MANVILLE: Vietnam’s lost lives focus of Saturday event

By Audrey Levine, Staff Writer
   The setting for Saturday’s commemoration for soldiers taken prisoner or missing in action during the Vietnam War at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2290 on Washington Avenue includes an empty glass, an empty chair and salt.
   The symbols reflect the lives lost in the war — the empty glass symbolizes no one is there to drink the liquid it would hold; a chair turned away from the table shows people are waiting for someone to come home; and the salt symbolizes tears.
   ”It is a ritual in honor of those who never came back,” said Fred Gorbatuk, commander of the VFW. “It is a remembrance ceremony.”
   The commemoration will be held at 10 a.m. and will feature a small service before Manville police officers place a wreath at a makeshift grave inside the building.
   Mr. Gorbatuk said he also expects Assemblyman Pete Biondi, Mayor Lillian Zuza and other dignitaries to be present at the ceremony.
   This yearly and nationwide commemoration of those American soldiers who fought and died during the Vietnam War, Mr. Gorbatuk said, is held around Jan. 27, the date a peace accord was signed for the war in 1973. He said the VFW invites members of other local VFWs, the American Legion and other veterans to attend the service.
   In addition, Mr. Gorbatuk said, many residents have turned out to the commemoration in the past, often leading to a ceremony for more than 100 people, which he said was a surprise for those involved.
   For Mr. Gorbatuk, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, this commemoration is especially poignant.
   ”This is my generation’s war,” he said. “There are people I went to school with who never came back (from the war).”
   At one point during the war, Mr. Gorbatuk said, he was stationed in Thailand and was told to look up a friend who was also in the area at the time. Unfortunately, he said, the man was killed before Mr. Gorbatuk reached Thailand.
   ”The man I wanted to look for got shot down before I got there,” he said. “About 16 years later, they found his body.”
   For those still missing in action, Mr. Gorbatuk said, the ceremony includes the POW/MIA table with the symbolic items. In addition to the empty glass and chair, he said, the table also will hold salt to represent bitter tears and other items to show many friends and family members still are missing from wartime.
   The ceremony itself, Mr. Gorbatuk said, has remained unchanged over the years as the members of the VFW usually have it in the building on Washington Avenue because it is done in the middle of winter. In the past, he said, they have tried to go to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Holmdel, but weather conditions have prevented them from having any ceremony there.
   In addition to the ceremony to commemorate those lost in the Vietnam War, Mr. Gorbatuk said, similar services are held in December to remember Pearl Harbor, in June for the Korean War and in September to remember POWs/MIAs, among others.
   ”We do this for all commemorations,” he said.
   The ceremony, Mr. Gorbatuk said, is short, but a way to recognize those who fought for America and never made it back home.
   ”This is for all the veterans who never came back,” he said.