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Tribute to Veterans, Crafted From the Heart

Craig McNabb, Master Mason at Conejo Valley Lodge No. 807 in Thousand Oaks, has given area veterans of the Vietnam War the chance to finally see their memorial.

On November 13, some 200 Vietnam veterans, along with family and friends, attended the dedication ceremony for a mobile Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. The memorial is a half-scale replica of the wall in Washington, D.C.

The project was a community effort, conceived five years ago as a way to bring the memorial to Vietnam veterans who weren’t able to travel to D.C.

Fundraising began in 2004, drawing donations from area businesses and a grassroots “Pennies for Soldiers” program, which generated more than $20,000.

McNabb’s company, Signs and Designs, did the engraving. Unlike other mobile Vietnam Memorial Walls, which use screen printing, the Antelope Valley memorial features actual engravings of the 58,261 veteran names.

Engraving took six months. Almost every day, families and friends of Vietnam veterans came to McNabb’s shop to witness the engraving of their loved ones' names. They shared memories with McNabb and his crew, who would halt production so that families could take tracings of the names.