By Mike Finney

DOVER — Saturday’s Vietnam Veterans Day program, hosted by Chapter 850 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, has been moved into the Kent County Administration Building at 555 Bay Road, due to a forecast of heavy rain.

The event was originally scheduled for the Kent County Veterans Memorial Park on South Little Creek Road, adjacent to the administration building.

The program will begin at 2 p.m. and will include Jan C. Scruggs, known as the founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, as keynote speaker.

It will take place in the auditorium on the second floor of the building, which seats about 250 people. There also is an overflow room connected with video and sound.

Following the formal part of Saturday’s presentation, a fully trained military service dog named Sabre will be presented to a disabled veteran by the chapter’s Canines Assisting Service Heroes program. It will be the chapter’s 14th dog.

Sabre was named in honor of a late chapter member, Air Force Brig. Gen. Jon Reynolds, an F-86 Sabre pilot who was shot down in 1965 and held captive in North Vietnam. He was released in 1973 as a result of the Paris Peace Accords that ended the U.S. combat role in Vietnam.

His widow, Emilee Reynolds, a supporter of the canine effort, will be an honored guest at the ceremony.

“Jon passed away last year and was interred at Arlington (Virginia) National Cemetery with full military honors,” said Ray Harris, the program’s chair. “Emilee will travel from Maryland to join us for Sabre’s presentation to a disabled veteran.”