Flag ceremony honors Vietnam veterans

The ceremony consisted of speakers like Vietnam purple heart recipient Richard Boyanton and Air Force veteran Roy Clark.

“Most of these Vietnam vets will tell you they’re the lucky ones, as 58,307 of their brothers and sisters never came home”, said Scott Lamb, the cemetery’s director and an Army veteran himself.

For the first time, nationwide, there was a day to recognize and honor Vietnam war veterans.

The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration is a program administered by the Office of the Secretary of Defense to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.

And those Vietnam War veterans who did return want no one to forget their lost camrades.

But March 29th is a date that Vietnam War veterans will remember forever.

Vietnam Veteran James Hertner said, “March 29th was the last day of our troops being removed from Vietnam”.

When Robert Russell returned home from Vietnam, there weren’t parades or people walking up to shake his hand.

Leslie Harmon said the ceremony was very touching and it brought a lot of things back about what her dad said about his service in Vietnam.

The next year, after losing portions of both legs and both arms, he started a non-profit to help combat-injured veterans.

More than two million USA troops served in South Vietnam during that decade.

Those four veterans said they went in the country as 17 to 20-year-old young men and are now in their 70s.

“After 50 years, it’s the most wonderful thing that we could have had happened and such a surprise”, Doskocil said.

“It’s nice to see that Americans can now come together as a community and say ‘thank-you, ‘ to the Vietnam veterans”.

When military members returned home from the Vietnam War almost 43 years ago, many were met with protest rather than gratitude for their service.

Veterans and their family members were welcomed by outfitted Vietnam-era military vehicles that were on display outside the arena.

“That’s why I think it’s important that we remember that our veterans who served then were incredibly fearless, incredibly strong and courageous”, Rauner said after the event. Don’t miss this opportunity to shake some fearless men and womens’ hands, and to thank them for their service.

Coming from a small town and a family history of serving in the military, Graney said he never faced the same vitriol others from larger cities did.