Plourde Joins Vietnam Commission as Group Accepts $8K Landscaping Gift

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

The Haverhill Vietnam Memorial was relocated to Mill Brook Park in November. (Courtesy photograph/John Sielicki)

Haverhill’s Vietnam Memorial Ad Hoc Commission is making great strides in its effort to redesign the city’s war memorial at Mill Brook Park. This week, the commission appointed by Mayor James J. Fiorentini welcomed new member Daniel Plourde, the longtime chairman of the VFW Santa Parade.

In addition to Plourde’s appointment, the group is also celebrating an $8,000 gift from Sudbury Group landscape architect Fred Clark, earmarked to cover the preparation of a new design schematic for the memorial.

“The importance of this gift cannot be understated,” Commission Chair Ralph Basiliere said of Clark’s gesture. His pro bono work comes on the heels of Haverhill’s Cutting Edge Lawn Service agreeing to install two granite benches and provide landscaping maintenance and twice yearly cleanups of the area for the next 10 years.

Basiliere plans to update the City Council on the Commission’s recent activities at next week’s meeting, he told WHAV.