Charlie Breitrose A giant American Flag flies over the moving Vietnam Ware Memorial at Gore Place in 2016.
Watertown held the first annual National Vietnam War Veterans Day on March 29.
The City Council declared the day by passing a proclamation during the March 22 Council Meeting.
At the meeting, Watertown Veterans Services Officer Patrick George said the day was about 50 years in the making. Servicemen and women who served in Vietnam did not get the parades or other thanks when they came home, George said. The proclamation also honored the 10 Watertown residents killed serving in Vietnam.
Recognizing the National Vietnam War Veterans Day is a way to honor them for their service.
“We have about 500 veterans from Watertown who served in Vietnam, as well as those who did not grow up in Watertown but served in Vietnam and now live here,” George said.
The proclamation reads:
PROCLAMATION HONORING THOSE WHO SERVED IN VIETNAM ON NATIONAL VIETNAM WAR VETERANS DAY
WHEREAS: President Barack Obama proclaimed May 28, 2012, through November 11, 2025 as the Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War, and
WHEREAS: President Donald Trump signed into law, the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017, designating every March 29th as National Vietnam War Veterans Day, and
WHEREAS: On this National Vietnam War Veterans Day of 2022, the City of Watertown heeds the call of the nation to commemorate and honor the ultimate sacrifice of those who fought and died during the Vietnam War, and
WHEREAS: The City of Watertown wishes to recognize the roughly 500 Veterans from our city who served in that war and to recognize their families, and
WHEREAS: The City of Watertown remembers and honors the lives lost during that war, and pays special attention to the following Sons of Watertown who lost their lives during that war:
• James Patrick Casey, Warrant Officer, Army
• Paul James Gorman, Private First Class, Marine Corps
• Frederick E. Harrington, Jr., Corporal, Army
• John Robe1t Johnson, Private First Class, Army
• Daniel Joseph Minahan, First Lieutenant, Marine Corps
• John H. Moreno, Sergeant, Marine Corps
• Richard Stephen Moxley, Private First Class, Marine Corps
• William Kenneth Regan, Sergeant, Army
• John Joseph Sullivan, Private First Class, Army
• Paul Joseph Sullivan, First Lieutenant, Army
NOW THEREFORE BE IT PROCLAIMED: That the City of Watertown hereby proclaims Tuesday, March 29, 2022, as NATIONAL VIETNAM WAR VETERANS DAY
IN WITNESS HEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the City of Watertown to be Affixed on this 22nd day of March 2022.
Mark S. Sideris, Council President