Amherst Police Chief Lonnie Dillon estimated the dedication crowd at about 1,200. About 650 of them were family members of the 98 Vietnam War dead, seated in folding metal chairs beneath white pavilions decorated with small American flags.
Guest speakers included U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will, Amherst Mayor Dave Taylor and Sam Felton Jr., a Lorain soldier who served three tours in Vietnam and was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism in rescuing wounded Marines while under fire from the enemy.
''The ceremony was wonderful,'' Dillon said after the almost three-hour dedication. ''I'm glad they put (the memorial) here.'' Dillon said he was grateful for the weather, with a light cloud cover and cool breezes helping to forestall medical emergencies that could have been caused by heat and humidity.
Officers closed North Lake Street to motor traffic during the event, creating a quiet background for speakers. A vintage Bell 47 helicopter landed in the open field across the street from the memorial about 11 a.m., in a cloud of greenish-yellow smoke from a smoke grenade lobbed by Dave Spanski, site chairman for the committee, who has worked for years to make the memorial a reality.
Vietnam veteran Corky Pelton hopped out of the curved Plexiglas bubble at the front of the aircraft and walked through the smoke, across North Lake Street and to the memorial, where he delivered a folded American flag to Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps units that included Southview High School Army, Elyria High School Army and Lorain Admiral King High School Navy groups. The flag was raised on the highest of eight flagpoles that surround the memorial and fluttered on gentle breezes while flags for all five branches of America's fighting forces, the Ohio state flag and the black and white POW-MIA flag were raised in unison.
Setting a respectful tone that was followed through the ceremonies, the crowd stood at attention in silence punctuated by birdsongs and the snapping of camera shutters.
Vietnam veteran Don Attie, with a white beard, wire-frame glasses and olive-drab fatigues with his sleeves rolled up, served as the master of ceremonies. Attie is also the fundraising chairman of the committee that created the memorial.
''Our veterans gave us the freedoms we enjoy today,'' he said. ''They will always be number one in my book.''
Sutton said the memorial was an important achievement that was probably years too late.
''We owe a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid for the lives that were lost in Vietnam,'' she said. ''But we try in our small way to give back what is long overdue.''
Taylor said his city was grateful to have the memorial to Lorain County's heroes.
''This memorial will remind us of the sacrifice and the pain endured by the slain soldiers' families and friends,'' he said.
Vietnam veteran Dennis Will reminded the crowd of the nine million who served in the Vietnam War and the more than 58,000 who lost their lives there. Each of America's wars in the 20th Century had a defining phrase, he said, except for the Vietnam War.
''World War One was the war to end all wars, and World War Two was fought by The Greatest Generation,'' he said. ''But we struggle to find a phrase for the Vietnam War. (Medal of Honor winner) Peter Lemon called it The Defining War. We discovered ourselves in it, directly or indirectly, and it has defined and developed a generation of leaders.''
A poem of mourning was read by Pastor Mike Plog of Faith Baptist Church, and Attie introduced Felton as a boyhood friend who, even before his military service, displayed heroism by saving a young boy's life at the Hot Waters Marina.
The tall, burly Felton, also wearing a white beard and Army fatigues, described conditions in Vietnam as almost unbearable.
''You looked at the man next to you for support,'' he said. ''Black, white or latino, it didn't matter. I experienced a lot of terrible things and a few uplifting things. Today we're all family, Lorain County's extended family. (The 98 fallen comrades) will be forever young and God knows they will be forever in our hearts.''
A huge C-130 cargo plane with four propeller engines flew over at low altitude, and a single-engine SNJ/T6 Texas trainer airplane flew over later in the ceremony.
The Soldiers of History, a military re-enactment group based at VFW Post 3341 in Grafton, performed a maneuver behind the memorial, emerging from woods surrounding a Vietnam-era Huey helicopter that was displayed for the dedication. The movements of the 19 were narrated by Vietnam veteran Tom Temerario, who explained they were on patrol when they received a radio message to take the top of a hill and secure an objective.
One by one, the re-enactors crept from the trees in full uniforms and helmets, carrying M-16 rifles or .44 automatic pistols, wearing backpacks or bedrolls. Some had beard stubble or mustaches, ammunition belts draped over their shoulders, binoculars around their necks or flashlights clipped to their belts. A few had crumpled cigarette packs on elastic bands around their helmets.
Their ranks included Vietnam vets, such as Stanley Pijor, 56, of Grafton. Pijor served in Danang from 1971 to 1972, he said. He wore a uniform he purchased on the Internet and carried an M-79 grenade launcher from the 1970s, he said.
The Soldiers of History were led by John Lescher, 59, who was in the 101st Airborne Division in the early 1970s. Yesterday he portrayed a radio transmitter operator, carrying a 20-pound portable radio on his back and an M-16 rifle in his hands.
''This was stunning, it was the best event we've ever attended,'' Lescher said. The group has uniforms and equipment from America's armed conflicts from the French and Indian Wars to the Iraq War, he said.
After emerging from the woods east of the site, they fanned out, surrounded the memorial, and Temerario declared the perimeter secure.
''Let the unveiling begin and welcome our brothers home,'' he said.
The memorial was covered with an olive-drab parachute that snagged on the cast-bronze eagle as it was pulled down, bending the eagle at its legs. Site chairman Dave Spanski said the eagle, which has 98 feathers for the 98 Vietnam dead, would later be repaired.
Temerario read aloud the names of the 98 fallen, as members of their families walked to the granite monument to lay down tributes to their lost loved ones. Many laid down roses, and other mementoes included a pair of black leather combat boots worn in Vietnam.
Vietnam veteran David Jones, 60, of Ashland, honored his identical twin brother, Davis A. Jones, a Marine lance corporal who died Nov. 2, 1967, in Quang Nam province. The Jones brothers grew up in Loudonville and Wellington. Jones laid down a single rose and a newspaper clipping about his brother, his best friend Russ Sword, and a Marine corporal from North Royalton who was killed in Iraq last August.
''My brother and I and Russ all joined the Marines together,'' Jones said. About a dozen members of his family attended the dedication, he said.
The Soldiers of History escorted the family members through the ceremony, while patriotic music played, including marches by John Philip Sousa.
A three-gun volley was fired by the Cleveland chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and ''Taps'' was played by Noah Fernandez and Joey Szabo. ''Amazing Grace'' was played on bagpipes by Bob Durrach, of the Irish Heritage Pipe Band of Avon and Bob Kish, a Vermilion police officer who performs with the Cleveland Police Pipes and Drums.
Elyria Mayor Bill Grace attended the dedication.
''I've never been to such a moving ceremony,'' Grace said. ''It's a wonderful tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.''
After the dedication, Attie said he hoped the monument would help the families of the men who died all those years ago.
''I hope we brought some type of closure and started a healing process for families, friends and veterans,'' he said. ''I consider this Mission Accomplished on a job long overdue.''
Rose Drozdowski, whose brother Bob Nagy died in Vietnam, said she was pleased with the dedication.
''I'm drained, but I'm happy,'' she said. ''It's time to close a chapter.''
sallyn@morningjournal.com
©The Morning Journal 2007
