‘We Gave a Most Precious Gift--Our Fathers’ : Nation Pays Homage to Its War Dead

The nation’s war dead were honored in cities and towns across the nation Sunday on the eve of Memorial Day.

At Arlington National Cemetery, about 100 persons--most of them children of killed and missing soldiers--gathered in the amphitheater across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital to remember their fathers.

“We gave a most precious gift--our fathers,” said Patricia O’Grady Aloot, whose father, Col. John O’Grady, left seven children when he was declared missing in action in 1967 in Vietnam.

“We all share the same overwhelming loss, but we know that they died fighting for freedom,” she said at the 12th annual ceremony organized by the families of servicemen killed or missing in action.

Organizers of Michigan’s largest observance in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn hoped that 1,000 Vietnam veterans would turn out for today’s parade, expected to attract 250,000 spectators.

Retired Gen. William C. Westmoreland, Army commander in Vietnam during part of the war, dedicated a Vietnam veterans memorial Saturday at Conway, S. C., saying: “History may judge American aid to Vietnam as one of our country’s most noble causes.”

In San Jose, Calif., 3,000 full-size American flags were passed out to spectators for the 66th annual United Veterans Council Parade featuring floats, marching bands, drill teams, veterans and military organizations.

In Ellington, Conn., hundreds of persons attended a ceremony honoring Stephen D. Tingley, a young Marine killed in the October, 1983, terrorist bombing in Beirut, Lebanon.

At Mackinac Island, Mich., residents observed the day by casting a wreath upon the water and celebrating Mass in the mid-island cemetery.

In Sharpsburg, Md., where 4,768 Union soldiers are buried, residents decorated the graves of war dead with flowers Saturday and held a parade on the main street of town.

Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday in May, will be marked in Hawaii with services at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. The rites will include a 21-gun salute by the U.S. Marine Corps and the Hawaii Air National Guard flying planes in the “missing man” formation.

New Orleans Prison to Dedicate Mural

In a prison in New Orleans, officials plan to dedicate a large mural, painted by inmates and deputies, showing a Purple Heart medal and two Medals of Honor beside an enormous rippling American flag, scenes from the war and a map of Vietnam.

In Rochester, N.Y., organizers of the Memorial Day parade buried the bitterness that resulted in the cancellation of last year’s march and agreed to allow anti-war activists to march today in the same parade as the veterans.

Meanwhile, state police across the nation maintained a vigil throughout the weekend, which ends late tonight, in a crackdown on speeders and drunken drivers.