ROAD CLOSURE AND PARKING ALERTS:
LOWER BUCKS VIETNAM MEMORIAL DEDICATION SUNDAY, SEPT. 26
Ceremonies Set for 11:30 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park in Middletown Township, Bucks County
September 21, 2021 (Hulmeville, PA) – Veterans Highway will be closed between Highland Park Entrance/(Google Maps: Hollow Road) and Trenton Road in Middletown Township between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 26 in conjunction with the dedication of the Lower Bucks County Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Veterans Memorial Park.
To accommodate those attending the ceremonies, Middletown Township will operate shuttle buses from remote parking facilities at Carl Sandburg Middle School/Albert Schweitzer Elementary School, both at 30 Harmony Road in the Highland Park section of Levittown, and the Middletown Senior Center at 2140 Trenton Road in Levittown. Attendants will be on site at the parking locations; lavatory facilities will be open at the Middletown Senior Center. Buses will begin running at 10:30 a.m.; the last return bus is expected to leave Veterans Memorial Park at 2:00 p.m.
The memorial dedication will begin at 11:30 a.m. Ceremonies will include:
- The 11-person Armed Forces Color Guard from the Military District of Washington, DC;
- A military helicopter flyover;
- Tributes to the fallen from multiple Lower Bucks County Vietnam veterans and others;
- Remarks by Abbe Godwin, sculptor of the statue that will be a focal point of the monument; and
- A roll call of Vietnam veterans in attendance and those whose names are inscribed on the memorial, as well as postwar casualties of Agent Orange.
Plans call for the 600-pound statue to be set in place on Friday, September 24, and then shrouded until the Sunday, Sept. 26 ceremonies.
Three years in the making, the memorial will include 95 names of servicemen from Lower Bucks County, including 94 killed in action and one missing in action. The memorial sculpture has been created by Abbe Godwin. Godwin is renowned for creating the statue of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Gardens in Raleigh, NC; the Stephen Foster sculpture in the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the North Carolina Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the state capitol in Raleigh; and other works.
The memorial will honor sons of Bensalem Township, Bristol Borough, Bristol Township, Falls Township, Hulmeville Borough, Langhorne Borough, Langhorne Manor Borough, Lower Makefield Township, Lower Southampton Township, Middletown Township, Morrisville Borough, Newtown Borough, Newtown Township, Northampton Township, Penndel Borough, Upper Makefield Township, Upper Southampton Township, and Wrightstown Township.
The cost of the memorial is being funded by state and local grants, and through various fund-raising efforts. Donations can be made at www.lbcvvm.org.
The memorial has been created by the PA Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation, a grass-roots organization that includes many members of the team that brought the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall to the area in 2017. The Wall in Bucks County drew upwards of 25,000 people during its July 14-16 run in Penndel. The event also raised more than $31,000 in money and goods that was donated to local and national veterans causes. The PA Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation is chaired by Ed Preston, who also chaired The Wall in Bucks County and chair the Penndel-Hulmeville Memorial Day Parade.
About the Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation
The Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation is 501(c)(3) organization that is dedicated to preserving the legacy and memory of those from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as from Lower Bucks County, who served in Vietnam War, including those who were killed or are missing in action and those who returned only to suffer the effects of the war for the remainder of their lives. More information is available at www.lbcvvm.org.
Mission Statement:
We are grass roots committee dedicated to preserving the legacy and memory of those men and women from The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who were killed or missing as a result of the Vietnam War from 1959-1975. We are continuing the mission set forth from the event The Wall in Bucks County which took place on July 14-17, 2017 in Penndel Borough. Our ultimate goal is to construct a Pennsylvania State Memorial dedicated to the 3,175 state residents who gave their lives in Vietnam… and not forget nor neglect the thousands of others who have suffered from the effects of Agent Orange from the effects of war over a lifetime.
Our Story
A continuation of the mission started with the event The Wall in Bucks County in July 2017 where we honored the 58,307 names enshrined on The Wall while highlighting the 136 men from Bucks County who did not return. Our intent is to permanently pay tribute to all the Vietnam Veterans in Lower Bucks County, spotlighting the 96 killed or still missing. Our memorial was inspired from a photo taken at that event in 2017. The memorial will consist of two black granite panels 30″w x 66″h. The right panel will have the names of the 96 servicemen from Lower Bucks County lost during the war. The left panel will be dedicated to all those suffering from the effects of Agent Orange and PTSD as a result of the Vietnam War.
A non-profit dedicated to building a Vietnam Veterans Memorial in our home, and our state. Our mission is to honor, commemorate, and remember all those that served in every branch of the US Military during the Vietnam War.
The Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. (PAVVMF, Inc.) is a registered 501(c)(3) with the IRS and is a registered non-profit corporation with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of State.
Next Steps…
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