The Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Oak Ridge Cemetery (SCHS)
On Memorial Day 1986, a small group of camouflage-clad Vietnam veterans walked through Oak Ridge Cemetery, anticipating construction of a memorial for Illinoisans killed or missing in the war.
“People are coming to realize we did our job,” veteran Robert Brehmer told a reporter at the time. “It took a long time to be recognized.” (The Vietnam war officially ended 11 years before the march.)
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial were held on Nov. 9. 1986. They followed two years of fundraising by veterans around the state. One such effort took place in March 1986, when about 130 people joined an 11-hour walk from Jacksonville to the future memorial site at Oak Ridge. An open house sponsored by the Springfield Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund followed the walk.
Jerry Lager of Breese won a competition to design the memorial. The architect was Gary Likins of Decatur. The monument sits on the west (Walnut Street) side of Oak Ridge.
Lager’s design pays homage to artist Maya Lin’s National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Within the star-patterned monument stand five black granite walls, one for each branch of the military (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard). The names of Illinois’ dead and missing in Vietnam – a total of almost 3,000 service members – are carved into the granite.
A small plaque in front of the memorial honors Michael Ferguson, who with another Illinois veteran, Mike Stahl, originally conceived of the memorial (SCHS)
The walls outline four narrow courtyards, and an eternal flame burns atop the center of the memorial.
The memorial was dedicated on May 7, 1988.
While private contributions made up a substantial portion of the $1.25 million construction cost, the state of Illinois in the end provided the bulk of the memorial’s funding. Administration of the memorial is the responsibility of the Historic Preservation Division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (formerly the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency).
Ongoing events include a vigil and service the first weekend in May, a Memorial Day observance, and a Christmas remembrance on the first Saturday in December.
More information: The Vietnam Wall of Faces lists 50 Sangamon County residents killed during the war.
Other memorials: The Illinois Vietnam Veterans Memorial was the first of what today (2026) are six Illinois military tributes in the same area at Oak Ridge. The others commemorate veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, along with memorials to Illinois Purple Heart recipients and Gold Star families.
Contributor: William Cellini Jr.
Original content copyright Sangamon County Historical Society. You are free to republish this content as long as credit is given to the Society. Learn how to support the Society.