Heroic Veteran Memorialized

FAIRLESS HILLS, Pa. -- Far from where he grew up, from his family and friends, and from where he played basketball and ran tack at Pennsbury High School here, Edward Nelson Beers now was in a dark, enigmatic province half a world away.

It was Monsoon season in the distant territory and the hot, dry southwest winds said so. Hills and the Annamite Mountains dominated the terrain, while the highlands were rich with steep slopes, sharp crests and narrow valleys. It didn’t look or feel like home; it was a destitution of the soul. Vietnam’s Quang Tri Province is where this 20-year-old Fairless Hills man was positioned.

The calendar read May 23,1968, and Private First Class Beers of the U.S. Marine Corp. was on patrol in the secretive wilds. He had graduated from Pennsbury in 1965, joined the Marines two years later and as of this day, had just 109 days remaining until he returned to Bucks County.

But it also was on this day that his nightmare came to reality: without warning an enemy explosive device detonated and critically wounded the Marine. With sharded wounds to his head, neck and shoulders, Beers’ comrades worked feverously to not abandon him but move him to the Navy hospital ship USS Sanctuary where he succumbed to his wounds.

In honor of the fallen soldier, the County of Bucks recently dedicated county-owned Bridge #220 over Martins Creek along Mill Creek Road in Falls Township to Beers. It is the tenth county bridge dedicated since 2022 to Bucks County soldiers fallen in the Vietnam War. The dedications are part of the county’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge Program, which honors the 136 Bucks County residents lost in the Vietnam War.

At the bridge dedication ceremony June 25, Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia said recognition of the fallen soldiers was long overdue.

“I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, it has taken us a very, very long time to say thank you and a very long time to try and make it right,” she said. “I hope Eddie feels this bridge. And I hope his family feels this bridge makes us a little bit closer to making it right for the sacrifice that all of you have made.”

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Bucks County dedicates a bridge to fallen soldier.Photo byAnnonUnsplash