Positively Philadelphia: Paying Tribute To Veterans On Memorial Day
By Lauren Lipton
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - On this long Memorial Day weekend, we pay tribute to our many area military veterans.
"Our whole neighborhood got drafted back in '66," recalls Joe Ferry, who fought in Vietnam. "Everybody went, so it was sort of like your duty to go. The country needed you."
Joe Kelly was in the Korean War, and Harry Wills was in World War II. And they are among the many who visit a small memorial park in the Fairmount section of the city, called Patrick Ward Park.
The park, the size of a room in an average house, sits on 24th Street, at Aspen. What was once a vacant lot now serves as a meetingplace for veterans -- to talk, see their friends, and remember.
"At that time, you didn't know what was going to happen," recalls one. "It was turmoil in the world. They told you to go here, they told you to go there, and you did it."
"Everybody's been in tight spots, everybody's been scared, and that's what war's about -- you know, being scared and overcoming it," said another vet.
The park is named for Patrick Ward, who lived in Philadelphia and died in Vietnam, but pays tribute to all the men and women who gave their todays for our tomorrows.
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And, for this week, that's "Positively Philadelphia!"
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