On May 22, 1968 David Westphall was killed in an enemy ambush in Con Thien, Vietnam.
Within days his father, Dr. Victor Westphall had begun work on a Vietnam memorial to his son high on a hill overlooking Angel Fire, New Mexico. The memorial, dedicated in 1971, is now a national monument.
In 1994, Dr. Westphall, at the age of 80, travelled to Con Thien, taking a handful of dirt with him from the memorial at Angel Fire to scatter on the spot where his son was killed. He brought home a handful of dirt from Con Thien to scatter at the monument at Angel Fire.
The monument has been described through the years by countless people as "holy", "spiritual", "mystic."
This is what Dr Westphall said: "There is an aura of mysticism surrounding this whole place, this whole situation. The aboriginal peoples of this area sensed it and the people who come to visit it today repeatedly have indicated these same feelings to me. They sense something in the place they do not fully understand. There is something about this place, something more than just being a beautiful location. I'm just trying to fill in the pieces of the mysticism surrounding it. Perhaps it all leads up to my trip to Vietnam. It was a closure, a relief to have done it. It gave me a peace of mind. It was something that must be done; and having done it, I am relieved."
"It's here for all of us. For the veterans, many who come here with great trepidation, who found peace after being here. They sense this place might tell them something about themselves, something in the background, a mystery, an unknown quantity they didn't know they'd find. But it's not confined to veterans, not at all. It's pretty much general among the entire population of visitors. Totally on their own, with no prompting whatsoever, they will say they sense something; and they can't quite put their finger on it."
Dr, Westphall died in 2003, and is buried at the monument.
(Quote by Dr. Victor Westphall from an article in the Albuquerque Journal, 1994.)
