s and 1970’s Vietnam ERA music.
The Flaming Fountain and water outlet will have limited maintenance due to a pending engineering study and possible upgrades in the future. Representative Tim Rounds of Pierre pledged to personally raise $100,000 in private donations to fund the study during the 2019 Legislative Session. The study is due to the Bureau of Administration by September 1, 2019.
