Vietnam Remembrance Day
Vietnam Remembrance Day
On March 29th We Pay Tribute to Those Who Served
Photo / defense.gov
Vietnam. For some of you, this war is ancient history that you know little about. For those who served during those years, it remains a daily reminder of the atrocities experienced and the appalling treatment many received upon returning home.
History: U.S. involvement in Vietnam started slowly with an initial deployment of advisors in the early 1950s. Involvement grew incrementally through the early 1960s and expanded with the deployment of full combat units in July 1965. The last U.S. personnel were evacuated from Vietnam in April 1975 – 49 years ago. Nine million Americans served during the Vietnam era, with over 58,000 names memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., not including those who never returned home after the war or remain MIAs. In 1973, when the Prisoners of War (POWs) were released, roughly 2,500 servicemen were designated “missing in action,” (MIA). As of 2015, more than 1,600 of those were still unaccounted for. An article in Britannica reveals that “… at least 766 POWs were initially held in four prisons in Hanoi … No POW ever escaped from Hanoi.” John McCain, shot down on October 26, 1967, spent five and a half years as a prisoner, with a substantial amount of that time in solitary confinement. Here’s what he and the other prisoners dealt with, according to a Time article: “The details that comprised “the worst of it” were grisly: starvation rations, iron manacles, solitary confinement, the sick left to sit in their own filth. The end goal of such torture was often the extraction of information.” Status of the POW/MIA issue as of February 1, 2024: 1,577 Americans are now listed by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency as missing and unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War.
Washington Vietnam Memorial
Take a minute to think about the 1,577 sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, American citizens who never returned to American soil just from that conflict alone. (A total of 81,000 are missing from World War II on.) The number of those missing Vietnam Vets is greater than the number of people who presently populate the town and village of Ellicottville. Imagine waking up tomorrow and finding every building vacant and all the people missing. Next think of the families left in grief, wondering if they will ever see their loved ones or at least have closure by knowing what happened to them. Those MIA surviving families will never know for certain if their loved ones are alive or dead. How do they grieve and move forward? To this day, those families might catch glimpses of strangers and think they may have just seen a beloved family member long missing. They are haunted: they have no closure, no peace.
Why are we making a commemoration on March 29? In 1973, the war was over on that day, with the last combat troops leaving Vietnam, and it was the day Hanoi released the last of its acknowledged prisoners of war. 44th U.S. President Barack Obama officially inaugurated a Commemoration at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. on Memorial Day, May 28, 2012, and in 2017, the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act was signed into law by President Donald J. Trump. From that date forward, March 29 will be honored as National Vietnam War Veterans Day. It honors all veterans who served on active duty from November 1, 1955, to May 15, 1975, no matter where they served, at home or abroad.
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that today there are more than 7 million U.S. Vietnam veterans living in America and abroad, along with 10 million families of those who served during this timeframe. Perhaps you, dear reader, are one who served. I’m sure I speak for all of Cattaraugus County when I offer you heartfelt thanks for your service. Perhaps you are a family member of one who never came home alive or is still considered MIA. Bless you. Our hearts are with you.
How to commemorate our veterans, you ask? If you personally know anyone who served, please reach out to them. Acknowledge their service and let them know how much you appreciate what they did for America. Know a family member? Give them a hug of gratitude for the service of their loved one.
Alas, a search for any community celebrations produced none locally. Of course, there is a commemorative ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. where the names of 58,318 Americans who gave their all are etched on black granite. If you have not seen this memorial, please put it on your “must see” list. I last saw it more than ten years ago. I was struck with the number of tributes left to those whose names adorned that stark black granite wall and, even more so, the incomprehensible silence among such a large number of people, broken only by quiet sobs or loud wailing. I watched people standing with their hands touching the name of their loved one. Tears streamed down faces as people wordlessly hugged. I saw an old, uniformed veteran lifted out of his wheelchair and supported by others also in uniform, as he reached to run his gnarled hands gently over an etched name. Tears poured shamelessly down his wrinkled face. I watched young couples clutching hands as they wordlessly placed flowers and stared at that hard, cold granite wall. Gratefully, I had no name to make a rubbing from, or touch, yet I cried as I watched the collective agony in open display at that cold wall.
Perhaps, one day, the three-quarter scaled traveling replica, The Wall That Heals exhibit, with its education center, will come to the Western New York area where those who cannot go to D.C. can experience the impact and emotions of the original wall. Meanwhile, one can donate per mile at https://www.vvmf.org/giving-to-vvmf/ or mail a check to Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300, Arlington, VA 22201.