On March 29, dozens of veterans from across the county gathered at Veterans Memorial Park to observe and hold a ceremony in honor of Vietnam Veterans Day. 

During the ceremony, veterans participated in the pledge of allegiance and a prayer before listening to two speakers recount their experiences from fighting in and returning home from the war. The ceremony concluded with reading the names of several Vietnam veterans who died during the war or passed away since returning home and ringing a bell in their honor. 

During the ceremony, U.S. Air Force veteran and Vietnam Veterans of America chapter 970 President Bill Martin recounted his memories of serving in the Vietnam War, and how unlike in other wars he and his fellow veterans were not welcomed home as heroes but were instead disrespected for their choice to fight in the war. 

“When we came home there was no ‘welcome home’, only protests against participation in the war,” Martin said. “Outside families, the words ‘welcome home’ were not heard. I did not hear the words ‘thank you for your service’ from an unknown person for 25-plus years; when it did happen I was stunned and did not even have a comeback.” 

The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to 1975, and there wasn’t an official day to recognize the veterans who fought in the war until about five years ago. In 2017, then-president Donald Trump signed Vietnam Veterans Day into law, to be observed each year on March 29, or the day the last U.S. combat troops departed Vietnam. 

“On this day we honor all who served during the Vietnam era,” Martin said. “We gather 50-plus years later; our numbers have dwindled but we still served. The number of later generations that know of the Vietnam War are few; we still need to tell them we served when others refused to serve.”

Matthew James Pesce, chaplain for the Vietnam Veterans of America chapter 970, served in the war as a sergeant in the infantry as part of the 101st Airborne Division. During the ceremony on Wednesday, Pesce read several poems that he wrote during his time fighting and after his return home, adding his thoughts and reflections to Martin’s. 

“What was really horrible about it was we knew that the country wasn’t with us,” Pesce said. “And yet to the best of our ability we fought with honor, we did the right thing, we honored our uniform, we cared for our country, we watched out for our brothers, we tried to do our best to get them home with us, we tried to get ourselves home — that’s really all Vietnam was about.”