Vietnam Veterans Honored on Veteran’s Day

The Vietnam Wall was a center for remembrance yesterday. War veterans and civilians gathered at the Vietnam War Memorial.
Vietnam Veterans Honored on Veteran’s Day
Members of Operation Freedom Bird lay a wreath in front of the Vietnam War Memorial. (Ronny Dory/Epoch Times Staff)
11/12/2010
Updated:
11/12/2010
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/DSC_wallD_medium.JPG"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/DSC_wallD_medium.JPG" alt="Members of Operation Freedom Bird lay a wreath in front of the Vietnam War Memorial.  (Ronny Dory/Epoch Times Staff)" title="Members of Operation Freedom Bird lay a wreath in front of the Vietnam War Memorial.  (Ronny Dory/Epoch Times Staff)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-115590"/></a>
Members of Operation Freedom Bird lay a wreath in front of the Vietnam War Memorial.  (Ronny Dory/Epoch Times Staff)
WASHINGTON—The Vietnam Wall was a center for remembrance yesterday. War veterans and civilians gathered at the Vietnam War Memorial, Constitution Gardens on Nov. 11 for a ceremony to honor the healthy and wounded survivors of the Vietnam war and to remember the 58,267 documented American servicemen and women who died in the Vietnam War, whose names are etched on the Vietnam War Memorial Wall.

“To our men and women in uniform, please know that today and every day we are aware of what you do for our country , we know that there are personal costs, we know that the blessings that we enjoy are safeguarded by unselfish and tireless effort, and we may say to you: thank you, thank you, thank you, “ said Michael Heisley, founder of the Heico Companies, board member of the Heisley Family Foundation, in his keynote address.

In attendance were Vietnam veterans, many of whom wore jackets with patches to signify their service. American Goldstar Wives and American Goldstar Mothers were present to remember their husbands and sons who died in war.

Heisley shared the story of the a childhood friend who was captured and executed during his second tour of duty in Vietnam. “ I mourn my friend to this day, but I also celebrate all the things about him that made him special, his belief in God was strong, his love of America and his commitment to West Points’ code of duty, honor and country gave him the strength to face the horrors of capture with bravery and calm,” said Heisley.

Lt. Col. Connie Shultz, Vietnam nurse veteran, spoke to represent the women who served in Vietnam. “I stand here today to honor all of the 1.8 million women who have served their country and those that continue to serve,” said Shultz.

“Being a veteran is not only about dying for our country or serving a war torn land, the value of a veteran should be measured not in where we serve, but how. There will always be eras, measures of time significant to military events that we celebrate as veterans,” said Shultz, Vietnam veteran and Nurse Surveyor with the Joint Commission.

The invocation was delivered by Chaplain Lt. Col. Jay S. Johns of the Military District of Washington. Kera O’Bryan sang a spirited rendition of America the Beautiful.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/DSC_wall35D_medium.JPG"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/DSC_wall35D_medium.JPG" alt="Military Veterans Motorcycle Club members honor fallen soldiers at the Vietnam War Memorial on Veterans Day. (Ronny Dory/Epoch Times Staff)" title="Military Veterans Motorcycle Club members honor fallen soldiers at the Vietnam War Memorial on Veterans Day. (Ronny Dory/Epoch Times Staff)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-115591"/></a>
Military Veterans Motorcycle Club members honor fallen soldiers at the Vietnam War Memorial on Veterans Day. (Ronny Dory/Epoch Times Staff)
Air Vice Marshal Kym Osley, Australian Defense Attache , Embassy of Australia, shared the significance of the Vietnam war to Australia, which was fighting a war in their region, and announced the Australian government’s plan to pledge $3 million to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund to construct the planned education center adjacent to the memorial.

“ Thank you to all of the Vietnam veterans for making democracy the rule of the day in our part of the world,” said Osley.

Veterans and representatives of many military organizations laid wreaths in front of the memorial including: Sons and Daughters In Touch, the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Operation Freedom Bird, Vietnam Veterans of America, the 82nd Airborne Division, the 25th Infantry Division, the 101st Airborne Division, and the Military Veterans Motorcycle Club.

“I was wounded in Vietnam very critically, if I was in a front line unit I would have bled to death, I was in a base camp and was fortunate enough to be taken to a hospital by my buddies within about 10 minutes after I was very badly injured in a rocket attack,” said Michael Marceau, vice president of the Washington, D.C. metro area chapter of Veterans for Peace, a non-profit organization dedicated to the abolishment of war.

“We want to let everyone know of the true cost of war, not only in the dollars ... but all the young men and women that have been killed and injured and suffer PTSD, and traumatic brain injury, that aren’t getting the help from either the military medical facilities or the Veterans Administration, because they are so overwhelmed by the needs of the veterans, and they are understaffed and under funded,” said Marceau.

Diane Evans, founder and president of Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation shared a poem written by a fellow military nurse:

“I care for each, as though my brother,
No time to cry, must tend to another and another,
Time has passed and I still recall,
Your courage, your struggle and your fall.
Rest in peace, your war now done.
How brief your life—as the setting sun.

By Helen DeCrane Roth, U.S. Navy Nurse, USS Sanctuary ... South China Sea,” said Evans.