It has been 30 years since the Hartford Vietnam Veterans Memorial was first unveiled, and on Memorial Day a local Boy Scout troop held a rededication ceremony to mark the occasion and remember those the memorial represents.
Boy Scouts read the names of Hartford heroes who died during the Vietnam War.
Exactly 30 years before, Hartford Boy Scout Troop 105 led the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
“I have lost friends, I have lost soldiers alike. For me it is just a reflection on their legacy, on their memory,” said Jose Sierra, a former member of that troop.”
Now a police officer in Austin, Sierra is also an army veteran himself. He traveled back to Connecticut knowing the importance of Memorial Day.
“They are the guys who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom,” Sierra said.
A sacrifice Alicia DeLaripa knows as well.
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“It means a lot because people forget,” she said.
She lost her brother in Vietnam, but says his memory still lives on in moments like this.
“I miss him every day and I wish he were here,” she said.
