A welcome home for Vietnam veterans, 40 years later
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Spectators lining Corrigan Drive and Brownsville Road applauded the white-haired, veterans' honor guards who marched in the Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home Celebration parade in South Park Sunday.
One late middle-aged woman yelled "Thank you, thank you" and gave two thumbs up. A senior man in a wheelchair saluted, and another man shouted, "welcome home, guys."
"From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your sacrifice," Ed Snee, South Park Township supervisor, told the veterans feted in an event sponsored by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1940 and Vietnam Veterans Inc.
The salutations were a stark contrast to the homecomings many of the veterans remembered receiving upon their return from Vietnam and the unpopular, divisive war against communist forces some 40-plus years ago.
"I want to thank 1940 for organizing this. It's been a long time coming," said Moe Arnold, 64, of Library, who after enlisting in the Navy spent 1969-70 in Vietnam. He served a total four years on active duty and 20 more years in the Navy Reserve.
"When you came home you had to take your uniform off. People didn't like you," Mr. Arnold said.
"They kind of liked to spit at me. They called you a 'baby killer,' " said Gary Nicholson, 63, of Fayette City, Fayette County. Mr. Nicholson served in the Air Force from 1966 to 1970, spending 1968 and 1969 in Vietnam.
"We still don't get recognized," said Marvin Lemley, 63, of Mount Pleasant, Fayette County, a former Marine who was awarded the purple heart after being shot in the arm during a three-month tour in Vietnam. After a medical recuperation in Japan, he was sent back to Vietnam. "Yesterday, a young kid came up to me, shook my hand and said 'thank you.' It makes you feel good."
But the Vietnam veterans seem to have taken care of one another.
"Now when you see another Vietnam veteran, you shake hands and say 'Welcome Home ..." Mr. Arnold said.
"...and you buy him a beer," added his buddy Bruno Fontanesi, 62, of Library.
Still, a tinge of bitterness was a recurrent theme among the veterans who gathered at South Park.
First Published August 23, 2010 12:00 am
