On Memorial Day Charles Harrison, Walter Groomes, and Doug
Battaglini shared thoughts about Vietnam
On Memorial Day about 25 folks gathered at the Carroll Co.
Vietnam Memorial, at the corner of Willis and Court Streets, in Westminster,
Md.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017 Westminster Md. - by Kevin Dayhoff
This year, about 25 folks gathered at the Carroll County
Vietnam Memorial, at the corner of Willis and Court Streets, in Westminster,
Md. right after the Westminster Memorial Day ceremonies at the Westminster
Cemetery May 29, 2017 in Westminster.
For several decades, a number of folks have gathered there,
every year on Memorial Day, for an impromptu ceremony at the large black
granite memorial with the names of the 18 fellow Carroll countian friends,
neighbors and loved ones who gave their lives in the service of our country
during the Vietnam War.
This year, Carroll County marked its 150th continuous annual
observance of Memorial Day with a parade and ceremonies at the Westminster
Cemetery. The annual tradition was first organized by Mary Bostwick Shellman on
May 30, 1868.
In May 2008, local writer and historian Carrie Ann Knauer
reported, “As best anyone can estimate, 182 Carroll countians have lost their
lives in the armed services during conflicts since 1917. But tracking exactly
how many have died — particularly those in earlier wars in America’s history —
is a difficult task, according to a local historian.”
The Carroll County Maryland Vietnam Memorial Park at the
corner of Willis and Court Street, next to the historic Courthouse was
dedicated on May 28, 1990. Every year at the Carroll County Vietnam Memorial,
we remember those who gave their lives and try to give them a voice.
This year, in a moving tribute about the war and how Vietnam
veterans were treated after the war, Vietnam combat veteran Walter Pete Groomes
poignantly shared some thoughts, with our keynote speaker Charles Harrison, and
my Westminster High School Class of 1971 classmate Doug Battaglini.
Both Battaglini and Groomes are held in high regard in the
community for their leadership roles. They serve as a rock or many Vietnam-era
veterans, whether they served in county, or like this writer, stateside.
After the war, Harrison continued to serve in the FBI, a
leader in the Carroll County NAACP, volunteer leadership roles with a community
focus group that served in an advisory role in the selection of a new
Westminster police chief in the early 2000s, and as an Orphan Court Judge, to
mention a few of his accomplishments.
In Vietnam, be served as a Captain in the U.S. Army as helicopter
pilot. His service earned him the Bronze Star.
The comments of Groomes, Battaglini, and Harrison, tied-in
with the moving remarks by Carroll County State’s Attorney Brian DeLeonardo,
the day before at the annual Pleasant Valley Memorial Day ceremonies. In a
moving presentation, DeLeonardo spoke about his late Dad, who served in
Vietnam. His Dad succumbed a number of years ago, at age 49, to complications
of his exposure to Agent Orange during the war.
What many attending the ceremonies found particularly moving
was his explanation, that for decades most Vietnam veterans never spoke of the
war, or their service to our country. This came as a result of the way most
Vietnam veterans were treated with disdain and scorn by much of society, and
especially the anti-war demonstrators.
Related:
Joseph Anthony Oreto was one of 730 members of the ACR lost
in Vietnam. He was 21-years old when he died for our country on April 13, 1969.
Oreto was stationed at the Bien Hoa Air Base, about 16-miles
above Saigon and killed in Tay Ninh Province up along the Cambodian border,
during Operation Toan Thang II. Otherwise known as the defense of Saigon, the
objective was a search and clear operation to discourage North Vietnamese Army
campsites and rocket positions within striking distance of Saigon.
