Vietnam veteran to tell story at Lombard Memorial Day ceremony

As Lombard prepares to mark Memorial Day in solemn remembrance of military personnel who died while serving, one Vietnam War veteran is preparing his notes.

Tom Zilla, 71, of Lombard will speak at the village’s Memorial Day ceremony, scheduled for noon Monday, May 28, at the Veterans Memorial in the Sunken Garden of Lombard Common park, St. Charles Road and Grace Street.

A Vietnam veteran was chosen to speak this year not because 2012 is a special anniversary for the war, but because it’s always valuable to hear veterans’ stories from different perspectives, said Lombard Police Lt. Scott Watkins, who leads the village’s Memorial Day committee.

“We always ask speakers to talk a little about their service — where they were posted during their service, if they were involved in any type of conflict or combat situation,” Watkins said.

Zilla, former commander of the VFW Lilac Post 5815, is preparing himself to give such a speech, looking back on his two years in an Army aviation unit based in Da Nang, Vietnam.

“My principal job was flight operations, tower control, watching our aircraft heading off for missions,” Zilla said. “We had missions dawn to dusk, rain or shine. We were supporting troops in the field.”

Zilla said he was drafted into the war before serving in 1964 and 65.

“I was very lucky when I was there,” Zilla said. “We had a different relationship than the later guys did. We lived in a hotel complex as opposed to living in the brush or in a military camp someplace outside.”

Other than Zilla’s speech, the program will include a field cross ceremony by members of VietNow and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Lombard Memorial Marker, which shows the names of Lombard residents killed in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War.

Eastwind vocalists from Glenbard East High School will sing the national anthem, and members of VFW Lilac Post 5815 and the local American Legion will participate in the ceremony. If severe weather strikes, the program will move inside the Lombard village hall, 255 E. Wilson Ave.

“This is a day we need to observe to remember those who have fallen in their line of duty,” Zilla said. “Not only in the Vietnam War, but previous wars and the wars that continue.”