United States Marine Corps Private First Class Edward Nelson Beers will be honored when Bucks County Bridge No. 220 is named for him at 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 25.
The Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (PAVVMF) and the County of Bucks will conduct dedication ceremonies at the Falls Township bridge on Mill Creek Road, 100 feet past Falls Township Park. Six of Beers’ eight siblings will be at the dedication, the latest in an ongoing collaboration between the PAVVMF and Bucks County to honor local servicemen who were among the 136 killed in action or missing in the Vietnam War. The dedication will be carried on the PAVVMF’s live feed at www.facebook.com/LBCVVM.
Beers was a 1965 graduate of Pennsbury High School, where he ran track and played basketball. In March of 1967, Beers enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 3rd Marine Amphibious Force.
On May 23, 1968, while on a patrol in the Quang Tri Province along Highway QL-9 and about five kilometers west-southwest of Ca Lu Airfield, Beers detonated a hostile explosive device. He suffered shrapnel wounds to the head, neck, and shoulders. He was medically evacuated to the Navy hospital ship, USS Sanctuary, where he died from his wounds. He had only 109 days left of his combat tour and his scheduled return to the United States.
Beers is buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Trevose.
The Pennsylvania Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (PAVVMF) is working with Bucks County on the dedication of bridges in honor of Bucks County servicemen and women who died in the Vietnam War. The PAVVMF previously created and in 2021 dedicated the Lower Bucks County Vietnam Veterans Memorial (LBCVVM) to Lower Bucks victims of the Vietnam War; many of its members also were instrumental in bringing the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall to Bucks County in 2017.
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