A Camp Pendleton memorial honoring members of the “Fighting 5th” who fell in Vietnam will take another step closer to completion this week.
A groundbreaking ceremony is set for 3 p.m. on Friday at the 5th Marine Regiment Memorial Garden in the Camp Mateo section of the sprawling base.
“We absolutely want everyone there. The public is invited,” said Steve Colwell, the Carlsbad real estate developer who has spearheaded the building of the monument.
Vermont’s Rock of Ages quarry has been hewing the 50 tons of black granite into six large slabs. Along with a spire rising in the center of the monument, the memorial will display the names of 2,706 Marines and sailors killed in action while fighting for the three battalions that comprised the 5th Marine Regiment in Vietnam, plus the dead from 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines.
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