MIDDLETOWN – The Wall That Heals, in Middletown through Sunday afternoon, brought back memories of his “survival in the hell” of the Vietnam war, as Col. Chet Edwards recounted his one-year tour of duty in the Navy during the late 1960s.
Edwards was the keynote speaker at a ceremony at the traveling wall on Saturday and he paid homage to the 58,281 service members who died in the conflict.
“They say everyone dies twice, one time when you stop breathing and the second time, a bit later on when somebody says your name for the last time,” he said. Thanks to the Wall in Washington, the Wall That Heals and to those of you who are instrumental in bringing it here this week, these men and women will never die a second and last time.”
This was the first time in 50 years that Edwards, a Westchester County resident, spoke of what his comrades and he endured while serving in Vietnam.
