VVA members commemorated Memorial Day in befitting ways this year, hosting and attending solemn ceremonies, remembering and honoring military personnel who gave their lives to the nation while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Here is a sampling of those events.

Northern Virginia Dean K. Phillips Memorial Chapter 227 held its annual ceremony on Memorial Day, May 26, at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Following the brief service, chapter members adjourned for breakfast at a diner in Arlington, Virginia. Chapter 227 member Chuck Harris was the guest speaker later that morning at the Memorial Day commemoration outside the Loudoun County Courthouse in Leesburg, Virginia. Harris helped lay wreaths at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial stone honoring twelve local servicemembers who did not come home from the war and four who perished in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Montgomery, Alabama, Chapter 607 added a new monument to the Vietnam War Memorial at Greenwood Cemetery in Montgomery on Memorial Day. Fresno, California, Chapter 933 held its 34th annual Sunrise Service Memorial Day Observance at Woodward Park, which featured a solemn reading of the names of local servicemembers who lost their lives in Vietnam. The ceremony “is an honest expression of our concern for the families and for the souls who were lost defending our freedom,” said former chapter president Jim Doyle.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Charles S. Kettles Chapter 310 held its Memorial Day Observance at the Washtenaw County Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Ypsilanti, during which chapter members read the names of 76 local men who died in Vietnam and two still listed as MIA. Members of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Chapter 67, took part in the Memorial Day Parade on May 25 in Media, Pa.

Frank Caruso

San Angelo, Texas, Chapter 457 had its annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Concho Valley Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Mathis Field Airport, which the chapter built and maintains and which includes a restored Vietnam War Huey helicopter. The memorial, which was dedicated in 1997, honors the 48 men from 15 Concho Valley counties who lost their lives in the war. Members of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, Chapter 731 helped place nearly 3,000 small American flags at veterans’ gravestones at Evergreen Cemetery in Manitowoc two days before Memorial Day, on Saturday, May 24.

Members of Alexandria, Minnesota, Chapter 235 took part in the annual Alexandria Memorial Day Parade. A Word War II veteran, Jim Clermont, was the parade’s Grand Marshall. A program and ceremony took place at the city’s Veterans Memorial Park following the parade.

LaFolette, Tennessee, Chapter 1148 hosted a Local Heroes program on May 22 during the city’s annual pre-Memorial Day Banner Dedication ceremony in honor of the twelve Campbell County servicemembers who lost their lives in the Vietnam War. Chapter Chaplain Paul Hilliard opened the ceremony with a prayer; Chapter President Ed Housely led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Members of Waukesha, Wisconsin, Chapter 425 took part in the town’s annual Memorial Day ceremonies at Cutler Park. Chapter President Joseph Deloria, Sr., lead a group of local Boy Scouts laying a wreath of remembrance.

Texarkana, Texas, Chapter 278 hosted its 42nd annual Memorial Day ceremony at the city’s Korea/Vietnam Memorial, which the chapter built and dedicated in 1988. The ceremony included a reading of the names inscribed on the memorial. “We are here to remember and honor those who gave their lives to protect our freedom,” said Chapter President Greg Beck.

Cincinnati Chapter 10, along with the Vietnam Veterans of Southwest Ohio Foundation, co-hosted the 40th annual Memorial Day ceremonies at the city’s Vietnam Memorial in Eden Park. Chapter President Forrest Brandt spoke about placing a new monument at the memorial honoring women who served during the Vietnam War. Following the ceremonies, the chapter presented four scholarships to recent high school graduates.

Clarence Tabb/VVA Detroit Chapter 9

Rochester, New York, Chapter 20 held its annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial of Greater Rochester in the city’s Highland Park, honoring the 280 local servicemembers who perished in the Vietnam War. Chapter 20 members were instrumental in founding and building the one-of-a-kind, 2.5-acre memorial, which was dedicated in 1996. “These… heroes missed beautiful holidays like this and more,” Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter said during his remarks. “The only way we can thank them is to live like true free Americans and honor their sacrifices.”

Columbus, Texas, Chapter 1127 held its Memorial Day Ceremony at the Columbus City Veterans Memorial Park. Savannah, Georgia, Chapter 671 moved its Memorial Day event honoring 106 area servicemembers who died in the Vietnam War from the city’s Emmet Park Vietnam Veterans Memorial indoors due to the day’s rainy weather.

Chapter 604

Westport, Massachusetts, Chapter 207 President Justin Latini, VVA’s Region 1 Director, worked with other veterans to clean the black granite Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Fall River—an 80 percent replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.—on May 21 prior to the Memorial Day ceremonies five days later. Latini was a member and fundraising chair of the committee that built the memorial, which was dedicated in 2021.

Medina, Ohio, Chapter 385’s annual Memorial Day event honoring the 105 men and women from Medina County who lost their lives in World Wars I and II and in the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq was held at the county’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Vietnam War “had a devastating impact on the young men and women who served in the military, many of whom struggle to this day and are still struggling to adjust to civilian life,” said Chapter Vice President Dave Zeleznak. “We must remember that freedom is never free. Its cost was the lives of the bravest Americans. The fallen must never be forgotten.”

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