Connecticut XX

There is an interesting story about how the Connecticut Vietnam memorial came to be. One woman's determination eventually led to the honor of many. Take a moment and read about it here.

Connecticut Vietnam memorial, Coventry

Today, I will honor a few from Connecticut: 

Gerald Lee Bourdeau

PFC Gerald Bourdeau was lost in Tay Ninh Province on November 6th, 1966, to "small arms fire." He was on a Search and Destroy mission when unseen enemy opened up with machine gun fire. It was so dark that night that it was nearly impossible to return fire as the solders could not determine exactly where the enemy was located. Six others were lost on this mission.

Robert Jonh Leska

SGT Robert Leska was lost on May 5, 1968, in Binh Dinh Province to "burns" received from a surprise rocket attack. He was awarded a bronze Star for "Meritorious Service."

Stephen Grady Peck

SP4 Stephen Peck was lost on March 6, 1967, in the Binh Dinh Province to "small arms fire." He was a Forward Observer, an extremely dangerous job, and was lost on a mission as were so many FOs. Several others were also lost on this mission on this day

These three were all from Trumball, Connecticut.

Next time, on August 21st, we will return to Delaware, so join me, as always, at 9 am.

If you have been following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania (now three times!) Elli from Maryland and Peg and Ray from Florida, among others have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or from where you have traveled. I even got one from Ireland!

These generous submissions have help to expand the knowledge of how we remember and honor the men and women who served in or were lost in Vietnam.

If YOU have any such photos or knowledge about these memorials and sites not already here, I would love to know of them. Please send them along to the email address on the left side of this page and I will gladly share them here.

I hope seeing all these listed here will encourage YOU to send along photos and join the group! 

Connecticut XVIII

I found this small memorial on my way to Stamford, simply located at the side of a road in a small Veterans Park. Mounted upon a rock is a plaque. I have seen many like it in my travels and in my efforts to continue to find things to post that honor our brothers and sisters who served, I decided to see if I could pull out these "portraits" to add to the Faces of Remembrance series that I occasionally write about here. You notice, if you are one of those that follow along on this journey, that I am posting ever more of these as I comb through my files for new subjects.

Cropping photos out of larger one seems easy enough, but my software, far too often, just refuses to cooperate. I worked on pulling these faces out for far longer than I would have expected and while the results are usable, they are less that I had hoped for.

Regardless, they represent and honor those who served and/or were lost.

I think I see resignation on this face and perhaps just a little fear.

While this one seems a bit bemused, perhaps.

The plaque which you can find in a post elsewhere on this site has the following written on it.

Vietnam War 

The Trumbull Beautification Commission Dedicates This Park As A Living Memorial To The Men And Women Of Trumbull Who Served Their Country During The Vietnam War. 

 “Your Sacrifice Is Not Forgotten”. 

Nearby is an individual stone dedicated to David Rhodes who was killed in 1968, three days past his 21st birthday.

 Rest in Peace  

The park is located on White Plains Road just a little north of Brock Street in Trumbull.

I would ask that any reader who might have pics of Vietnam memorials not found on this site to send them to me. I will be happy to include them here and give the sender full credit. I would like to make this site as comprehensive as possible and my ability to travel to every site out there is limited, so, let me know what you have. You can contact me at the email on the left.  

Note: I had some issues getting this most recent post up and running and these threw off the timing of posts. So, the timing will be adjusted and I will make every effort to return to the every five days at 9:00am. schedule. 

Sorry for the confusion!

Next time, on the 13th, we will return to Delaware for a new "Faces of Remembrance," post, so meet me there at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Connecticut, or any other state, please click on the state name on the left side of this page.

Connecticut IX

On the way to Stamford for a relatives wedding, we came upon this small park in Trumbull. It is located on White Plains Road near Brock street in the area of the local Post Office. Trumbull is about 27 mikes northeast of Stamford.

It is not very large but is marked and quite beautiful.

The memorial lists no names but I have been able to identify 3 from Trumbull that were lost and there is even a small marker to one of them on site.

I read, just today, that the site was vandalized in December but that a local citizen was cleaning it up. No other details were given. I have seen, or read about, so many defaced and vandalized memorials it just makes me ill. What kind of idiot does that?

 I have seen this same plaque a number of places. It says;

Vietnam War
The Trumbull Beautification Commission
Dedicates This Park As A Living Memorial To The Men And Women
Of Trumbull Who Served Their Country During The Vietnam War.
“Your Sacrifice Is Not Forgotten”.

Next time, on the 31st, I hope to have a VERY special post ready to go. Something very different and I am honored and privileged to have been part of it and to have been given permission to post it here. So, check in on the 31st, as always, at 9:00am. 

To see additional posts from Connecticut, or any other state, click the state name on the left side of this page.