It was a special day for the Radziwon family at Sunday’s American Legion breakfast. Vietnam veteran Henry Radziwon, of Boothbay and Connecticut, attended the breakfast with his daughter Leigh and his granddaughter. As he sat down and began to eat his morning meal, he spotted surprise No. 1: A veterans’ banner with his boot camp graduation photo, name and years of military service beside another banner for his son, Jeffrey.  His children purchased veterans’ banners for the two veterans and planned the family reunion.

Surprise No. 2 occurred when Jeffrey “unexpectedly” arrived from St. Louis and joined the family for breakfast. The Radziwon siblings began planning the surprise months ago. Post 36 Vice-Commander Chris Armstead told Jeffrey he was eligible for the banner program. Jeffrey served as a Marine from 2000 to 2008 stationed in Charlie Co. 125 in Fallujah, Iraq. This May, Post 36 will hang 330 banners honoring local veterans’ service in prominent locations in Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb and Southport. 

Finding a military photo of Jeffrey was simple, but finding Henry’s was challenging. When he finished his service in 1975, Henry packed all of his military memorabilia in a trunk and stored it in his parents’ home. Several years later, the trunk was missing. “A ‘spiteful’ family member threw it away and nobody had any other of dad’s military belongings,” said Leigh.

A desperate search of family records led Jeffrey to asking his dad to look at old family picture albums. “We told him it was a school project for his granddaughter,” Jeffrey said. “I looked for several hours before I found his boot camp graduation picture.”

Leigh explained the picture was sent to their mother who has since died. “It was sent to her, and if it hadn’t, it probably would’ve been packed with all of his other belongings,” she said.

Jim Singer is a Vietnam War veteran from Southport who organized the banner tribute last year. After the breakfast, he explained to the family how the happy gathering almost didn’t happen. Last week, he was preparing to hang the Radziwon banners in the Legion hall for display during the breakfast. He found Henry’s, but not Jeffrey’s. 

“I contacted Dan Bryer who looked for the banners in the Boothbay town hall. No banner for Jeffrey. Bryer went to Boothbay Harbor and searched its town office. No banner. Bryer researched the Boothbay public works garage. Again, no banner, Singer said.

Now in a state of abject panic, Singer began calling banner committee members. Singer contacted Phil Chapman who told him he had one of the banners. Chapman wanted to show a local masons group a sample. “I have one, but don’t know which one,” Chapman told Singer. “Is it spelled R-A-D-Z-I-W-O-N?”asked Singer. “Yeah, that’s the one,” responded Chapman.