News

November 13

‘Friends’ gather in low key ceremony to honor veterans on courthouse lawn

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer
Jerry Lynott on Facebook   |   @TLJerryLynott on Twitter

WILKES-BARRE – Except for the hand salute, the tribute Saturday to veterans lacked the ceremony and precision of a military program.

There was no honor guard, no bugler, no one in uniform to be seen at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the lawn of the Luzerne County Courthouse.

By design, it was kept low key to honor the deceased and missing in action from all wars.

“Instead of a program, we call it a gathering of friends,” said U.S. Air Force retired Master Sgt. Neno Sartini of Wilkes-Barre.

The 81-year-old veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars spoke for a few minutes to about a dozen people. He recalled veterans who passed away, especially the ones responsible for seeing that there was memorial. He urged those gathered to remember the men and women in the military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We hope they don’t have to build a memorial to them,” he said.

The Vietnam Memorial contains the names of 83 servicemen killed or missing in action.

Ed Linskey, a U.S. Navy veteran from Harding, was in Vietnam between 1969 and 1970. He knew a few of the men whose names are engraved in the black granite base of the memorial.

“I grew up with all of them in Pittston,” said Linskey.

“I think all of us know somebody that’s on the memorial,” added Tom Wayslow of Nanticoke. He was 18 when he went to Vietnam and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1966 to 1970.

Tweet	Follow @TLnews

Send Question or Remark to the Publisher

This story also appears on the following websites...