Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War – IOTW Report

Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War

Wednesday, 29 March 2017, 19:33 MJA Uncategorized 30

GRAFTON, W.Va, (WDTV) — Forty-four-years ago the last United States troops left Vietnam, but after more than a decade of anti-war protest and unrest the troops returned home to mistreatment.

” When we got off the plane they had to walk us up a sidewalk that had a chained-in fence all around it; they were throwing bottles and rocks, it was really disgusting when we came home,” says Sgt. Terry Peters

Eleven years of combat, and the brave men and women of the Vietnam War deserved their respect

“We made it through,” says Sgt. Peters. ” Thank God people are waking up fifty years later, and they’re starting to welcome us home and treat us like the other veterans.”  MORE

30 Comments on Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War

  3. Donnelly co-authored the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act (S. 305) with U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania.

    The Senate approved the bipartisan bill on February 8, and it was approved by the House on March 21. President Trump signed the bill into effect last night.

    Tonight I’m proud to sign S. 305, which encourages the display of the U.S. flag on National Vietnam War Veterans Day tomorrow, March 29th.
    — President Trump (@POTUS)

  6. The antiwar protest was all about the draft and DemocRAT weakness. The protest when my son went to Iraq were minimal because the liberals were not threatened with the draft. F@#K liberals.

  7. I was there and I have no regret. That the experience affected me, is for others to fairly judge. It is certainly a possibility. There exists that special bond between those who were there that can’t be explained to nor understood by those who weren’t. I won’t belittle or cheapen that bond but I have no need nor desire to feed off the experience for the rest of my life. I’m mostly home now, but that experience isn’t and has never been the most important event in my life. For me it’s outdated currency that I choose to save rather than spend. God bless all my brother war fighters.

  8. I’m a tweener. Graduated high school in 1972. A bit late for Nam. Too early for the other wars, for which I feel fortunate as our government, particularly democrats, refuse to win wars and conspired with our enemies.

    I salute you men and women and totally understand your sense of betrayal by the American people. Father in law has an artllery shell that was turned into a trophy that says something like “southeast Asian war games. 1965-1972. Second place.” On his mantle. Much bitterness there. Breaks my heart.

    Our warriors don’t lose wars. Politicians lose wars.

    My heartfelt gratitude to all who have served and sacrificed on our behalf.

    And then there is the story about the ailing Vietnam marine vet, concretebob. If anyone wants to know I’ll tell you his story. Code pinks worst nightmare.

  10. I didn’t go to Vietnam because I wanted to – I don’t know very many people who did. However, having done so and survived, I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Isn’t that strange?

    It seems strange to me.

  11. Nixon should have called out walter “the commie” cronkite at a press conference for aiding our enemies and trying to demoralize our fighting men. I have my hopes that Trump will do better at fighting the enemy within.

    We could have and should have won that war.

  13. I have no evidence, but I have to believe there’s a special place in heaven for those that sacrifice for the benefit of another. I’ll never get to enter such a place, but I’d be honored and humbled if permitted to construct it.

    The english language is wholly inadequate to express my gratitude, I can only offer this: Thank you, and G-d bless you all. You are the reason I don’t live the life of a savage. My debt to you can never be repaid.

  14. I’m not a Viet Nam veteran, but when I was stationed at SAC in 1977, I went to downtown Omaha to have my portrait made in my dress uniform before I got out of the Air Force. As I walked down the sidewalk, three college boys drove by and yelled “baby killer” at me. I yelled at them to come back and say that, but the pussies drove off.

  16. Graduated HS in ’76, one kidney, so they turned down every waiver I signed.
    Grateful to those who signed a check to Uncle Sam for everything they had, if required.
    Humbled and proud to have grown up free, and American

  17. One of my friends that I really admired (4-5 years older than me) was a chopper pilot in Nam. Served two tours, signed up for a third and they said no, they thought he had enough. He would have been proud to die for his team there. We were in New Orleans many years ago during some sort of military protest and he was mad as hell and ready to drink a bunch of scotch and go down town and kick ass. He is a black belt in a couple disciplines, could have put the hurts on a bunch of them. I don’t know what, but I’m damn sure glad he never thought he needed to teach me a lesson. I’m proud as hell of you Jim, as well as all our vets.

