Mayor James J. Fiorentini joined local leaders and representatives from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Ad Hoc Memorial Commission Friday morning at Mill Brook Park in Haverhill for a wreath laying ceremony to mark March 29’s National Vietnam War Veterans Day.
(WHAV News photograph)
To pay tribute, the group left a wreath donated by Angelo The Florist at the foot of the city’s plaque commemorating the 13 local men who died in Vietnam. As an added touch, Georgetown’s Nunan Florist and Greenhouse lined the area around the memorial with pansies. Joining Fiorentini to lay the wreath were City Councilors Thomas J. Sullivan, Melinda E. Barrett and Vietnam Commission Chairman Ralph Basiliere, among others.
On this day in 1973, combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam and the last prisoners of war arrived back home on U.S. soil. The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act, signed into law in 2017, designates the day as an official annual day of remembrance. Nine million men and women served in the Vietnam era and seven million are still alive, Basiliere said.
Haverhill’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Ad Hoc Memorial Commission continues to raise money to revamp Mill Brook Park. To donate, visit the city’s website at cityofhaverhill.com.