Thanking Vietnam veterans in Barnegat

Thanking Vietnam veterans in Barnegat I'm a former Vietnamese refugee who built and completely funded a Vietnam veterans monument in our town. Help spread the word!

I'm also trying to reach every Vietnam veteran in our town to come to a Thank You night of free food and drinks on us, for them. As a Vietnamese refugee who came to America in 1975 after Saigon fell to the Communists, I was inspired to do more for our Vietnam veterans after I experienced a very negative online attack by a Vietnam veteran after I was thanking this group of vets on Facebook. I decid

ed to do 2 projects in my town of Barnegat, NJ, honoring Vietnam veterans living in this town:

(1) Building a memorial for this group in our town, completely funded by me and my husband. The dedication date for this memorial was on the first national Vietnam Veterans Day, which was Thursday, March 29, 2018. We continue to celebrate Vietnam veterans annually on this date by hosting an event by our monument, along with the Barnegat American Legion and Barnegat VFW posts. Members of the Vietnamese community also join us at these events, to show our American brothers-in-arms how much their collective actions to fight for our freedom in our country are deeply appreciated. Hundreds gather in Barnegat from all over the area for this event! (2) Having a recurring series of “Thank You” nights out for small groups of Vietnam veterans at a time. They would be treated to free drinks and food, while we would make sure it’s shown how much we appreciate everything they did by taking the time to get to know them, and by listening to their stories. These are also funded by me and my husband. On a local level, our goal is to be able to reach every Vietnam veteran living in Barnegat to have them come to one of our Thank You night events. And then on a broader level, we’d love for other towns and states to get inspired by this, and to do the same for their own Vietnam veterans in their communities. What’s great is that, after our 1st event, we already heard about a few other people who are looking to do something similar in their area in other states, and were motivated by what they learned was happening in Barnegat! This page was created to allow members of the community and anywhere else in the world to follow along with our progress. We’ve made quite a bit since we started this in April 2017! We hope to be able to make more connections with other Vietnam vets living in Barnegat, as well. If you know of a Vietnam veteran who lives in Barnegat, PLEASE let us know about them!

05/26/2026

What a great exhibit that we encourage you to come visit at the Montclair Public Library before the month is over!

Vietnamese Boat People Podcast

We encourage everyone, especially veterans, to come to this terrific event!
05/20/2026

We encourage everyone, especially veterans, to come to this terrific event!

Southern Regional’s Annual Memorial Day Ceremony!

Please join us for our annual Memorial Day Ceremony this Friday, May 22nd, at 10:30AM.

** LINK TO FULL VIDEO ON YOUTUBE IN POST! **The FULL VIDEO of our event this year has been finalized, and is available o...
04/23/2026

** LINK TO FULL VIDEO ON YOUTUBE IN POST! **

The FULL VIDEO of our event this year has been finalized, and is available on YouTube to watch!

Many many many thanks to combat Vietnam veteran, Purple Heart recipient, and dear friend, David Regenthal, for the countless hours of work he put into this.

Relive your memories from the event last month, and share share share with those who were unable to join us!

https://youtu.be/brGEhoO9Rv4

p.s. As a reminder, full details of our entire program and everyone involved in this year's event can be seen here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1W4oUD-1tiCswVMJoK6ytUs1opTzWzQjm?usp=drive_link

** Special invite from Red Bank Regional High School - 4/28/26 **Our presentation to Red Bank Regional High School stude...
04/10/2026

** Special invite from Red Bank Regional High School - 4/28/26 **

Our presentation to Red Bank Regional High School students last year was such a hit, they've expanded the time this year to allow for a longer Q & A session between the students and Vietnam veterans / other guests in attendance!

As such, we and RBRHS are extending an invitation to Vietnam veterans and anyone else interested to come join us, as we give our interactive presentation to an assembly of high school history students. Our presentation will tell the story of me and my family's harrowing escape from the Fall of Saigon and how we refugees were treated, compared to how Vietnam veterans were treated. This is the story behind how we started our annual events in Barnegat that honor Vietnam veterans! After my presentation, we open up the floor to Vietnam veterans for them to share some of their stories, and to allow students to ask any questions to both me and to Vietnam veterans. It's a generous opportunity to reach so many eager ears of our younger generation!

Details are below. Please RSVP via commenting here, as a Facebook message, or by email by Thursday, April 23, 2026 to let me know if you're coming, with the 1st and last name of everyone in your party.

Red Bank Regional High School
101 Ridge Rd, Little Silver, NJ 07739
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
12:30pm - 2:30pm

[email protected]

Thank you to Jersey Shore Online for always writing wonderful articles about our annual events! Here's the latest from o...
04/09/2026

Thank you to Jersey Shore Online for always writing wonderful articles about our annual events! Here's the latest from our event last month for your reading pleasure:

  BARNEGAT – For years, Thy Cavagnano has stood before Vietnam veterans with a message rooted in gratitude. A Vietnam refugee, she has long credited those who served with making her life in the United States possible. But for Thy, showing appreciation is only part of the mission.   Thy regularly...

We can't believe it's already been a week since our event last Friday, 3/27/26. It was a fantastic turnout, with absolut...
04/03/2026

We can't believe it's already been a week since our event last Friday, 3/27/26. It was a fantastic turnout, with absolutely AMAZING help from all our participants and volunteers!

Professional photos and videos are forthcoming, but we have the sound recording from the event, for those of you who can treat this almost like listening to a radio show or a podcast.

If any of you out there have photos and videos from your phone or camera of any part of the event, please do share them with us! We love all aspects that have been captured, and save them all to cherish.

For now, please enjoy the sounds of last Friday, and immerse yourselves in the auditory memories of it.

https://youtu.be/H6ZN1nxOD9Y

*Photo taken by Ken Hagemann NJ VFW State Commander

Thank you to The SandPaper for the article about our event last week, with great quotes from Beach Haven's mayor, Collee...
04/01/2026

Thank you to The SandPaper for the article about our event last week, with great quotes from Beach Haven's mayor, Colleen Lambert!

Looking out at the hundreds of Vietnam veterans seated in the Barnegat High School gym on March 27, Jeffrey S. Golden fought back emotion when he said, “If it wasn’t for you, I would not be here today.” Golden was one of two keynote speakers at the Vietnam Veterans Day ceremony coordinated by ...

03/29/2026

Thank you all soooo much for continuing to make this event one of the highlights for Vietnam veterans in the state and surrounding areas, every year.

I hope our Vietnam veterans here today can feel the love from this community, and can finally see in the mirror all we see in you.

Today, and every day,

WELCOME HOME !!!

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Barnegat, NJ

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