I would like to thank you, Supervisor John Venditto, for bringing the Vietnam Memorial to the Town of Oyster Bay. My husband, a Vietnam Veteran and I were honored to pay tribute to so many. What a sense of pride it brought to me, to be standing amongst our country's bravest and to be able to trace the name of a high school classmate. I will be honored to bring the tracing with me to our 40th reunion later this month. While my husband and I were looking at all the memorabilia, a woman noticed my husband wearing his USS Galveston hat. I heard them chatting, ending the conversation with her thanking my husband for serving our country. I saw an expression on my husband's face that I rarely see when I asked him is everything OK. He said, "the stigma of this war will never leave us, that is the first time anyone has thanked me for serving my country". My heart swelled with pride, as it is something he rarely talks about. Let us not have our sons and daughters who are so proudly serving our country today feel the way our veterans of yesterday feel. Do not waste this opportunity, thank them all today.

Pat Altadonna