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PHOTO: Veterans James Bachelder and Gary Bies hang a wreath at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Capitol Park in Augusta on March 29, during a ceremony honoring Mainers who served in Vietnam. (Maureen Milliken photo)
AUGUSTA – Vietnam veterans, state officials and others gathered at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Capitol Park Tuesday, March 29, for a wreath-laying ceremony on National Vietnam War Veterans Day.
Vietnam veterans James Bachelder and Gary Bies hung a wreath on the memorial as dozens of veterans, state and military officials and others looked on to cap off the 45-minute ceremony.
Guest speakers were Maj. David Hassan, who served in both the Maine and Florida National Guard and, then, as active-duty Army, served in Army Aviation in Vietnam from May 1968 to May 1969. Also speaking was Silver Star-recipient CCM Ron Brodeur, a gunner and crew chief who served with the Green Hornets. Hassan and Brodeur not only spoke about their experiences in Vietnam, with Brodeur reciting the names of several of those who died in the war, but also urged veterans to seek help from the state Bureau of Veterans Services or the VA if they needed it.
Gov. Janet Mills read a proclamation, and Commissioner of the Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management Maj. General Doug Farnham, and David Richmond, director of the Bureau of Veterans’ Services also made remarks.
The Maine State Police Pipe and Drum Unit played the national anthem and Amazing Grace during the ceremony.
Earlier in the day, the Marine Corps League, Central Maine Detachment 810 and the Lewiston/Auburn Veterans Council hosted a remembrance tribute to Vietnam War and era veterans at the Lewiston Armory, followed by a wreath-laying at the Vietnam War Memorial in Lewiston Veterans Park.
More than 48,000 men and women from Maine served in Vietnam, and 343 were killed in combat.
