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Osceola County Veterans Council Color Guard and American Legion Post 10 Commander Dianne Ritchey performs a gun salute at March 29’s Vietnam veterans memorial. PHOTOS/TERRY LLOYD -
Post 10 Vice Commander Bill Johnson addressed Post members and attendees on his contrasting experiences returning from Vietnam and later Desert Storm. PHOTOS/TERRY LLOYD
Wednesday was National Vietnam War Veterans Day, and also marked the 50th anniversary of the date the last combat troops left South Vietnam in 1973.
The observance took place at the American Legion Post 10, embedded in Kissimmee’s Lakefront Park. At 10 a.m., a wreath-laying ceremony took place at the Post’s stone obelisk memorial that lists those from Osceola County who have made the supreme sacrifice in America’s wars since World War I.
Five men from the county were Killed in Action in Vietnam, and one died later in an accident while recovering from wounds received in combat. That evening, a Color Guard from the Osceola County Veterans Council performed a gun salute, and a bugler played “Taps.” Several passersby stopped to observe the late afternoon ceremony.
Vietnam Veterans Day, officially designated in 2017, recognizes the service and sacrifice of veterans who served in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, which raged from 1955 to the fall of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975, two years after American troops left. The day serves to provide the public a “Welcome Home” most Vietnam veterans never received after their wartime service.
Over nine million men and women served during the Vietnam era, and 58,000 died in the war. As the long war ground on and casualties mounted, the war grew unpopular, amidst other momentous changes taking place during the same time in the 1960s, including the demands for minority civil rights and equal rights for women.
Unfortunately, soldiers returning from the war, some who never supported the war and many who were drafted, became the target of scorn by others their age, many in society in general, and in popular culture. The rise of illegal drug use, illnesses caused, in part by the toxic defoliate Agent Orange, and undiagnosed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) took a devastating toll on many Vietnam veterans. At the very least, the impact of their wartime service and public condemnation of the war had some negative impact on most veterans.
The last combat troops were withdrawn on March 29, 1973 from Vietnam. President Donald J. Trump signed the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 on March 28, 2017 to officially recognize March 29 as National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The act encourages the display of the U.S. flag each year on March 29.
