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Veterans’ Advocate and Radio Host to Speak on Veterans Day 2023
Veterans advocate and radio host Joe Griffies will be the speaker at the Veterans Day ceremony on Nov. 11 at noon at the memorial at Spruce Street and Columbus Blvd.
Griffies has been the well-known director of veteran affairs for the Welcome Home Veterans Show on WIBBAGE Radio for more than a decade. And a veterans advocate well-known throughout the Delaware Valley.
The ceremony, which features the 82nd Airborne Association, Hajdak-Mokan Chapter Honor Guard, will be under the direction of PVVM vice president Dennis Best and secretary John Scott McAllister.
Griffies is a Philadelphia native and a Cardinal Dougherty 1965 graduate. He served in Vietnam in 1967-68 with the 4th Infantry Division. He attended St. Joseph University in 1968-70 before working in the meat business. He is a resident of Cape May County, NJ.
Contact: Melodee Mercer
Rally Set to Raise Funds in Support of Campaign to Repair Memorial Vandalism
A rally will be held at the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Columbus Blvd and Spruce Street, on Saturday, Sept. 30 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to raise funds to repair extensive damage from recent vandalism. The rally will feature well-known performers, as well as rock and roll DJs.
Estimates are that the damage to signage, concrete and stone surrounding plaques and other ornamentation is in excess of $30,000.
Besides the vandalism repair, damage due to wear and exposure to the elements will require another $80,000. Any funds raised beyond that needed to correct the vandalism will be used for those purposes.
“Once again, the Memorial, which honors the sacrifice of 648 city sons in the Vietnam War, was the target of miscreants with no respect for those who fell in service to their country,” noted Terry A. Williamson, Memorial president.
Supporting the event, which will include refreshments, will be DJ Lou Costello, Billy Carlucci and The Essentials, and First Ladies of Rock and Roll, as well as Lou Balezzi. Partnering with the Memorial is Penn & Franklin – Greater Philadelphia Chapter, The Association of the U.S. Army.
There will be limited parking for the event, which will be held near the POW/MIA Monument. For those who wish to make a donation, they can either visit the Memorial ‘s website at https://pvvm.org/support and use the “donate” button or can mail donations to PVVM, P.O. Box 29425, Philadelphia, PA 19125. Please indicate the contribution is to repair “vandalism.” The Memorial is a 501 (c)( 3) organization.
The Memorial has also established a Go Fund Me page at
https://www.gofundme.com/f/phila-vietnam-veterans-memorial-vandalized.