LYNN — The City of Lynn will hold its annual Vietnam Veterans Day ceremony on Monday at 11 a.m. in the foyer of Lynn City Hall to honor those from Lynn and across the country who served, fought, and died during the Vietnam War.
The event has been a Lynn tradition for over 30 years and is part of a nationwide recognition of Vietnam Veterans Day, observed each year on March 29 following the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017.
According to Mike Sweeney, Director of Veterans’ Services for Lynn and Swampscott, the day serves not only to acknowledge the sacrifices of those who served but to offer long-overdue gratitude.
“When Vietnam Veterans returned home, they faced a nation that was not willing to welcome them home appropriately,” Sweeney said. “While that has changed in recent years, there is still more work to do. Monday is an opportunity, 50 years after the end of the war, to not only thank them for their service, sacrifice, and resilience, but to say, ‘Welcome Home.’”
The ceremony will include remarks from Mayor Jared C. Nicholson, who will read a proclamation marking the day, and members of the Lynn Veterans’ Council and other veterans’ groups will take part. The program will conclude with a solemn reading of the names of the 17 Lynn residents who gave their lives during the war — names that also appear on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
Vietnam Veterans Day commemorates the date in 1973 when the last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam and the final group of American prisoners of war returned home. From 1961 to 1975, more than 3.4 million Americans served in Vietnam and Southeast Asia; over 58,000 died, and nearly 1,580 remain unaccounted for, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
The public is encouraged to attend. Light refreshments will be served following the ceremony.
For more information, contact the Lynn Veterans’ Services Office at (781) 586-6911 or visit Facebook.com/LynnSwampscottVets.
