Cruise pianists Danny O’Neill and Michael Dashefsky will share the spotlight in a musical fundraiser on Saturday, July 24, at 7 p.m., at the Newtown Athletic Club. The event will benefit the Lower Bucks County Vietnam Memorial.
The pair will star in “Dueling Pianos,” a unique song auction show that will combine audience requests with competitive bidding. Audience members can not only bid to request favorite songs from O’Neill and Dashefsky, but can also bid to request that songs not be played.
Cost is $15 per person. Tickets can be purchased here or via Venmo @PAVVMF1. Food and drink will be available. All proceeds will benefit the memorial, which is scheduled to be dedicated on Sunday, Sept. 26, at Veterans Park on Veterans Highway in Middletown Township.
The project of the PA Vietnam Veterans Foundation, the memorial will honor victims from the townships of Bensalem, Bristol, Falls, Lower Makefield, Lower Southampton, Middletown, Newtown, Northampton, Upper Makefield, Upper Southampton and Wrightstown, and the boroughs of Bristol, Hulmeville, Langhorne, Langhorne Manor, Morrisville, Newtown and Penndel.
The memorial will include 95 names of servicemen from Lower Bucks County, including 94 killed in action and one missing in action. The memorial sculpture is being created by Abbe Godwin, a highly-regarded creator of works memorializing members of the armed services, whose works include the Corpsman Memorial and the Peacekeeper statue at the Beirut Memorial, both at Camp Johnson in Jacksonville, North Carolina; and the North Carolina Vietnam Memorial on the grounds of the state capitol in Raleigh.
The anticipated $250,000 cost of the memorial is being funded by state and local grants, and through various fundraising efforts. Donations can be made at lbcvvm.org.
The PA Vietnam Veterans Foundation includes two veterans of the Vietnam War – Fran Drummond, of Langhorne Manor Borough, and John Rumsey, of Langhorne Borough. Chaired by Ed Preston, it includes seven members of The Wall in Bucks County, the grassroots organization that brought the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall to the area, as well as other civic-minded residents and members of the business community. Upwards of 25,000 people visited the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall during its July 14-16 run in Penndel in 2017. The event also raised more than $31,000 in money and goods that was donated to local and national veterans causes.
