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Nation pays tribute to Vietnam War veterans

Newsroom@DominionPost.com 

Monday was the fifth National Vietnam War Veterans Day.

In 2012, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation declaring March 29 to be Vietnam Veterans Day in commemoration of the 50-year anniversary of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War Recognition Act of 2017, which made the holiday law, was signed by President Donald Trump  March 28, 2017.

“It’s just nice to know that people still think about the Vietnam veterans, because we’re starting to die off pretty fast,” said Wilbur England, a Vietnam veteran from Granville, who joined the Navy after graduating from University High School in 1967.

During Monday’s COVID-19 briefing, retired General James Hoyer said, just as  World War II veterans are known as The Greatest Generation, he considers Vietnam vets to be The Most Determined Generation,  because, despite being treated poorly when they returned from the war, Vietnam veterans are the first to show up for their fellow  veterans — and for their country — at every event.

March 29 was selected because on March 29, 1973, the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, disestablished, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

On Sunday, England said he attended a service at Johnson Chapel, where the Daughters of the American Revolution laid a wreath for Vietnam veterans, and “we said some prayers for the living and dead.” 

  • The Marion County Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the entrance of East Marion Park in Fairmont.
  • Kenneth Satterfield, a Vietnam and Desert Storm veteran, salutes the statute of a fallen soldier at the memorial Monday, which was National Vietnam War Veterans Day.
  • Artwork on the front a utility military helicopter Bell UH-1 Iroquois, nicknamed “Huey,” used during the Vietnam war
  • One of the bricks at the memorial commemorates Morgantown veteran Louis Scotchell.
  • The “HUEY” 109 Assualt Helicopter was used from 1968 to 1971 sits at the Vietnam Memorial in Fairmont, Kenneth Satterfield walks around it.

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