Paul Nardecchia served in the United States Marine Corps and came to Rose Memorial Park in Fort Bragg Monday morning to remember with other veterans.
“I lost a lot of good buddies in Vietnam and this is my way to remember and honor them,” said Nardecchia, who moved to the area nine months ago and was looking forward to the ceremony. Unfortunately, he arrived at 11 a.m, the time the ceremony was supposed to start. They started early due to the rain pelting the gathered crowd. It was over at 11 a.m.
“I guess I”ll catch it next year,” said Nardecchia.
Incoming Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Commander John Goodrich described a ceremony that started with prayer and ended with taps played by Mel McKinney. There were presentations by the women”s auxiliary of both the VFW and American Legion, a prayer by Pastor Lou of St. Anthony”s in Mendocino and a talk by Wills Pinckney, American Legion commander.
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