The Vietnam Veterans National Memorial, Angel Fire, New Mexico

David Hunt       October 30, 2001

Chapel and Visitor Center
The winds shifted allowing a higher view. The Vietnam Veterans National Memorial is located along North Central New Mexico's Enchanted Circle, near the town of Angel Fire. The chapel is a prominent landmark in the mostly treeless Moreno valley. There is also a Visitors Center located underground next to the chapel and a restored Huey helicopter on display that had flown missions in Vietnam.

Vietnam Veterans Peace
and Brotherhood Chapel
Ground view The Memorial was built to honor Victor David Westphall III, who died May 22, 1968, in Vietnam. Dr. Victor Westphall, the father, used his son's insurance money to start building the Vietnam Veterans Peace and Brotherhood Chapel. This took place when it was not popular to memorialize Veterans of the Vietnam War. The chapel was completed in 1971. The Visitors Center was open May, 1986. At one point the Memorial was under the care and ownership of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). The David Westphall Veterans Foundation currently operates the facility.

Visitors Center Entrance
Ground view For over ten years the Memorial was considered the unofficial national memorial for Vietnam veterans, until the monument in Washington D.C. was constructed in 1982. Jan Scruggs, the key motivator for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial project, in D.C., contacted Dr. Westphall and discussed possibly appropriating the Westphall design. Dr. Westphall indicated that the chapel's design would probably not work on the flat terrain of D.C.

Aerial view of Chapel
Being downhill, this was the best I could do and get all of the chapel. Notice that the camera is not above the chapel's highest point. When I visited the Memorial during the summer of 2000, Dr. Westphall was living in a small apartment that is part of the Visitors Center. He graciously allowed me to fly my KAP equipment.

Visitor Center Entrance
Framed by the U.S. and New Mexico Flags
This was as far back from the flags as I could get With the wind from the South and the Chapel and Visitor Center entrance sitting on the southern edge of a small hill, getting my camera to a good height was difficult. A power line at the bottom of the hill also limited my movements in that direction. For many of these pictures I was standing 20 feet in elevation below the level of the Chapel and Museum entrance. I had to have my son tell me when I was in position. I used a Flow Form 30 to lift my rig. Because of the Flow Form's low flying angle it was hard to get the camera above and in front of the chapel. You can see that many of the pictures are from very low altitudes.

Visitor Center Entrance
Huey Helicopter In Background
Moving to the left I was able to get one complete flag plus the entrance. A plan shot would have been nice but moving the camera to a greater altitude would have positioned the camera behind the main features of this location. When the winds shifted from the Southwest I was able to position the camera to the right and higher above the chapel, as seen in the aerial picture above.

Visitor Center Entrance and Private courtyard.
The Visitor Center was built below ground so that it would not detract from the Chapel as seen from US Highway 64 below. The opening beyond the entrance is a small courtyard that is part of Dr. Westphall's apartment. This situation would have been ideal for a Dopero. With its higher flying angle it might have been possible to get the camera higher for plan shots. Between the overcast skies and the less than ideal local film processing, the pictures are dark with muted colors.

[The ground level pictures were taken with a digital Fuji MX-2700 The aerial pictures were taken with a Olympus Stylus Epic, Fuji400 film.]

Visit the Vietnam Veterans National Memorial Web site:
http://www.angelfirememorial.com/

Post Script - Dr. Victor Westphall, 89, passed away July 22, 2003