This year’s annual parade was topped by the unveiling of a granite bench at the monument dedicated to the survivors of the Battle of Cu Chi, in which the two men fought.The battle included 11 major engagements over 66 days in 1966, during the Vietnam War. Cu Chi, known as “Hell’s Half Acre” was laced with more than 240 square miles of enemy tunnels, leading Tamburri and his fellow soldiers in the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division to be nicknamed “The Tunnel Rats.” Tamburri said the bench will be “a place of peace” at which he and others can “reflect on sacrifice.”

South Portland resident Robert Tamburri gets a hug from his grandson, Alex, following Veterans Day ceremonies at the Military Service Memorial in Mill Creek Park, while seated alongside his fellow veteran Mickey Finn.Following South Portland’s annual Veterans Day parade Nov. 11, members of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadets Corps, based in the city, participated in a flag ceremony at the Military Service Monument in Mill Creek Park.With more than 200 people looking on, South Portland resident Robert Tamburri, at microphone, flanked by his wife, Sandra, in red, unveils a granite bench dedicated to his fellow survivors of the 1966 Vietnam battle of Cu Chi, at the Military Service Monument, foreground.