Keynote Speaker - Former Miss New Jersey, Hela Young
Speaker - Acting Governor Donald T. DiFrancesco
Deputy Commissioner COL Michael L. Warner, Dept. of Military and Veterans Affairs
Old Bridge High School Women’s Choir
Rahway High School Junior ROTC Color Guard
Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 200 Color Guard

WHEN: Monday, May 7, 2001 at 11:00 AM

WHERE: New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, Memorial Lane, Holmdel, NJ
at the Garden State Parkway exit 116 (PNC Bank Arts Center).

DETAILS:  New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Remembrance Day, May 7, was created by legislation in 1991 as a unique day in New Jersey to honor all those who served in the military during the Vietnam Era, from 1959 to 1975.  More than 200,000 New Jersey residents served in the armed forces during that time.

Hela Young, of Mountainside, will deliver the keynote address.  Young’s career began when she won the title of Miss New Jersey and represented her state in the 1970 Miss America competition.  She was then selected as one of six state queens to join the Miss America USO Tour.  In 1971, the Tour went to South Vietnam, where Young entertained troops and visited military hospitals.  Since then, she has continued as a professional entertainer, successful businesswoman, and as community service activist.  The daughter of holocaust survivors and a graduate of Kean College, Young is the hostess for the New Jersey State Lottery, conducting the nightly TV drawings and performing at special millionaire drawings every month in Atlantic City.

Admission to the Educational Center, located adjacent to the Memorial, is free for all visitors on May 7th.  The New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial is open 24 hours, 7 days.  The Educational Center is regularly open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM – 4 PM.