Provided by the PA Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation:
Credit: Darryl Rule/LevittownNow.com
Surviving Vietnam vets will be front and center to honor fallen or missing comrades when the dedication of the Lower Bucks County Vietnam Veterans Memorial takes place on Sunday, September 26 at11:30 a.m. at Veterans Park along Veterans Highway (Route 413) in Middletown Township.
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Bucks County author Jim McComb and four other veterans of the Vietnam War – Langhorne’s John Rumsey and Fran Drummond, Bristol’s George Delia and Falls Township’s Ed Sabol – will narrate the stories of some of the 95 Lower Bucks County servicemen who never returned home from Vietnam.
McComb served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam and authored “More Than Names On A Wall,” about the 136 servicemen from Bucks County who died in, or remain missing in action because of, the conflict. Former U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy, a veteran of the Iraq War, and current U.S. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick also will participate in the individual tributes.
In addition to the individual stories, the event also will include remarks from Abbe Godwin, sculptor of the statue that will be a focal point of the monument; a helicopter flyover; and other tributes. It will culminate in a roll call of Vietnam veterans in attendance and those whose names are inscribed on the memorial, as well as postwar casualties of Agent Orange.
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The memorial dedication will begin at 11:30 a.m. Ceremonies will include:
- The 11-person Armed Forces Color Guard from the Military District of Washington, DC;
- A military helicopter flyover;
- Tributes to the fallen from multiple Lower Bucks County Vietnam veterans and others;
- Remarks by Abbe Godwin, sculptor of the statue that will be a focal point of the monument; and
- A roll call of Vietnam veterans in attendance and those whose names are inscribed on the memorial, as well as postwar casualties of Agent Orange.
Veterans Highway will be closed between Highland Park Entrance and Trenton Road in Middletown Township between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday in conjunction with the dedication of the Lower Bucks County Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Veterans Memorial Park.
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To accommodate those attending the ceremonies, Middletown Township will operate shuttle buses from remote parking facilities at Carl Sandburg Middle School/Albert Schweitzer Elementary School, both at 30 Harmony Road in the Highland Park section of Levittown, and the Middletown Senior Center at 2140 Trenton Road in Levittown. Attendants will be on site at the parking locations; lavatory facilities will be open at the Middletown Senior Center. Buses will begin running at 10:30 a.m.; the last return bus is expected to leave Veterans Memorial Park at 2 p.m.
Three years in the making, the memorial will include 95 names of servicemen from Lower Bucks County, including 94 killed in action and one missing in action. The memorial sculpture is being created by Abbe Godwin, a highly regarded creator of works memorializing members of the armed services, whose works include the Corpsman Memorial and the Peacekeeper statue at the Beirut Memorial, both at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina and the North Carolina Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the state capitol in Raleigh.
The memorial will honor sons of Bensalem Township, Bristol Borough, Bristol Township, Falls Township, Hulmeville Borough, Langhorne Borough, Langhorne Manor Borough, Lower Makefield Township, Lower Southampton Township, Middletown Township, Morrisville Borough, Newtown Borough, Newtown Township, Northampton Township, Penndel Borough, Upper Makefield Township, Upper Southampton Township, and Wrightstown Township.
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The anticipated $250,000 cost of the memorial is being funded by state and local grants, and through various fund-raising efforts. Donations can be made at www.lbcvvm.org.
The memorial has been created by the PA Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation, a grass-roots organization that includes many members of the team that brought the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall to the area in 2017. The Wall in Bucks County drew upwards of 25,000 people during its July 14-16 run in Penndel. The event also raised more than $31,000 in money and goods that was donated to local and national veterans causes. The PA Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation is chaired by Ed Preston, who also chaired The Wall in Bucks County and chair the Penndel-Hulmeville Memorial Day Parade.
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