Vietnam vets dedicate marker at national cemetery
Dedicating a stone marker for Vietnam veterans Saturday at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies, Cecil Township, are, from left, the Rev. Michael Wurschmidt, founder of the Shepherd’s Heart Ministry and Fellowship, which focuses on the needs of veterans; Paul Lacko of Monongahela; and Ron Hestdalen, cemetery director.
The honor guard of Vietnam Veterans Inc., based in Pittsburgh, participated in Saturday’s ceremony at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.
“We went as strangers. We came home as brothers,” reads the inscription on a stone placed Saturday during a ceremony at the assembly area at National Cemetery of the Alleghenies, Cecil Township.
Undeterred by falling temperatures, wind and rain, Vietnam Veterans Inc., a national organization with chapters in Pittsburgh and Fayette County, prompted about 100 people to gather along the memorial walkway.
The Vietnam veterans marker honors members of all branches of the military who served in-country, said Robert “Butch” Burke of Pittsburgh, the team leader who organized the honor guard.
Burke said the group began seeking donations about six months ago for the stone that was placed along the memorial walkway, home to about a dozen markers for service-related organizations.
Vietnam Veterans Inc. meets Thursdays at 9 a.m. at Gianna Via’s Restaurant, 5301 Grove Road, at Caste Village Shopping Center, Whitehall.
Its mission is to encourage and promote comradeship and “esprit de corps” among Vietnam veterans; to assist and needy Vietnam veterans and their dependents, and to promote physical and cultural improvement and growth, development, self-respect and self-confidence of Vietnam veterans.