The open grassy area at the west end of the Automobile Building, immediately south of today's Parry Avenue entrance, has been put to a variety of uses over the years. During the early part of this century it was the site of a "sunken garden" and an old wooden Implement Building, one of the state fair's original structures. In the late 1940s and early '50s, the area was a miniature golf course.

Today, this site is occupied by the Texas Vietnam War Memorial, a permanent monument to the 3,415 young Texans who were killed in the U.S. War with Vietnam during the 1960s and early 1970s. Like the larger memorial in Washington, D.C. this monument was built entirely with donations from the public. It consists of a series of upright granite slabs bearing the names of those who fell in the line of duty. It was dedicated in 1989 by President George Bush Sr. during a ceremony attended by hundreds of living Vietnam War veterans.

National Archives List of Texas Vietnam War Deaths, Alphabetical, by Name

National Archives List of Texas Vietnam War Deaths, by Hometown

Copyright © 1996-2012 by Steven Butler, Ph.D. All rights reserved.