DIXON – Tom Whelan, a four-time Purple Heart recipient, teared up Sunday when a monument honoring veterans killed or wounded in war was dedicated in Veterans Memorial Park.

“I think it’s outstanding,” said Whelan, 63, of Dixon. “I’m very proud of it, very proud, especially thinking about all the men that died or saved us, and all the guys who got wounded. I know what they went through.”

Whelan served in the Army in Vietnam from 1967 to 1970. He was with the 173rd Airborne Brigade doing long-range reconnaissance.