Vietnam Vets of America Post formed in Stoneham
Published on December 1st, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - On an otherwise sunny November Saturday, one Stoneham neighborhood was roused from its weekend lounging by thunderous rounds from a firing squad and a lone trumpeter blowing Taps into open windows.
In a moving ceremony on Nov. 20, the newly formed Stoneham chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America was formally chartered with installation of officers at the George Hall VFW Post on Hancock Street.
The group is formally known as the Fitzgibbon/McMahon Chapter 837, in honor of two area soldiers, Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon from Stoneham, and Corporal Charles McMahon, Jr. of Woburn. Fitzgibbon and McMahon were the first and last casualties of the Vietnam War respectively.
Summer Street resident Frank Geary has worked tirelessly to organize the chapter in Stoneham since the idea first arose earlier this year and, on Saturday, he was sworn in as the chapter's president. In addition, James O'Brien of Burlington was installed as Vice President, Ann Lablanc, also of Burlington, became Treasurer, and James MacLauchlan of North Reading will serve as the group's Secretary.
The VVA is committed to remembering those who never made it back from war alive. In addition, the group's focus is to serve hospitalized and homeless veterans, and to continue the fight for full accounting of POWs and MIAs.
On Saturday, Geary summed up the group's mission by referring to the inscription at the base of the tomb of the French unknown soldier. Roughly translated, the inscription says, "Forget my death and I have died in vain."
Family members laid wreaths at pictures of the two soldiers along with that of Fitzgibbon's son, United States Marine Corp. Lt. Col. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who also died while in service in Vietnam in 1965.
Stoneham native Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr., was killed by a member of his own squadron in Saigon on June 8, 1956. For years, Fitzgibbon's family urged the United States to include his name on the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial in Washington, D.C.
It wasn't until Massachusetts Congressman Edward Markey got involved in the matter, however, that the Pentagon began to listen to the family's claim that the French pull-out of Saigon in the spring of 1956 resulted in a total U.S. effort to train, support and fund the South Vietnamese. Fitzgibbon's death followed this action by the French and, according to the family, the war therefore began much earlier than January 1961.
Last November, after intensive review of the matter, the Pentagon sent directives to all military installations announcing that November, 1955, not January 1961, would be acknowledged as the beginning of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The ceremony marking this historic occasion took place on the front lawn of the Stoneham Town Hall on November 16, 1998.
A Memorial Day ceremony followed this year with the unveiling of Fitzgibbon's name on the memorial. The Fitzgibbons are the only father and son listed on the monument.
Corporal Charles McMahon, Jr. of Woburn was just eleven days shy of his 22nd birthday when, in April of 1975, he was killed by hostile artillery and rocket fire while patrolling a roadblock at the Ton Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon. Twelve hours later, the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War was over.
The McMahon family's agony, however, was just beginning. Burial plans were underway as the family awaited return of the young man's body. But that wait, which was to last six to twelve days, stretched out to nearly a year.
While the McMahons received repeated assurance by the Pentagon that their son's body would be returned soon, the reality was that it had been lost in the confusion of the American exodus from Saigon.
Intervention from Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy sparked negotiations with the Vietnamese government for the release of the body and, on Dec. 30, 1975, word came from the Vietnamese that the body had been recovered. Red tape continued to stymie the process, but in March of 1976, two of Kennedy's aides flew to Vietnam to claim McMahon's body and that of Lance Corporal Darwin L. Judge, of Marshalltown, Iowa, who had also been killed as he patrolled the air base alongside McMahon.
On March 6, McMahon was finally laid to rest by his family at the Woodbrook Cemetery in Woburn.
In addition to family members, this month's ceremony of the first VVA chapter in eastern Massachusetts was attended by many new chapter members in addition to officers from the state chapter of the VVA, including President Charles S. Brown, who opened the meeting.
Members of the Gold Star Mothers also were on hand and each dedicated a flower in memory of the sons they lost in the war.
Stoneham High School Student Patrick Hume performed Taps for the occasion while the VVE Richard Fitts Post from Rockland Massachusetts provided the firing squad.
State Senator Michael Festa called the ceremony "uplifting" and commended the "demonstrated commitment by all those present to carry on the great tradition of being a veteran."
"This was a moving ceremony here this morning," agreed Stoneham Selectman Patrick Jordan, calling it "ironic" that of the thousands who gave their lives in Vietnam, "... the first and the last killed lived just a few miles from one another."
Congressman Markey could not attend the ceremony but sent along a flag from the U.S. Capitol to fly over the Hancock Street building.
Geary calls the chapter a community-based operation which got its start with a $1,000 donation from Dan Finnegan from Finnegan Funeral Home. Ralph Barile, from Barile Funeral Home, donated the flowers and wreaths for the ceremony.
Those interested in supporting the chapter's work for hospitalized veterans are encouraged to send donations to Stoneham Bank VVA 837 Hospital Fund.
In addition, anyone interested in becoming a member of the chapter can contact Geary at 438-6606.
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