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11/12/2009 3:33 AM

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By Scott Beveridge, Staff writer, sbeveridge@observer-reporter.com

This article has been read 517 times.

BRIDGEVILLE - U.S. Army Gen. Peter Lennon said he had an experience while welcoming troops home from Afghanistan two weeks ago that defined today's bond among military men and women.

A group of Vietnam War veterans from New Jersey stayed at Fort Dix well beyond 3 a.m. that day to provide a welcome home meal for the soldiers with the 430th Transportation Company of Baltimore, Md.

"They had a bond of brotherhood and didn't even know each other," said Lennon while speaking Wednesday during the Veterans Day program at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies in Cecil Township.

One of the Vietnam veterans who served in an era when soldiers were not given a proper welcome home later gave Lennon a coin before they parted. It contains the phrase, "Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another," he said.

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Veterans Day, which celebrated its 90th anniversary Wednesday, is a time to pay tribute to those who served their country, whether or not they did so at wartime and especially if they gave the ultimate sacrifice, he said.

The holiday was originally named Armistice Day when it was established by President Woodrow Wilson following World War I, a conflict that was supposed to be "the war to end all wars," said Lennon, commander of the 316th Expeditionary Sustainment Command in Coraopolis.

Unfortunately, wars have continued to involve the United States in nearly each decade that followed World War I, Lennon said.

And Americans, "they've simply responded, 'Send me,' when most have had the luxury of focusing on other things," he said.

Several hundred people gathered for the program at the 292-acre cemetery where nearly 3,000 veterans and some of their spouses are buried.

Members of the Patriot Guard Riders, many of whom are Vietnam War veterans, served as a color guard for the service. That group of motorcycle enthusiasts formed several years ago to protest against a Kansas church that was protesting at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, said member Tim Hammett of Claysville.

Alongside a far edge of the cemetery, amid a row of white marble tombstones, Debbie Dolence of Robinson, Allegheny County, placed a dozen red roses above the graves of her parents.

"This is such a beautiful place. I have such peace of mind here," she said.

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