Vets raising money to honor Der Boghosian with memorial bench

Nov. 28--LEWISTON -- Jerry Der Boghosian, a tireless advocate for local veterans who died in a June car accident, may soon be memorialized with a stone bench in a Lewiston park.

Veterans began raising $2,000 to buy and engrave a bench for the downtown Veterans Memorial Park. They want to unveil it next Memorial Day.

"He belonged to just about every military organization," Jerry DeWitt, a friend and fellow veteran, said. "But he wasn't just a member. He was also an officer at one point in time in all of those organizations, too. Jerry was the kind of person who had the ritual and the history and stuff, and he wanted to keep it alive."

When he died at 91, he was the adjutant and treasurer of American Legion Post 22 in Lewiston, chaplain for VFW Post 9150 in Lewiston and historian for the Franco-American War Veterans Post 31 in Lewiston.

A native of Haverhill, Mass., Der Boghosian served aboard the U.S.S. Canberra during World War II. He also founded the ship's reunion association and continued to serve with a variety of veteran-related groups until his death at 91.

He lived in Lisbon.

Several groups, including Legion Post 22, its ladies auxiliary and Chapter 11 of the Disabled American Veterans, have donated to the memorial fund.

More is needed, DeWitt said.

Anyone wishing to make a donation is encouraged to send a check to the L/A Veterans Council at P.O. Box 2316, Lewiston, ME 04240. Please make checks payable to the L/A Veterans Council and write "Jerry D's bench" on the check. For more information, contact Jerry DeWitt at (207) 576-0376 or jdewitt@tcmhs.org.

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