NJ Veterans Day Service Will Be At Vietnam Era Museum, Holmdel

HOLMDEL, NJ — New Jersey’s official Veterans Day Ceremony will take place Friday inside the Vietnam Era Museum located at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Holmdel.

The ceremony will take place Nov. 11 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., 1 Memorial Lane. The event is being moved indoors this year because of predicted bad weather on Friday.

The site is located off the Garden State Parkway at Exit 116 in Holmdel. Parking is available in the main PNC Bank Arts Center parking lot.

The event is being presented by the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

The ceremony will begin with welcoming remarks from foundation trustee Melissa Ziobro, a public history professor at Monmouth University, and the singing of the National Anthem by Matt Lafargue.

The ceremony will include remarks from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Adjutant General and Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Brigadier General Lisa Hou, and additional dignitaries, organizers of the event say.

During the ceremony, the governor and adjutant general will present the We Value Our Veterans Community Award to numerous townships and businesses across the state.

The ceremony will also include a wreaths processional led by foundation Acting Executive Director Mike Thornton and benediction by American Legion Auxiliary Department of New Jersey Chaplain Lisa Natale.

The Vietnam Era Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Guests are welcome to tour the museum before or after the ceremony.

The current exhibition is "There & Back: The Journey to Vietnam and Home," which explores the war through the eyes of soldiers and flight attendants traveling to and from the war, by both sea and air.

The exhibit features civilian flight crew accounts, rare in-flight photos; uniforms; a berthing compartment salvaged from the U.S. Naval Ship General Nelson M. Walker, a troopship left untouched since the late Sixties; lost personal items and canvas bunks covered with art and graffiti. The exhibit will be on display until March 15, 2023.

Since 1995, the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial has provided a place to remember and honor the 1,563 New Jerseyans who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War.

Each year the foundation welcomes thousands of visitors and guests to dozens of ceremonies, educational and outreach programs.

The adjacent Vietnam Era Museum is the first and only educational center and museum of its kind in the United States. Dedicated in September 1998, the museum is devoted solely to gaining an understanding of the conflict in Southeast Asia and the surrounding political strife in America.