LVMAC Tidbit — Local Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be Dedicated

After years of hard work, the Easton Area High School Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee has announced it will be conducting a dedication ceremony for its high school’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial on 29 August at 10 a.m.  The public is invited.

The memorial was erected to pay tribute to those who attended Easton Area High School and went off to serve in the Vietnam Conflict — some of whom never returned home.  It is one of the few such high school memorials in the nation.  Working strictly at a grassroots level, the effort is a stellar, everyman achievement, and speaks well of their community and our Lehigh Valley in regard to recognizing both the importance and price of military service to our nation.

The 64-foot, red brick with white mortar and black granite memorial will feature the names of over 320 Easton High School students who served in the war.  To learn more, visit the committee’s website.  The site lists the names of those known to have served in Vietnam.  The organization remains interested in knowing of any who attended the high school they might have missed.

Since this is a local, grassroots effort, it should be of interest to note the concept for the memorial was selected from among seven proposals submitted by Easton Area High School students in the Technology Education Drafting and Design class.  Students at the Career Institute of Technology’s Computer Aided Design/Engineering Graphics program produced the final design used to construct the memorial.  Nor did the organizers start with a pot of gold.  Hours of fundraising through dance events, public speaking engagements, and sitting out in the hot sun or cold weather at tables at car shows, places of business and exhibitions were required.   A dollar here, a dollar there placed in a bell jar and the in-kind donations of a few businesses were earnestly appreciated.  Such steadfastness is to be admired.

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As of 14 August 2015