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On June 20, 92-year-old Ross Grego visited the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in Washington. Accompanied by his neighbor,
Cheryl Parkinson, and Silver Spring, Maryland, Chapter 641
members Mike Najarian and Dave Gudes, he went to see his
son’s name. A volunteer made rubbings for Grego, and
he spent some quiet moments in front of The Wall. This was
the first time in his life that he had wandered outside Council
Bluffs, Iowa.
It was not the first time he had seen his son’s
name memorialized, however. Grego was responsible for the
creation of the Veterans Park in Council Bluffs, which was
built around a Vietnam Veterans Memorial he had created—whose
centerpiece is a bronze statue of his son.
The memorial was a labor of
love for Grego and his friend, Verlow King, whose son had
returned safely from Vietnam. Between the two of them, they
raised $80,000 to cover the memorial’s costs. On the
granite memorial are carved the names of the 39 servicemen
from Pottawattamie County who died in Vietnam. On top of
the granite slab, Grego commissioned John Lajba to create
a bronze statue depicting a single soldier, a soldier with
a striking resemblance to Grego’s son,
Phillip.
“I think it’s my boy up there,” Grego
said.
King died before the 1988 dedication, and Grego’s
wife died last year. But Ross Grego still daily tends the
memorial in Council Bluffs where his son and the other fallen
of Vietnam are memorialized.
Over the years, the site has
been expanded to include memorials to veterans of other conflicts
and there has been extensive landscaping. In 2003, Veterans
Plaza at Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs was rededicated.
But
the vision—the guiding light of this memorial—has
remained this simple, unassuming man, an associate member
of VVA Council Bluffs Chapter 798 universally known as “Pop.”
“The
boys fought for something,” Grego explained,
and the community should give them something back.
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2008, Vietnam Veterans of America. All Rights Reserved. 8605 Cameron
Street, Silver Spring, MD 20910