by June Portnoy
On June 25, the Pennsylvania Vietnam Memorial Fund (PAVVMF) and the County of Bucks dedicated the Falls Township Bridge on Mill Creek Road, 100 feet past Falls
Township Park, to United States Marine Corps Private First-Class Edward Nelson Beers.
Six of Beers’ eight siblings, along with other family members, former neighbors, one of his grade school teachers, and many community members who remember him and his family, attended this dedication ceremony.
Beers, affectionately referred to as Eddie, was a 1965 graduate of Pennsbury High School where he ran track and played basketball. In March 1967, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines. He was assigned to Company K, 3 rd 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 Airway, Beers detonated a hostile explosive device. He suffered shrapnel wounds to the head, neck, and shoulders.
He had only 109 days left of his combat tour and his scheduled return to the U.S.
During Beers’ dedication ceremony, a family member read the last letter he sent home, dated April 26, a little less than a month before he died. In his letter, he wrote how he had had “close calls”, but that he had been lucky so far and how he was stationed with 19 buddies who all looked out for each other. He ended the letter writing how he hoped they could have a party on his return home.
Beers’ two nieces read a touching poem about “the uncle they never knew” that they had written back in 1989 when they were still young. Their poem described how although they were born after their Uncle Eddie had passed away, their family kept his
memory alive teaching them all about him.
Offering additional insight about Beers was Terry Nau, his former Pennsbury High School classmate. Terry jokingly recalled how he and Eddie were the shortest two
kids in their graduating class, which meant they got front row seats to their graduation and were the first ones to receive their diplomas.
Terry described how he and Eddie grew up two streets apart in Fairless Hills and how their families attended the same Methodist church on Trenton Road. He described Eddie as a good-looking kid with wavy hair who listed the Pennsbury football team as one of his favorite memories in his yearbook, how he loved music and girls, “just a typical teenager growing up in Lower Bucks County.
“We remember Eddie today as if he were frozen in time, still young and laughing and talking about the Everly Brothers, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and his friends,” described Terry. “Eddie remains young as his classmates grow old. He is a fond memory of our younger years that never gets old.”
A letter written by a man named Fenchie who served with Beers and was with him the day he died, was also read during this ceremony. “Known to me and the others as Beers, one night we made a pact that if anything would happen to the other, we would have a drink for the both of us. Beers died on May 23, and I was wounded May 26. Two weeks later…I sat at a bar and drank one for me and one for Beers…to think that 55 years later a bridge would be named for him. That’s beautiful”.
PAVVMF Chair Ed Preston, who officiated this ceremony, dedicated Bridge 220 in memory of PFC Edward Nelson Beers, US Marine Corps. Beers’ two brothers, who both enlisted in the marines shortly after their brother was killed, unveiled the sign dedicating the bridge to their brother.
Preston closed the ceremony with another message from Fenchie. “’Beers is my friend; He’s in my heart and my mind every day. I made sure I live a life in a way that he gave his for. I think we all should think about what that means; those men who gave their lives so we can live our lives the best way we can.’”