KSHB 41 reporter La’Nita Brooks covers stories in Kansas City, Missouri, and stories offering solutions on crime. Share your story idea with La’Nita.
—Forty years after it was dedicated to the men and women who served in Vietnam, Kansas City’s Vietnam memorial is showing its age — and raising concerns about what is being done to preserve it.
At first glance, the memorial is striking. But a closer look reveals cracks, crumbling concrete and litter filling the fountain and surrounding areas.
Mark McHenry, president of the City of Fountains Foundation, said years of wear have taken a toll.
“There’s some deterioration of the concrete, concrete over times starts to crack and deteriorate and crumble and that’s part of it,” said McHenry. “The base that holds some water, so you have to have good solid base, no different than pavement that we drive on. There’s plumbing associated with it.”
As the city of fountains, McHenry says in addition to honoring the veterans the city has a reputation to live up to. For Colonel Lynn Rolf Jr., who served in Vietnam from 1971 to 1972, the condition of the memorial is painful — a reminder of another time when veterans felt forgotten.
“To any of us Vietnam vets it means a heck of a lot,” he said. “I was glad to have served and kept my men safe. And we returned to really a crappy welcome home and us Vietnam vets have said never again will a country take care of their veterans as they did us and spit on us.”…