About the Figures
The five figures atop the monument, situated in the rubble of an ancient temple, represent the common “Dawn Patrol” experience of the infantry in Vietnam. The five combat figures are 1.25 X life-sized, making the standing soldier seven-feet tall on the 14-foot high monument. Though most American infantry forces were Army and Marines, the Air Force SOG and Navy SEAL special-forces troops also served as ground war fighters.
Representing the core fighting unit of the Vietnam War, the figures have been deliberately crafted to capture the ethnic diversity of the Texans of Caucasian, Hispanic, African-American, Native-American and Asian-American descent who served in the Vietnam War. The figures are deliberately void of military markings: these are soldiers united not by the threads of uniform but by the bond of battle. They are poised in a defensive perimeter position, with their backs toward each other as the medic attends to a wounded comrade.
The figures sculpture captures a moment just after battle, as the war-weary combatants regroup in wait for the incoming helicopter that will carry them back to the base camp. Underneath, as if symbolically holding them up for eternity, stand the panels representing their fellow Texans, those who served at sea, in the air, on the ground and in the hospitals, always ready to answer their call. Interred beneath, watched over in eternal vigilance, are the dog tags of their fallen brothers, the 3,417 Texas servicemen who did not return alive.
