Henderson’s Veterans Memorial Wall has 2 new panels

The wall — a city-funded project installed in 1994 adjacent to City Hall on South Water Street — features names of U.S. military veterans who’ve lived in Henderson.

The city installed the new panels in September. The panel for the Persian Gulf War includes Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Sabre. Global War on Terror encompasses Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. The military creates names for its wartime operations.

Since the wall was installed 25 years ago, 1,866 veterans’ names have been added. The standalone panels are arranged in a circular outdoor display with a fountain in the middle.

This year, five new names were added — those of Charles E. Leany, Chris Banks Lane and Bradley Alan Lane to the deceased veterans panel, and David Stevens and Jason “Sluggo” Altchek to the Persian Gulf War panel. The veterans and their families were recognized Nov. 2 during the city’s Veterans Day ceremony, held nine days ahead of Monday’s official holiday.

Veterans — or family members on their behalf — must apply and meet eligibility requirements to have a name added to the wall. There are six panels, featuring deceased veterans, Vietnam War veterans, Persian Gulf War veterans, Global War on Terror veterans, veterans killed in action and veterans who earned the Purple Heart Medal.

“We try to make people as aware as possible that we have a wall,” Buchanan said.

The Veterans Memorial Wall is a great way to honor Henderson veterans, said Bob Zentz, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 983 in Green Valley. He served in the Air Force for five years and was stationed overseas in South Korea and the Philippine Islands during the mid- to late 1970s.

“Most veterans serve and return to live a productive life out of the limelight,” Zentz wrote in a Nov. 5 email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Being added to the Veterans Memorial Wall, he said, may be an “unexpected honor.”

It’s important to add a veteran’s name to the wall while he or she is alive, he said.

“In the case of a deceased veteran, I believe it is comforting and gives the family an acknowledgement of the respect their loved one deserved,” Zentz said.

As for the new panels, younger veterans of those conflicts are “to an extent becoming overlooked,” Zentz said.

An estimated 24,314 veterans live in Henderson, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from July 2018. And nearby Boulder City is home to the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

Henderson, Buchanan said, was “actually born in the defense of the nation.”

During the World War II era in the 1940s, Basic Magnesium Inc. supplied magnesium to the U.S. War Department. Basic Townsite was later renamed Henderson.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.