A simple “Welcome home, brother” would have meant a lot to veterans returning to the United States from the battlefields of the Vietnam War. But during those turbulent times, most service members weren’t greeted with gratitude — they were “greeted” with disdain and hatred or ignored.
Nowadays, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 1272 Commander Roger “Kip” Gaudet makes sure all fellow Vietnam vets he meets are greeted with those words and know their service is appreciated.
Gaudet was among several to thank service members at the VFW’s National Vietnam War Veterans Day celebration on Saturday, March 29. The holiday was made official through the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017, according to the VFW.
“From February 1961 – May 1975, more than 3.4 million Americans deployed in support of the U.S military operations in Vietnam and Southeast Asia,” according to the VFW. “More than 58,000 gave their lives and according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), nearly 1,600 remain unaccounted for.”
“It was a very difficult time,” recalled Belmont Veterans’ Services Officer Bob Upton, who became emotional as he spoke. Unlike other wars, “it wasn’t easy for [servicemembers] to come home.”
At the time, many in the United States were against the war and mistreated those who were in the military. Still, VFW members at Saturday’s ceremony, including Dennis O’Rourke and Robert Johnson, said if given the opportunity, they would have served all over again.
Veteran Paul Hurley, who served a year in Vietnam, remembered being called a “baby killer” by a cab driver when he returned to the United States.
“It’s a commemoration of a very difficult war, and it hasn’t ended for a lot of guys,” Hurley said.
In his speech, Upton said he still has friends who struggle following their experience in Vietnam. He thanked vets for their service and sacrifice and encouraged those in need to contact him.
Speaker Kira Coffey, an active-duty lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, also gave her thanks to Vietnam veterans during the ceremony.
“It is your shoulders that we stand on,” she said, praising their “courageous willingness to put their country first.”
After the ceremony, Coffey said she agreed the Vietnam War era “was one of the most divisive periods.”
“We owe [those veterans] so much for not having taken care of them [at the time],” she said.
Although the VFW ceremony was heartfelt, Coffey said such events “will probably never be enough.”
After several VFW members reflected on their service during the war, some became emotional, recalling friends who died serving far from home.
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Perhaps the most poignant moments during the event came from the Rev. Timothy Robinson, who offered a reflection and remembered those from Belmont who did not make it home.
The Vietnam War was “one of the most turbulent chapters in our nation’s history,” Robinson said. He recognized the pain and suffering — both physical and emotional — of those “who still wrestle with the wounds of war.”
“We will not forget” their service, he pledged, before reciting the names of Belmont residents who died during the war: John C. Chaves; Allen J. Eastman; William Emerson (although not a Belmont resident, he was included because he attended Belmont Hills School); Taher F. Ghais; Creighton R. Grant; David H. Holmes; Everett O. Kerr; Robert M. Larson; Edward G. Lee; and Walter D. Ray.
After the formal ceremony finished, VFW members and others socialized and reminisced. O’Rourk and Johnson, who grew up in Belmont and went to school together, served in different military branches from 1968 to 1972.
Johnson, a Marine sergeant when he left the service, said he wished the Vietnam War had been the country’s last. Upon his return to the United States, he said many vets were “just glad you got back” and went on with life.
According to Johnson, he and O’Rourke, an Army vet, were glad of the holiday and that Vietnam War veterans “finally got recognized” for their service.