  21. I came late to the Vietnam War having joined the Navy in Aug. 1972. The Navy still had a presence in the S. China Sea in 1974 even a year after the war officially ended. The USS Kitty Hawk CV 63 and other aircraft carriers still were in the Gulf of Tonkin at Yankee Station off the coast of Vietnam just in case something were to happen. And we were there again in the Spring of 1975 right after Saigon fell to the N. Vietnamese and the first of the boat people were starting to stream into the Philippines escaping the communists. I may not be a full fledged Vietnam vet but I served and would do it again. And thanks to all of my older friends who served in Vietnam, some of whom are only a year or two older than me, there are many of you. God bless us all and also the Korean War vets and WW 2 vets who came before us and those who came after us. We should’ve won that damned war but the Democrats and the media just wouldn’t allow us to win after 1968 after public opinion shifted towards how the war was being fought.

  22. My dad got out of the Army in ’61 after serving
    in the 7th in Europe and the Berlin Air Lift. That’s
    probably the only reason I’m around. My uncles were
    not so lucky. They survived but agent orange got most
    of them before they were 55 years old.
    God bless to all of you that served in, around, and
    with those fine people.

  23. I was drafted in early ’72. Army. After Basic & AIT, received orders to RVN, then were changed to Germany. Spent the rest of my time with the Big Red One in Goeppingen. Only had a couple of days of terror-when Nixon decided to confront the Russians during the Yom Kippur War. We thought the $hit was about to get real. But that calmed down quick enough. Served with a helluva lot of Vietnam vets, heard their stories. They were a great bunch of guys. I miss them to this day. The American Legion calls me a Vietnam Era Vet, I see myself as more of a ‘Cold War’ Vet. But the Legion membership come in handy sometimes.

  25. There in early ’72 in Navy and hung around on several deployments as I knew some of the country side and could drive small boats. Not a good experience to see our government cut and run while leaving tons and tons of equipment behind. Worked in logistics for the Army in the middle 80’s and discovering I was still counting and d/c equip from the place.

    The only thing I tell people is how beautiful tracers are the first time you see’m but wake up quick when you realize they’re coming your way.

    Thanks to all those guys who gave more than me and especially to those who gave all! (And there is a special place in hell for people like John Kerry – just sayin’ it don’t mean s_it to a tree.)

  26. Geoff, it sure was strange indeed. Back in the day, we’d get these ‘alerts’ early in the morning. Happened on a regular basis. Operational Readiness, they said. but when Nixon went to DefCon 2, it was all different. 1st Sgt woke us up, told us to get dressed, “No smokin’ & jokin'”, pull out the TA-50, go draw weapons AND ammo (never drew ammo before). noticed he was wearing a sidearm. a very sobering experience that week was. Everything seemed to be strangely quiet. the proverbial calm before the storm.

  27. @Hans: You just reminded me of the day I left country on that big Freedom Bird (a loud cheer from everyone on board when the wheels lifted off the runway), and the pilot practically stood the plane on its tail as we headed out over the jungle because he knew the VC would be shooting at us. Don’t know why; we were just trying to get out of there. Anyway, it was nighttime, and I can still remember seeing tracer rounds rising up at the aircraft, then falling back toward the ground because we were too high to reach. Now that was the beautiful part.

    🙂

  30. It was 25 years before I would admit to being in V/Nam to someone who wasn’t a vet.
    I learned a lot of self restraint from when the snowflakes would opine that the vets didn’t really get spit on.
    When I went in you wore your uniform if you were traveling with orders.
    When I got out they recommended you wear civvies whenever you traveled, orders or not.

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