(CAMDEN) — Assemblyman Gilbert “Whip” Wilson (D-Camden/Gloucester) is traveling to the New Jersey Vietnam Memorial on Tuesday May 2 to join forty students from the Camden High School Institute for Political and Legal Education (IPLE) and Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) programs.
The students will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the fallen Camden City Vietnam Veterans after touring the Memorial and the Vietnam Era Museum and Educational Center. The wreath will bear the names of those soldiers from Camden City who made the ultimate sacrifice for their home and country, along with purple and gold, orange and black ribbons representing Camden and Woodrow Wilson High Schools.
“These students represent the best and the brightest of Camden High School,” said Assemblyman Wilson. “I am constantly impressed by their initiative, their dedication to their studies and the depth of their involvement. As a Vietnam Veteran and native of Camden City myself, this project and trip have a special meaning to me.”
The students have spent the last several months researching the lives of the more than twenty-five Vietnam Veterans from Camden City whose names appear on the wall — learning their stories, looking through yearbooks and contacting family members. The students will be chaperoned by Colonel Ross who is the head of ROTC and a veteran himself, Coach Ted Hanson who is the IPLE instructor, and Jim Collins — a fellow teacher. School Board Vice President Martha Wilson will also make the trip to join the students in Holmdel.
“I would like to thank Bill Linderman, Executive Director of the New Jersey Vietnam Memorial Foundation,” added Assemblyman Wilson. “His involvement and organization has made this trip possible, and this experience will change the lives of these young men and women.”
The New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial is unique in being the only Memorial and Museum in the country dedicated solely to the Vietnam War Era.