Pawtucket pays homage to its ‘21 Heroes’
Monument for city’s Vietnam victims unveiled
PAWTUCKET — It was a day more than 50 years in the making, as a throng of veterans, family members, and city residents converged on Slater Memorial Park for the dedication of a monument honoring the 21 sons of Pawtucket who gave their lives in the Vietnam War.
Claudette Sortino drove 215 miles from her home in Ryegate, Vermont, to attend Sunday’s ceremony and to pay her respect to her younger brother, Army PFC Robert Renaud, who died in the conflict in 1968.
She said that she hadn’t seen Robert in three years prior to his death, as she was in the Peace Corps in India when her brother died in Vietnam. For her, the day at Slater Park was not only special, it was necessary.
“Closure was difficult,” Sortino said as she remembered her younger brother.
“We had an event in Slater Park last year, and getting together gave us a lot of closure. All of this has made everything much more tolerable and acceptable – being with people who experienced the same thing and know you share the pain helps the pain subside.”
Renaud died in January 1968 at the age of 19. Even though his death was nearly 50 years ago, Sortino said that one never loses that pain.
“By virtue of this (monument dedication), it’s a little better but it never goes away. I think about it all the time … I still miss him a great deal, he’s always a part of us,” she said. “He’s loved and thought about on a daily basis by all of us.”
The work on the monument was completed by the Cranston-based Sciolto & Son Monument Company. The monument is eight feet wide and stands six feet tall and is made of Vermont gray granite and black African stone. The middle six feet are made of the same reflective stone used in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Terry Nau, a Vietnam War veteran whose efforts to commemorate Pawtucket's 21 heroes was undertaken through his book “They Heard the Bugle's Call: Pawtucket and the Vietnam War,” told the stories of the 21 men who called Pawtucket home but never returned to their home city after departing for Vietnam.
Nau looked at the gathered crowd of hundreds at Slater Park Sunday afternoon and said “This is the heart of the city right around us.”
Nau said that installing the monument would not have been possible without the assistance of benefactors, from city officials, to past graduates of Tolman and Shea high schools who raised funds, to families of the 21 Heroes, to a local barber who set out a jar in his shop and collected more than $3,000.
“That kind of heart is what this community is all about,” Nau said.
Nau started on this project by first researching the lives of the 21 fallen soldiers, meeting their surviving family members, and writing a book about what he learned. His book offers an account of the courage, dedication, and loss for Pawtucket's 21 killed-inaction casualties and their families. Nau was additionally honored as the Pawtucket Hall of Fame's Person of the Year during a ceremony at the Pawtucket Armory last October.
Nau described the Vietnam War as “an open wound on the psyche of America,” but he was hopeful that Sunday’s memorial dedication would be a few more stitches to close that longstanding psychological gash. He also said that, despite the tears seen in the eyes of many family members, the day was not one of sadness, but rather a day to celebrate the lives of these young men who served for their country.
Mayor Donald R. Grebien said that remembering a group of 21 very special people in a significant way showcased the good that is so apparent in Pawtucket. The ceremony and monument, he continued, guaranteed that the 21 fallen heroes will be honored and never forgotten.
Nau and his supporters, the mayor said, were able to build an “awesome tribute” that ensures the veterans’ legacies live on and that they will continue to live in the memories of city residents for generations to come.
Grebien also said that Vietnam veterans were not welcomed home or given their proper respect in the 1960s and 1970s, something that was quite different for those who served in previous or future wars.
“Our Vietnam veterans were not welcomed home with the respect and recognition they deserved,” the mayor said. “But I’m proud to acknowledge our hometown heroes and show them the respect they deserve.”
United States Marine Corps Maj. Gen. John J. Broadmeadow said that Pawtucket’s sons fought in the Vietnam War and sacrificed so much so that the country and its ideals could remain free. He said the names on the memorial should be treated with reverence and given sincere thanks.
Echoing Grebien’s sentiment, Broadmeadow said that soldiers today are met at airports and from the moment they step off the plane, they are treated as heroes and given constant thanks. However, those who served in Vietnam were seldom afforded similar opportunities.
Broadmeadow said that those who served in Vietnam were doing so in the shadow of World War II, the Korean War, and the Greatest Generation, yet there were no crowds thanking them; instead they were treated with derision and hostility.
“For those that gave their lives, society was quick to move on from the sacrifice, and that is why we’re doing what we are doing here,” Broadmeadow said. “Today is so special … We do not forget, we are eternally grateful for the sacrifices they made.”
Retired Army Brig. Gen. John Enright said that he was deeply honored to stand with the patriots who served and sacrificed in the Vietnam era.
A question Enright routinely hears asked of family members of deceased veterans is “was it worth it?” He categorized that as not only an extremely insensitive question, but the only person who truly has a right to answer that is the person who lost their life in combat.
Calling Sunday “Pawtucket’s Vietnam Memorial Day,” Enright said that most who lost their lives in Vietnam were young men. “They left us way too early,” he said. However, what they lacked in time on this earth, he said, they more than made up for in valor.
Retired Army Lt. Cols. Bill and Jon Adams, the sons of Army Brig. Gen. Carroll Edward Adams Jr. – who died in May 1970 at age 46 – called their father “a true son of Pawtucket.” Bill Adams said he and his brother followed in their father’s footsteps in joining the U.S. Army, saying he was “regarded quite highly.”
Jon Adams said that his father Carroll lived for his wife, family, and America, saying he was a patriot who loved being a soldier.
GinaMarie Rodriguez Doherty, the state VFW commander, said that the names engraved into the monument are representative of the husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, family members, and friends who served their nation and made the ultimate sacrifice.
These 21 men, she said, fought for freedom not out of a sense of duty, but rather because they believed in “the essential goodness of America,” in preserving democracy and freedom. Sunday’s ceremony, she said, brought together hundreds not as a community, but as a family, to honor and celebrate men who served not for monuments or occasions or celebrations, but rather for their country.