War Memorial Dedication: 'So Many Died So We Could Live'

The lives of 95 Lower Bucks County Vietnam War servicemen who died or are missing were honored Sunday with a new memorial.

With a crowd of several hundred watching, the Lower Bucks County Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled Sunday for the first time at its home at Veterans Park along Veterans Highway (Route 413) in Middletown Township.

The memorial carries the names of 94 Vietnam War servicemembers who were killed in action or from the afterefects of it. One name is of a soldier who remains missing in action.

The event featured the 11-person Armed Forces Color Guard from the Military District of Washington D.C. and a flyover by an iconic Vietnam War-era UH-1 Huey helicopter. It also included a final roll call of both living Vietnam veterans and the dead and missing.

Ed Preston, a driving force behind the creation of the memorial, unveiled the permanent remembrance along with a group of veterans and sculptor Abbe Godwin.

The memorial that allows for reflection is 10-foot-by-10-foot and 5 to 6 feet tall. It has black granite block that lists the 95 soldiers from around Lower Bucks County. A second panel features the insignias of the five branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as the Vietnam War service ribbon. A bronze sculpture of a Vietnam War soldier stands in front of the wall.

The idea for the memorial grew out of the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall that visited Penndel Borough in 2017.

Godwin said the sculpture allows for people to look back and pay respects to those who died.

“So many died so we could live,” she said.

“In this space, we remember them and we rededicate ourselves in their memory,” she added.

Godwin created the Corpsman Memorial and the the Peacekeeper statue at the Beirut Memorial, both at Camp Johnson in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and the North Carolina Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the state capitol in Raleigh.

Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick said the memorial in Middletown Township recognizes people who do the opposite of what most will do. Instead of running away from danger, he remarked, servicemembers run toward it.

Middletown Township Board of Supervisors Chairperson Tom Tosti said the municipality is honored to have the memorial within its borders.

In his remarks, Tosti said those who serve the country should be treated with the “upmost regard.”

Preston thanked the generosity of the community for raising the $250,000 for the Lower Bucks County memorial. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, funds were able to be raised for the event.

“There are 95 families that needed us to complete this,” he said.

Donations to current and future projects by the group behind the memorial can be made at lbcvvm.org.

Photos from the event are courtesy James Tryon Photography in Feasterville: