BEVERLY - Fourteen members of Beverly Vietnam Veterans Post 1 made a pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., last weekend for the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
The veterans marched in a parade down Constitution Avenue past the White House to the Vietnam Memorial, which features the names of more than 58,000 soldiers killed or unaccounted for during the Vietnam War.
The local veterans also visited Arlington National Cemetery and laid a wreath at the grave of Lt. Stephen Doane, said Beverly Vietnam Veterans Cmdr. Bob Gilbert. Doane was a Beverly native who was killed in Vietnam while saving the lives of three men.
One of those men, Stephen Walker of Arizona, joined the local veterans on their trip. He came to Beverly four years ago and met Doane's parents at the Vietnam Veterans' annual dinner dance at the Vittori-Rocci Post. Walker has remained close to the Beverly-based group ever since, visiting twice a year to attend the annual dance and help with fundraising.
Walker, who lost his left arm in Vietnam, is also an ordained minister and led the services at Doane's grave site, Gilbert said. The Vietnam Veterans Post is named after Doane.
The post is based in Beverly but includes veterans from around the North Shore. Members from Salem, Danvers and Hamilton, as well as Beverly, attended last weekend's ceremonies in Washington, Gilbert said.
"It was a very emotional weekend," he said.
Gilbert said the Vietnam Veterans Post (www.bvvinc.org) welcomes all veterans, including those from the Gulf War and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"A lot of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are going to the Vietnam Memorial for solace because they have no place to go," Gilbert said. "We would love to welcome them into our fold. Veterans have got to stick together."
The Beverly Vietnam Veterans members who traveled to Washington were Gilbert, Walker, Don Luxton, Bill Prince, Rich Moulton, Harvey Calichman, John McLeod, J.B. McGuirk, Bob Desjardins, Larry Warner, Chuck Clark, Bill Prince, Paul Lantz and Eric Johnson.
