Vietnam Tribute Touches Veterans' Families, Friends

Somerset County observed Military Service Day Saturday, honoring all those who served, and specifically the 34 county residents who gave their lives during the Vietnam War.

The observance took place as part of the American Veterans Traveling Tribute (AVTT) and Traveling Vietnam Wall’s visit to in Bridgewater.

As some searched for familiar names, others shed tears, left flowers, cards and American flags or tried to take an etching of a loved one’s name.

Bridgewater resident Peter Johnson, wearing a Navy cap, stared at the 80-percent-scale version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., looking for the names of "classmates and boyhood friends.”

“It’s fantastic,” he said. “It keeps me connected with the people that I know that paid the ultimate price. It reminds me of my own service. And it’s a great educational tool for the children in the community.”

Ronald Malone, who was raised in Somerville, said he came from his current residence in Monroe “to see the names of some of the guys I lost in Vietnam.”

Of the exhibit and the 370-foot-long wall with the names of 58,272 men and women who gave their lives, he said, “I think it’s great. It should be done more often. Every county throughout the United States should do it.

Somerset County Veterans Services Director Peter Niemiec, who served in Vietnam and the Gulf War, saluted the veterans—many from Chapter 452 of the Vietnam Veterans of America—in attendance, saying, “Thank you for your service. You are the ones who went out and came back and we are here this week to remember those that did not.”

“Veterans are ordinary people that accomplished unordinary things. Every day is Veterans Day in Somerset County,” he told those gathered for the ceremony. “Thank you for being here today to celebrate the lives and legacies of those we have lost but never have forgotten.”

Bridgewater resident and AVTT Marketing Director Tom Zarcone thanked the veterans for their “unwavering service in peacetime and in war, here and throughout the world. The legacies of our veterans continue to inspire our soldiers today.”

To the Vietnam veterans he stressed, “We are a country of temperance, compassion and reason. We want to show our appreciation to you for your service.” He encouraged all to volunteer in the community.

Keynote speaker John Kitchen, a former Somerset County freeholder who served in Vietnam, provided a look at the history of the war and the world during that time.

“It’s been 43 years since I was in Vietnam. I still remember the faces of some of those young souls who were lost,” he said, encouraging people not to forget “the 58,272 men and women whose names are on that wall behind us.”

The ceremony concluded with the 13 Somerset County mayors (or their representatives) placing wreaths in front of plaques honoring the citizens from their municipalities who gave their lives during the Vietnam War.