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Photos: South Boston rededicates the country’s first-ever memorial to those lost in the Vietnam War

More than 100 gathered to pay tribute to the 25 men from the neighborhood who died in the war.

A Vietnam veteran salutes after placing a flower at the base of the South Boston Vietnam Memorial as the names of those from South Boston who were killed in Vietnam are called during the 40th anniversary of the memorial's dedication. Jessica Rinaldi / Globe Staff

By Mihiro Shimano

September 13, 2021

2 minutes to read

The 39th rededication of South Boston Vietnam Memorial was held Sunday morning at the Medal of Honor Park. More than 100 people, including politicians and former military members, gathered to pay tribute to the 25 men from South Boston who died in the war, reported the Boston Globe.

The memorial was the country’s first formal memorial for Vietnam War dead. Sunday’s ceremony celebrated and remembered the 40th anniversary of the memorial’s dedication in 1981.

“That’s why this ground is so important. Because in 1981, long before anyone else was truly appreciating just what had happened and the missed opportunity that we had as a country to respect, treat, recognize and honor [Vietnam veterans and those lost] … folks in South Boston stood up,” said Gov. Charlie Baker, who was present at the memorial.

The rededication is an important reminder for those who grew up in the South Boston neighborhood in the 1950s and ’60s, and knew the people who lost their lives. Many lost loved ones, friends, neighbors, or teammates they played sports with in school, the speakers said.

Soldiers returning from the Vietnam war — which was a polarizing issue in the U.S. in the 1960s right up through the war’s end in 1975 and beyond — did not receive a warm welcome upon returning, Baker noted.

The lesson learned was to celebrate soldiers no matter what war they fought, he said.

“So much about the neighborhood we grew up in, the one we left to go to Vietnam, the one we came back to, has changed,” said Tom Lyons, a Vietnam war veteran who was part of the first neighborhood volunteer group, the Globe reported. “And yet some things about South Boston haven’t changed; they remain true, like the moment we share today and have shared for 39 years.”