By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
More than 100 area Vietnam War veterans received a tangible “thank you” for their service Monday morning during a special ceremony at Word of Life Church in St. Joseph.
The City of St. Joseph, the AUSA Henry Leavenworth Chapter, and the St. Joseph Community Alliance hosted a special pinning ceremony for Vietnam War veterans, giving them a special pin and certificate for their service during a difficult time.
Missouri Adjutant General, Charles Hausman, remembers that when his unit would return from deployment, Vietnam War veterans – who didn’t receive a warm welcome home – always participated in the welcome ceremonies.
“They were leading the Freedom Riders. They were leading that welcome home. And it really, I think, is because of the treatment they received when they came home, they never wanted to see that again,” Hausman tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post after the ceremony. “And it was very, very impactful and certainly not lost on all the soldiers coming back during my generation of who was out there leading that effort.”
Hausman, a native of St. Joseph, has served in three deployments: Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Inherent Resolve/Spartan Shield.
Hausman gave the keynote address at the gathering. He and other speakers touched on the inability of U.S. citizens to separate the unpopular war with the warrior often drafted into service. Many Vietnam War veterans either returned unheralded or as the object of protestors’ ire.
That makes their participation in welcome home ceremonies now even more impressive, according to Hausman.
“But to see that generation take that experience and then turn it around and say, okay, never again,” Hausman says. “It is truly welcomed. It is certainly appreciated by my generation. And it’s a testament to that sense of never giving up and never abandoning their duty and their commitment to their nation; very, very impressive.”
Around 115 Vietnam War veterans from throughout the area registered. Some were unable to attend Monday’s ceremony.
Special recognition was given to Wilson Fletcher, the 1,000th veteran recognized in one of the events coordinated with the Fort Leonard Wood Association of the United States Army Chapter.
The program in St. Joseph grew from the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration program signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2012 to create a 13-year period to honor the country’s military veterans of that era and their families.
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