America’s Vietnam veterans were honored for their courage and sacrifice at a special commemoration program Friday.
The program, which attracted Vietnam-era veterans from across the Delta, was coordinated by U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson and American Legion Post 200. It was held at the Leflore County Civic Center.
Vietnam veterans each received a commemorative pin and a proclamation from President Barack Obama thanking them for their service.
Maj. Gen. Janson Boyles, adjutant general of the Mississippi Army and Air National Guard, said when he joined the military, Vietnam veterans were the only ones who wore combat ribbons.
“As a young lieutenant, those are the men and women who I looked to for insight and for guidance as I performed my duties in the ’80s and ’90s,” he said.
“I hope that today’s service is one of many homecomings that you have earned and that you have deserved. Thank you for your service,” he said.
Leflore County Supervisor Robert Moore, a U.S. Marine veteran who served in Vietnam, said the war even today remains a “raw subject — an open wound that hasn’t completely healed yet.”
He noted that more than 58,000 of his comrades had died in the conflict.
“You have to be a veteran to try to realize the significance of this because 58,000 people killed simply means that there’s hundreds of thousands who were wounded — physically and psychologically,” Moore said.
He said the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington was a turning point for him.
“When I visited it, the memorial, you feel a very emotional thing,” he said. “I have to remind myself that I have to ‘man up.’ You’ve got to just ‘man up,’ suck it up, and move forward because that was a very trying time, a very emotional time.”
He recalled losing friends in combat. “It really hit home when you load your friends in body bags and put them on a chopper. And as it is carrying them out, you have that empty, hollow feeling on the inside as the chopper’s sound fades in the distance.”
The hardships of serving in Vietnam did not end when a soldier came home, he said.
“When you finally come back to the ‘world’ and get home, your friends and your neighbors are looking at you and wondering what’s wrong,” Moore said.
He added, “My mother probably would have lived another 10 years if somebody had explained to her what was broken with me. She was worried every time I left out of the house.”
Today, Vietnam veterans and their families are still struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the effects of Agent Orange, a defoliant that was widely used during the conflict. Moore urged the Veterans Administration to process veterans’ service-related claims quickly.
Maj. Gen. Arnold Fields, from the Office of the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration, said Vietnam veterans deserved to be recognized, and Friday’s program was intended to do that.
“Vietnam veterans did not come home to a grateful nation,” he said. “There were no parades.”
Edward Friar of Lexington said the program was nice, adding, “It was just a long time coming.”
•Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
