It was an early Veterans’ Day for Vietnam vets in Chadds Ford. Several dozen of the vets, now in there 60s, came to the oldest Vietnam memorial in the country to pay honor to their comrades, living and dead, with a 21-gun salute, the playing of Taps and a wreath laying.

One veteran, Ray “Rocket” Ferrell, originally from Tinicum Township, was already serving in Vietnam when the monument was dedicated in November of 1966. Seeing it now for the first time was emotional.

“Vietnam vets were really beat up back then. We weren’t even allowed to join the VFW. It gives me goose bumps when I see things like this,” Ferrell said.

Chuck “Graves” Roth, a Delaware County native who served in Vietnam with the U.S. Marines in 1967 and ’68, coordinated the event.

“Having a memorial that was dedicated in 1966, when about 57,000 of the 58,000 dead [were] still living, is special. This memorial has not had any activity in four decades. This being the Veterans’ Day week, I felt it was right for us to get out here. This is our day for the living, but honor the guys that we lost. We’re having a little camaraderie with the guys who are still living,” Roth said.

“This will be the last event at this monument until it’s put into its new place. Hopefully, the activity we’re creating today will get them to think where they’re going to put it,” he added.

The monument, a cannon on a stone base, was dedicated on Veterans’ Day, Nov. 11, 1966. It sits at the side of the parking lot of the former Sovereign Bank on Route 202, diagonally across from Hillman Drive.

It had been ignored for decades until earlier this year when Steve Quigley, of Concord Towing, brought the monument to the public attention. Since then, ChaddsFordLIve.com has learned that it appears to be the oldest known Vietnam Memorial in the country. A monument in Missouri dedicated in 1967 was thought to have been the oldest until the Chadds Ford monument was rediscovered.

The veterans thanked Quigley for his efforts to bring awareness about the monument to the public. He laid a wreath at the base of the monument.

The present location is poor and there was talk of moving it to the Chadds Ford municipal building site, though, as previously reported, the three supervisors are not unanimous in their opinions. Several local businessmen have offered to help pay to move the monument. Since then, the developer for a planned Wegman’s market has included the monument in plans. Those plans are still being reviewed.

Also attending was District Justice Richard Cappelli.

“I have a great respect for the men who serve this country,” he said. “The Vietnam War was a particularly difficult time for our country and I think the men who served in that war deserve recognition, and that’s why I’m here.”

Cappelli added that he has no opinion on where the monument should be since he has not heard all the opinions. However, he said the current location is “not ideal.”

“A location like a township facility, an open park or something like that would certainly make more sense to me, but I don’t know what the arguments are.”

In the interim, there is still no word on the monument’s history, why it was dedicated in Chadds Ford or who was behind the dedication. No mention has yet been found in any of the regional newspapers or historical societies.

However, one Concord Township resident said he was there at the 1966 dedication. Bill Manley said during the Nov. 3 ceremony that he was a young boy at the time and has no recall of any of the particulars.

“I was just a kid and I just happened to be around at the time, just a dumb kid wondering what it was all about. I really couldn’t tell you who was here, or what was here…All I can say is that I remember the day they dedicated that.”

Main photo: Vietnam veterans Ray Ferrell, left, and Chuck Graves, salute their fallen comrades. (All photos by Rich Schwartzman)