‘Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway’ signs face backlash from Vietnam veterans

TENNESSEE – Vietnam veterans in Sumner County, Tennessee, are objecting to official signs honouring slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk that have appeared on a stretch of a state highway that has been designated Vietnam Veterans Boulevard since 1987.

The signs, which say “Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway”, appeared on State Route 386 in Sumner County, north of Nashville, in June to the surprise of a number of Vietnam veterans who live in the area.

“We woke up to find that there were signs placed on Vietnam Veterans Boulevard,” said David Black, 78, a Vietnam veteran and professor at Vanderbilt University.

“And that road has been designated as a memorial to Vietnam veterans for over four decades.”

Barry Rice, 80, president of the Tennessee State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said: “Many of our veterans are very supportive of some memorial somewhere for Charlie Kirk.”

“But, not on our Vietnam Veterans Boulevard,” he added.

Representative Johnny Garrett, a Republican who represents Sumner County in the Tennessee General Assembly, proposed a memorial designation for State Route 386 honouring Kirk in March.

“This past year I was approached by several constituents who wished to find a way to honour Charlie Kirk for the life he lived defending the freedom of speech and inspiring an entire generation of young people to stand up for the freedoms and Christian values that our nation was built on,” Garrett said in an e-mail.

Garrett said he chose the location “because it is the main entrance to Sumner County from Nashville”.

Vietnam veterans in Sumner County were “totally blind sided” by the move, according to Black, a Marine Corps veteran. “No one from the legislature reached out to us,” he said.

Vietnam Veterans Boulevard memorialises 25 service members from Sumner County who died in the Vietnam War, each of whom is honoured with a sign noting their name and branch of service.

Garrett said that after he “heard from several veterans who voiced concern about adding an additional memorial sign to the existing Vietnam Veterans Parkway”, he “immediately took action to find a location that was most appropriate to honour both our Vietnam veterans who fought to protect our rights and Charlie Kirk, who died exercising those very same rights”.

Black, who has been a guest on Kirk’s podcast, and Rice, who served in the army, said they have been told the Kirk signs would be moved, but that they did not know when. The signs were still up on July 22, they said, and it most likely will take a second legislative vote to move them.

A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Beth Emmons, said in an e-mailed statement that the agency had not received an order to remove the Kirk signs.

“The Tennessee General Assembly approves memorial designation of roadways, while the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is responsible for fabricating and installing the signage,” she said.

“Regarding placement or removal of the signage, TDOT will follow the direction provided by the General Assembly, which we haven’t received yet.”

Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, the advocacy group that Kirk founded, said in an interview that he was grateful for “the impulse to honour Charlie”.

“Perhaps there is a better highway that would be a good candidate,” he said in an interview. “I trust the lawmakers and Vietnam veterans groups to come up with a solution that can honour both in the way they deserve.”

Black said the veterans “want the signs down as quickly as possible”.

Young people who “are driving down this road”, he said, “they’ll see the name Charlie Kirk, and they know that name, but they don’t know about Vietnam and what the veterans experienced or endured.

“And pretty soon for them, it’s going to become Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway, because that’s a name they recognise.” THE NEW YORK TIMES