EAST PROVIDENCE — A "Band of Brothers" from the city recently gathered for a special luncheon, commemorating 54 years since they as a group entered the military.

Ten members of the East Providence High School Class of 1969 together enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on August 26, 1968.

A year to the day later and a few months after most received their diplomas from EPHS, the group were inducted in the Corps on August 26, 1969. From there, nearly all saw time in the country proper during the Vietnam War.

This past summer the surviving members Albert Bettencourt, Steve DeHart, Louis Oliveira, David Raposa and Arthur Tetreault met up, in some cases for the first time over 30 years, at the Riviera Restaurant to recognize the noteworthy period in each of their lives.

A quintet of their ranks are departed — David Garrity, Henry Lewis, Bill McGowan, Rick Riley and Russell Parquette.

"We're not getting any younger and there's not too many of us left, so we decided we better start getting together more often," Bettencourt, who still resides in city, said of the reunion. "We talked about doing something like that 10 years ago, but nothing came of it. Arthur and talked about it again the last year or so, and we started looking guys up and it went from there."

None of the deceased, fortunately, were killed in action, Bettencourt said. Each went inactive from the Marines on August 26, 1971, exactly two years after they began their service.

The 10 joined on the "buddy system," said Bettencourt, meaning they remained together through boot camp. Two continued on during their tours, Raposa and Riley, who served in the same outfit from Vietnam to the Philippines.

Bettencourt explained they enlisted a year before graduation and were considered to be on inactive duty for the year. When they left for boot come the following summer, they began their two years of active service. Once done with their tours, they had active reserve status for one year then inactive reserve for two more, ending in 1974.

The entire group was featured in a photo on the steps of the United States Post Office on Grove Avenue taken the Monday of that same week they left for basic training and printed in the Thursday, Aug. 28, 1969 edition of The East Providence Post.

Bettencourt and a few of his mates took part in several Veterans Day-related events last week, beginning with a Pasta Dinner sponsored by the East Providence City Council on Thursday, Nov. 9. He then celebrated the 248th anniversary of the Marine Corps, established on November 10, 1775, on Friday with some of the remaining "Band" before taking part in the city's Vets Day ceremony on Saturday.

About any future gatherings of the EPHS "Band of Brothers" from 1969, Bettencourt said, "We’re going to get together more often. We're definitely going to stay in touch and do things a lot more than we have."