Annual ceremony honors Vietnam vets

LYNN – It took less than 20 minutes but those in attendance will tell you the Vietnam War Memorial Ceremony is still an important event.”Never forget,” said Franco-American Amvets Post 161 Commander Arthur Salkins. “Always in our hearts always remember.”Salkins served in Southeast Asia in the 1960s.Trumpeter Dick Perry kicked off the ceremony with a Call to the Post and Lynn Veterans Council President George Fitzhenry emceed.”Before we came in here we laid a wreath at the Vietnam Memorial out front,” Fitzhenry said.It was a small crowd gathered and only nine men stood when Fitzhenry asked the Vietnam veterans to stand, but Salkins said it didn’t matter.”We always remember the unaccounted and those that gave the ultimate sacrifice,” he added.Veteran Peter Tuttle from Vietnam Veterans of America Post 908 read the names of those who were killed or are still missing. Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy read a proclamation making Friday, March 21 “Vietnam Veterans Day in the city of Lynn.”Salkins said March 29 is traditionally recognized in Massachusetts as Vietnam Veterans Day because that is the day the treaty that ended the war was signed. The Veterans Council had to move the event up a week due to a scheduling conflict, Salkins added.”We do a recognition each year. It’s important to keep the tradition so that people don’t forget,” he said.