By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
From one Vietnam veteran to countless others who have served, a bench in Bowling Green’s Simpson Garden Park offers a place for veterans to rest and be welcomed home.
The bench was donated by a Florida man, who developed a love for the garden park during extended visits with his brother, Brian Linn, who lives in Bowling Green.
“I think he likes the serenity of it,” Brian Linn, a retired financial planner with Huntington Bank, said of his brother’s fondness for the garden park. “I’m really proud that he did this.”
John Linn, a retired nurse whose job took him to London and Australia, said he often used Bowling Green and his brother, Brian, as his home base.
“I love Simpson Park. I’ve walked it many times,” said John Linn, who was drafted to serve during the Vietnam War. “I’ve been through the trials and tribulations of being a combat veteran and of Agent Orange.”
So the park offered some welcome tranquility.
When he approached city park officials about doing something for veterans in the garden park, he found a fellow veteran in Mike Przysiecki, the city’s natural resources manager. The two talked about the existing monuments dedicated to veterans around Bowling Green.
“I didn’t really want a monument that rambled on or a statue,” John Linn said.
Linn recalled that after spending a year in the jungles of Vietnam, he came home to a nation that didn’t honor those serving in Vietnam.
“There was no welcome back,” he said.
So the bench is Linn’s way of offering fellow veterans a place of peace. The plaque on the bench reads, “Veterans Rest – Welcome Home.” And it notes Linn’s service in U.S. Army Vietnam 1969-70, 1/35 Infantry (Cacti) Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division.
The bench sits under an Autumn Flame Red Maple tree, not far from the main entrance to the park. The location of the bench is particularly fitting, since it overlooks the award-winning hosta garden created and cared for by Phil Hollenbaugh, another Vietnam combat veteran.
“I find it very peaceful, with the splendor of nature,” Linn said.
Przysiecki, who manages the staff that meticulously maintains Simpson Garden Park, said he met John Linn when he became a “regular” at the park while staying with his brother. Linn talked about wanting to do something to honor veterans, but something more personal.
Przysiecki, who spent four years in the Navy, then another 19½ with the 180th Fighter Wing, understood Linn’s desire to reach out to fellow veterans.
“There’s a mutual respect,” between veterans, Przysiecki said. Though veterans who served in different times had vastly different experiences, there is a common bond. “We all signed our name on the line.”
“We got the respect and admiration of the public that they never got,” Przysiecki said of those who served in Vietnam.
The bench offers them rest and welcomes them home.
