Usually, it is the town that presents certificates of appreciation to public-spirited citizens. But, at Tuesday's Selectmen's meeting, two Vietnam veterans gave framed certificates of appreciation to three Wareham town employees.

James Newman and Charles Vanderstay wanted to thank Glenn Barrows, Frank Bergamasco, and Joe Edwards for taking the wooden plaques that held the names of hundreds of WWII veterans and refurbishing them at home on their own time. The employees then rehung the plaques in the foyer of Town Hall.

It started when Newman heard that many of the town's WWII veterans' names were missing from the plaques. Newman and Vanderstay researched and found about half of the veterans were not listed. They also found that Wareham WWI veterans did not have a memorial. They made up new nameplates for the overlooked veterans, but were unable to get the board in shape or the new nameplates on it.

That's where the town employees came in. 

“We want to thank those gentlemen who put that board up. We had it ready long ago, but we couldn’t find anyone to put the board up,” said Newman. He said anyone who knows of a relative whose name should be on the board should contact him so that the name can be added.