Haverhill Bank, Affordable Restaurant Equipment Donate to Vietnam Memorial Improvement Fund

The memorial at Mill Brook Park was dedicated in November. (Courtesy photograph/John Sielicki)

Local businesses including Haverhill Bank are supporting the maintenance efforts associated with the Vietnam Memorial. (Courtesy photograph/John Sielicki)

Now that Haverhill’s Vietnam Memorial has a new home in Mill Brook Park, several city businesses are stepping up to make sure the remembrance landmark is kept in pristine condition.

At Wednesday’s meeting of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Ad Hoc Commission, the group of vets, city residents and local elected officials announced $1,200 has been donated from Haverhill Bank and Affordable Restaurant Equipment to the group’s phase II development plan.

Committee chair Ralph Basiliere tells WHAV the group continues to fundraise to defray the costs of running electricity to illuminate the flag, replace a bronze plaque that was previously vandalized, and hire a landscape designer.

While not yet approved by the City Council, Cutting Edge Lawn Service of Haverhill has offered to install two granite benches and provide landscaping maintenance and twice yearly cleanups of the area for the next 10 years.

Haverhill’s Brightside also plans to formally adopt the park, Basiliere said.

The gifts come on the heels of the group’s Nov. 10 dedication of the memorial that bears the name of 13 city servicemen who died while serving in the Vietnam War. It was relocated to the area near Plug’s Pond from the Water Street side of the Basiliere Bridge.