The 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, when American military forces ceased fighting, was observed at Glendale Cemetery, on Saturday.
The day was proclaimed National Vietnam War Veterans Day by President Barack Obama in 2012 and in preparation for this anniversary, the Belleville Historical Society cleaned the grave markers of the soldiers killed in action during that war.
“We started two years ago,” said Michael Perrone, the society president. “Bloomfield had 13 soldiers killed in action. Two are in Arlington National Cemetery and the rest are interred in New Jersey. The only one from Bloomfield we haven’t cleaned was Gary Formica’s site. He’s buried in Immaculate Conception Cemetery, in Montclair. We just contacted his sister, Roberta. She was delighted, so we’ll be doing that work this week. We have to contact the family because the gravestones belong to the family.”
Perrone said five Bloomfield Vietnam War soldiers killed in action, or KIA, are buried in Glendale Cemetery, two in Mount Olivet Cemetery, three in the Immaculate Conception cemetery and one in East Ridge Lawn Cemetery, in Rutherford. The two Bloomfield servicemen buried in Arlington are Capt. Charles Abene and Lance Corp. James Myers.
“Unlike the men in World Wars One and Two who received home welcomes, that wasn’t the case for Vietnam vets,” he said.
Attending the event were veterans from Bloomfield, Nutley and Belleville; Allen Garth, commander, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 711, Bloomfield; Vice-Commander Michael Smith, American Legion Department of NJ; Essex County American Legion Commander Joseph Cobianch; Russell Myers III, adjunct, Detachment of NJ Sons of the American Legion; Walter Labar, commander, American Legion of Belleville and Nutley; Rich Barry, commander of the Belleville-Nutley Disabled American Veterans and Willy Tobias, representing Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, D-11th District; The emcee was former Belleville Mayor Mario Drozda, whose brother, Stanley, was killed in action, Perone said.
The Star Spangled Banner was sung by Layla Williams, a Bloomfield High School sophomore. Lou Johnson, from the Essex County Police and Fire Emerald Society played the bagpipe and Pete Gasevich, a Vietnam War veteran and member of Bugles Across America, played taps.
The anniversary was observed in the soldiers area of the cemetery, at the Circle of Flags and a short distance away along Row F where 26 KIA soldiers who served in Vetnam are interred. Perrone said there were some others scattered in the area, but Row F was unique. Walking from marker to marker, Cobianchi said their names.
“They are heroes,” he said. “They went to war. They never came back.
A monument is scheduled to be installed, Cobianchi said for those killed in action, by Memorial Day.
Prior to the ceremony, two Bloomfield Vietnam veterans were asked, by this newspaper, how the state of affairs was for them.
“We’re dying too fast,” said James Wollner, seated beside his wife, Madeline. “Every day, somebody goes, but we’re at that age now. I’m getting close to 80. I go to the VA and see a lot of guys my age there.”
Madeline said she often accompanies her husband.
“We see a lot of younger veterans and female veterans, but they’re reaching out, which is good,” she said.
“There’s a lot of camaraderie,” Wollner said.
“They see each other as Vietnam vets and any barriers are gone,” Madeline said. “They regret when a nurse calls them and they have to leave. And I wonder, what if we were sitting together in another room, but that room brought them together.”
“It spills out,” Wollner said. “Where you were, what you did, the good things, the bad things, what they’re suffering from. I find it very helpful.”
“It’s cathartic,” Madeline said. “Jim has a hard time retrieving words.”
Wollner said that was true. Sometimes he knows a person, but cannot remember their name. Madeline said that was partly because of aging, but also his disability. Wollener said he has multiple sclerosis and diabetes.
“I attribute a lot of that to Agent Orange,”he said. “I operated an airboat in the most sprayed areas. I went into the water and we were in the water a lot.’
“But he still knows how to swear,” Madeline said.
Agent Orange is a defoliant containing the contaminant dioxin.
Another Vietnam veteran, John Sanders, said there was “a lot more to be done” for the veterans.
“I just hope President Trump knows that,” he said. “It’s a shame, but most people don’t really respect or care about veterans unless they served. That’s what I’m finding out. Over a period of years, especially the younger kids, they’re not taught about the war in school. They came up in a different environment and society. They’re not being taught about any conflict and war this country has been in. Sometimes I think they’re turning their back on us.
“I was very blessed,” he continued. “I was brought up in a military family and knew I had to go right after college. I knew the first thing I had to do is serve my country.”
In addition to Formica, Abene and Myers, the other Bloomfield soldiers killed in action are Robert Dodson, Chester Cosgrove, Raymond Fritz, Thomas McLaughlin, John Rose, Joseph Burnham, Willian Swaykos, Thomas Boyden, Michael Cervera and Joseph Oleson.
While March 29 is the anniversary of the war’s end, fighting continued in neighboring Cambodia.
But the indelible image of finality occurred April 30, 1975, with photographs capturing desperate people ascending a ladder to a helicopter, atop the American embassy, for escape.
It was the day Saigon, the South Vietnam capital, fell.
The last two American servicemen to be killed are Charles McMahon, from Mass., and Darwin Judge, from Iowa. They died April 29, 1975, in Saigon.
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