Vietnam vets from Valley to be honored Monday

Youngstown natives Richard Merle Buccilli and Timothy Gerard Plaskett, who lived through the Vietnam War only to have the war cause their deaths decades later, are being recognized for their ultimate sacrifices.

Buccilli and Plaskett are among those who have died prematurely as a result of their service in the Vietnam War, but who are not eligible to have their names inscribed on The Wall, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s In Memory program.

But, because of the fund’s In Memory Honor Roll, they will not be forgotten.

At 10 a.m.Monday, 75 casualties of the Vietnam War, including Buccilli and Plaskett, will be honored at the 10th annual In Memory Ceremony in Washington, D.C., and have their names placed with about 1,750 others similarly recognized.

Buccilli served in the Navy from 1966 to 1972 and his ship was in the Vietnam area various times between 1966 to 1969. He was nominated for the In Memory Honor Roll by his sister, Sandra Kalafut, of Youngstown. He died Aug. 22, 2005, at age 56.

Plaskett, who served in the Army from October 1968 to March 1972 and in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, was nominated for the In Memory Honor Roll by his wife, Leesa Plaskett of Columbiana. He died June 9, 2003, of non-Hodgkins lymphoma as a result of exposure to Agent Orange, a defoliant used by the United States to destroy the Viet Cong’s forest cover and food supply. He was .53.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.