For the previous 42 years, Medal of Honor Park in Southie has been a supply of satisfaction, honoring 25 males from the neighborhood who misplaced their lives throughout the Vietnam War.
The 6-acre peaceable sanctuary on East Broadway is now bursting with much more historical past.
A pair of saplings, devoted on Sunday, keep it up the legacy of each neighborhood Marine who has died in the entire nation’s wars in addition to the 34 residents killed throughout World War I.
The dedication of the child oak bushes got here throughout the forty second anniversary of the South Boston Vietnam Memorial, which drew the presence of veterans, households and native officers.
Tommy Lyons, founding father of the South Boston Vietnam Memorial Committee, obtained the saplings earlier this 12 months earlier than their plantings in late May. The bushes are from Belleau Wood in France, the positioning of a significant World War I battle in June 1918, wherein greater than 1,800 American troops died.
Lyons recounted how nationwide information crews from New York got here to South Boston to seize the grand dedication and unveiling of the Vietnam Memorial on Sept. 13, 1981, 13 months earlier than the dedication of the nationwide Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Both bushes additionally symbolize the ability behind holding an anniversary celebration each September, Lyons mentioned.
“Coincidentally, the dream 42 years ago was to remember the friends we lost and honor their ultimate sacrifice they made,” mentioned Lyons, a Vietnam veteran himself. “It’s a dream that will never die so long as this sacred circle exists, and parents take the time to tell their children about the names carved into this stone as they make their way to the playground.”
Marine Corps Lt. General Christopher Mahoney, a local of Weymouth, referred to as it a”true privilege” to attend the ceremony and function keynote speaker.
He highlighted what he referred to as “the strength of Southie,” illustrated by the 25 names inscribed onto the stone that’s the South Boston Vietnam Memorial.
“Unlike many of you here, I didn’t know any of them,” Mahoney mentioned. “But when I thought about it, I really didn’t have to. I know of men like them. I know of individuals that I serve with that follow a tradition of service. … They worried more about the guys to their left and their fight than they did about themselves.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”