Correspondent photo / Nancilynn Gatta Andy H. Weaver of West Farmington and a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War, was the guest speaker Monday at the Southington Memorial Day service. Weaver is the last survivor of five sons who served in the military during that conflict.

SOUTHINGTON — Andy Weaver of West Farmington is the last surviving Weaver boy to serve in the military during the Korean War. Of five sons who served, three of them, including Andy, were enlisted at the same time.

On Monday, the 90 year-old United States Army veteran was the guest speaker during the Memorial Day service at the Southington Township gazebo. Weaver said the theme of his talk was “the ones who served and came home and how they were treated.”

Although he was stationed in Germany during the Korean War, he began his talk about Vietnam veterans.

“In Vietnam, 58,000 is the number of lives that were killed or missing, not counting the number of wounded,” Weaver said.

He compared the loss of lives to what happened in Korea.

“In contrast, during the Korean War, 36,500 were lost,” he said.

As he talked about the Vietnam War, he mentioned that many in attendance probably knew someone who served at that time.

“President Kennedy sent military advisers and President Johnson sent many thousands of ground troops. Of the ones who came home, it was not as honored warriors. They were spit on, ridiculed and treated like dirt by some of our nation. They were called ‘baby killers.’ That just did not sit right with many of us, dare I say, most of us.

“Vietnam was

especially painful for those who served because they were treated so badly by so many. These men and women suffered because they weren’t appreciated. It wasn’t their decision whether or not to fight this war. That was made by Washington,” Weaver said.

Weaver reminded the crowd that women also served during the war. He mentioned that in 1995, Vietnam listed the number of people killed during the war in North and South Vietnam as more than 3 million between the two countries. Today they are one country.

“Finally in 1982, Vietnam veterans got their memorial called The Wall and on that wall, currently, are over 58,000 members of the United States Armed Forces that paid the ultimate price or are still missing. The Wall went a long way toward making amends,” Weaver said.

When he discussed the Afghanistan war, Weaver pointed out his grandson, Jonathon Anderson of Garrettsville, who was in the crowd. A United States Marine veteran of that war, Anderson served two tours of duty. His grandfather said he was very proud of him.

Weaver reflected on the casualties from that conflict.

“We lost 2,456 service members in Afghanistan,” he said.

He noted that his grandson was married and left his wife stateside while he was deployed to Afghanistan.

“A special thank you to Katie, who kept the home fires burning. The ones that stay at home also sacrifice,” Weaver said.

Pastor Dick Smith of Southington United Methodist Church gave a closing prayer at the end of the service.

Chalker High School band director Alfred Todd played “Taps” and led the school band through “The Star-Spangled Banner” to begin the program.

Weaver left the crowd with this thought, “We need to pause at every Memorial Day and remember those that gave their life in all the wars in the past of our country.”