By Lauren Lipton

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - On this Memorial Day, we pay tribute to the many area veterans.

“Our whole neighborhood got drafted, back in  ’66.  Everybody went, so it was sort of like your duty to go.  The country needed you,” says Joe Ferry, who fought in Vietnam.

Joe Kelly was in the Korean War, and Harry Wills was in World War II.  And they are among the many who visit a small memorial park in Fairmount.  The park, the size of a small room, sits on 24th Street, and what was once a vacant lot now serves as a meeting place for veterans to talk, see their friends and remember.

“At that time, you didn’t know what was going to happen.  It was turmoil in the world.  They told you to go here, they told you to go where, and you did it.”

“Everybody’s been in tight spots, everybody’s been scared, and that’s what war’s about.  You know, being scared and overcoming it.”

The park is named for Patrick Ward, who lived in Philadelphia and died in Vietnam, but pays tribute to all the men and women who gave their today for our tomorrow.

That’s Positively Philadelphia!

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