When we planned our first event the bronze memorial had experienced repeated vandalism, a situation that continues today. While looking for ways to repair and protect this part of our memorial, we also began looking at ways to make it more accessible to the public while expanding it's role in teaching future Americans just what the Vietnam War was all about. To accomplish this, we planned on expanding the size of the monument area to better accommodate color guards and space for guests at various events, plus we proposed adding a timeline of the Vietnam Conflict to teach our children, a large bronze map of Vietnam at the entrance, and two additional flagpoles, one for the flag of Arizona and the other for our former ally the Republic of South Vietnam. We completed most of these changes in 2003 via raising funds from businesses and individual veterans within both the US and Vietnamese veterans communities, with the exception of the bronze map for which we are still raising funds and looking for any corporate sponsorship.

The Remembrance Day itself has become an annual event occurring on the last Sunday in April of every year. The days activities have included the massing of the colors to the strains of the US Army Band, Medal of Honor guests, the flag raisings and anthems of the US and South Vietnam, guest speakers, historic military vehicle displays, memorabilia from the Vietnam War, POW/MIA information, souvenir sales, Vietnam era music played over original equipment, car shows, and product sales. Every year brings a different mix to the program.

We invite everyone to attend as the event is open to all, but we especially want to extend a formal invitation to any Vietnam Veterans and their families to join us for this day, and make a point to join us every year at this time in Wesley Bolin Plaza. Also, as this year our event theme is in honor of our fighting men and women in Iraq, we would also ask you to invite any families and friends of our forces in Iraq as fellow honorees."