Beaver
County
VVA #862
Opening
ceremony for the program of
events provided by the Beaver
County Chapter 862 Vietnam Veterans of America was Wednesday,
September 18, which included the lighting of the eternal
flame
and presentation of wreaths at the Moving Wall.
LINDA*&*JEANIE
were the
luncheon guests at the Baden American
Legion Post 641 in Pennsylvania for the 15th Annual Beaver County
POW/MIA Recognition Day on Thursday, September 19, 2002 at 11:00 A.M.
More than 1,900 Americans never returned from Vietnam. Their bodies
were swallowed by deep seas, scattered along with metal fragments of
fallen planes or kindly buried by wild green growth. The girls closed
the luncheon with their stirring rendition of Taps sung a cappela in
unison.
Friday,
September 20, was National POW/MIA Day with approximately 1,700
riding in a motorcycle procession "Ride to the Wall" - starting the
evening POW/MIA Ceremony. The crowd held 3,000 candles for the men as
bikers began to wander in the park, candles so bring their flames
seemed to reach the heaven.
Skip
Haswell, president of the
Beaver County Chapter of the Vietnam
Veterans of America, walked to the microphone in Quay Square with a
message for everyone holding a candle and for everyone those candles
were being held for.
"They
say a man is not dead until
he's forgotten," he said. "We shall
never, ever forget." The Moving Wall was open 24 hours a day for
visitation. There was a reading of the 101 names of POW/MIAs
from Pennsylvania. LINDA*&*JEANIE completed the evening by
singing to a crowd of nearly 4,000.
Saturday,
September 21, was
the Beaver Bicentennial Parade starting at
11:00 A.M. LINDA*&*JEANIE rode in the POW/MIA truck carrying
the POW/MIA flags and waving to crowds applauding enthusiastically.
Patriotism is high in this part of the country.
Around
1:00 P.M., LINDA*&*JEANIE performed for an hour and a half to
the people gathered at Quay
Square Park in Beaver, PA. They were joined
for the entire show by Guy Almerico from Philadelphia, Jeanie's former
singing partner from the Keys.
They
were followed by Tanya Link, a country music friend of theirs from the
area.
Sunday,
September 22,
LINDA*&*JEANIE provided the music for the
Sunrise Service at the park and parted from the VVA 862 with many fond
memories of a community strong in their love for their
country.