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9 medals of Vietnam Veteran lost in flames

The veteran, his wife and niece escape from a home office as the electrical fire ignites the structure.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published March 4, 2005

SAFETY HARBOR - When Ed Bergin's backyard shed burned Thursday, so did many of his wartime memories.

Bergin, a retired Swiftboat skipper who was active in a campaign questioning presidential candidate John Kerry's Vietnam War service, saw his nine medals, including a Bronze Star, go up in flames about 2 p.m.

He and his wife, Mary Bergin, were in what they called "the barn," a detached shed they used as an office, helping their 15-year-old niece Georgette Lupin with her math homework when the teenager heard a crackling noise.

An instant later, they saw flames, and the three rushed out the door to safety.

Bergin, 64, who had commanded PCF-79 in 1967 to 1968, grabbed a garden hose and tried to douse the fire, but it was already out of control.

Even in a steady drizzle of rain, the 30-year-old, 468-square-foot pine wood structure that stood next to the family's ranch house was reduced to charred planks and smoldering ashes within 30 minutes.

The Safety Harbor Fire Department responded to the 911 call within six minutes. It was later assisted by the Clearwater and Palm Harbor fire departments.

Bergin, the chairman of the Swiftboat Sailors Association and a real estate developer, said he had just put a new roof on the structure.

His gun collection and two computers containing all of his tax information were lost, as well as business files and a safe full of Mary Bergin's jewelry.

David Pacheco, acting fire marshal for Safety Harbor, said the blaze was an accidental electrical fire that started in a separation wall.

He estimated the damage to the shed at $45,000 to $50,000. The fire also had spread to a neighbor's property, burning down a wood fence and swing set. Pacheco estimated that damage at between $8,000 and $10,000.

After firefighters put out the last of the flames, they started pulling the charred remains of the office and putting them on a tarp in the back yard. Among the items were melted keyboards and scorched notebooks.

One firefighter handed Mary Bergin a velvet-lined case with bars of silver covered in ash. Each had the name of a different president engraved on the top. The set was a gift from Ed Bergin's father in 1976. Some of the pieces were missing.

She looked at them sadly.

"What do people do when it's their house?" she said.

Researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report. Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 4, 2005, 00:30:22]