Gideon Carl Turner III, a Vietnam combat veteran and north state artist, was asked in 2009 to design a monument dedicated to the memory of fallen Vietnam veterans.
The monument is finished, and ready for its dedication ceremony 11 a.m., Veterans Day, Nov. 11, at the Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo. The public is invited.
The completed monument is a cast bronze sculpture entitled “Hope” – which is the monument’s centerpiece. Turner created a concave bullet-shaped cast-bronze sculpture design that depicts two men carrying a stretcher holding their wounded friend, running under fire to an incoming Medivac helicopter. The sculpture is pierced by three bullet holes and encircled by a bas relief of a rice paddy.
Artist Gideon Carl Turner III puts the finishing touches on his sculpture, Hope, that will be dedicated at the Veterans Cemetery in Igo on Veterans Day.
Turner said that image was his strongest memory of his wartime experiences. The final part of the project was a handicapped accessible walkway around the monument. Turner said it dawned upon him to create the handicapped accessible walkway after he noticed an increasing number of his fellow veterans needed mobility assistance.
“It seems only right that we provide for them any way we can,” Turner wrote on the GoFundMe site.
The California Department of Veterans Affairs has approved the monument’s design and the Northern California Veterans Cemetery designated a site for its placement near the cemetery entrance.
The 8-foot-tall monument will be the only memorial dedicated to the memory of Shasta County servicemen killed in action during the Vietnam War; a permanent acknowledgement of local servicemen and women’s ultimate sacrifice.
The California Department of Veterans Affairs has approved the design of the Monument and the Northern California Veterans Cemetery has designated a site for its placement near the entrance to the cemetery grounds.
For more information go to the monument’s webpage, or call Gideon Carl Turner at 530-921-9333, or contact Jim Richards at 530-356-0342.
