Guy McCarthy
murrieta.patch.com
Several hundred veterans of the Vietnam War and active military personnel turned out Sunday for "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day" at March Field Air Museum. Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, addressed the crowd.
Vietnam Veterans from Murrieta, Menifee, Temecula and other Riverside County communities gathered Sunday at March Field Air Museum for the 2nd annual "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day," organized in part by Pass area assemblyman and retired Marine Paul Cook.
"I hope this continues, and I hope the folks here at March want to do this every year," said Cook, R-Yucca Valley, whose 65th Assembly District includes Banning, Beaumont and Cherry Valley.
Members of the Vietnam Legacy Vets Motorcycle Club arrived on Harley-Davidsons and other motorbikes.
Bob Ingersoll, 65, of Murrieta, said he heard about the event through Cook's office.
"We'll be burying one of our brothers, John Barnes, 64, of Sun City, in the next few days," Ingersoll said, standing with other members of his club outside the air museum hangar. "He died just last week. We have members from all over Riverside County. Elsinore, Temecula, the Pass. We're here to show support for our brothers."
Ingersoll said he served two tours in Vietnam, in 1965 and 1966.
"I don't talk about it much," Ingersoll said when asked about his time in Vietnam. "I still see a psych - a psychologist - two times a week to deal with it."
Ingersoll paused and said, "I'd like to say that today, because of everything that's happened in the world, I think people appreciate Vietnam vets for what they sacrificed and what they did, versus what it was like when when we came home in '65, '66 . . . we're appreciated a lot more. People come up and thank us for our service, and that means an awful lot to us."
Elias Ochoa Jr., 63, of Chino Hills, opened the gathering with remembrances from more than 40 years ago.
"I served in U.S. Navy Special Warfare, Vietnam 1967, Tet Offensive 1968, Tet Offensive 1969, Tet Offensive Cambodia 1970, and back to the 'world' 1971.
"We consisted of SEAL teams, river squadrons, river divisions, and Sea Wolf helicopter squadron. River Patrol Flotilla Five, Task Force 116, Mekong Delta.
"We wore flak jackets, black berets, bandanas, tiger green flat hats, and steel .45s. We took our malaria medication and got shots constantly but we lived with a disease nobody could diagnose. We spent our nights shivering in cots or shivering in assault boats filled with knee-high water, or just laying still on cold, wet ground, our eyes imagining Viet Cong behind every bamboo blade.
"Or we slept in hotel beds in Saigon, barracks, or in cramped ships berthed along the rivers of Vietnam.
"We feared we would die or we feared we would kill. We simply feared, and often we still do. We hate the war, but sometimes we feel it was the best thing that ever happened to us. We blame Uncle Sam or Uncle Ho and often wonder if Agent Orange got us.
"Mostly, and this we believe with all our hearts. We wish we had not been so alone. We went in with friends whom we saw get blown up in front of us. Most of us were jerked up out of the 'world,' shaved, beat, barked at, insulted, humiliated with racism, and called baby killers.
"We went, put in our time and were ungraciously plucked out of the war and placed back in the real world with no welcome home. The time has come to welcome home our Vietnam veterans."
Ochoa was with his 22-year-old son, Elias Ochoa III, U.S. Army, and Kirby, his assistance dog for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Cook, 68, served in the Marine Corps for 26 years and in Vietnam, 1967 and 1968. He said he spent time near the demilitarized zone near the Laotian border and Qunag Tri. He said he was an infantry platoon commander and he was wounded twice in combat.
"You know I'm not from that Kumbaya era," Cook told the veterans. "But these days I'm learning to hug people. How do you like that? It's okay to show some emotion."
Residents of the San Gorgonio Pass are among the most passionate about remembering the sacrifices of the Vietnam generation, Cook said. Cook said he recently recognized Beaumont resident Anita Worthen as "Woman of the Year" for the 65th District for her efforts working with veterans, including her roles with the Pass Area Veterans Workshop and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Desert Edge, Ladies Auxiliary.
Outside the air museum hangar, Oscar Rauda, 34, of Temecula and Camp Pendleton, was helping keep an eye on the Vietnam Legacy Vets bikes. He said he is an active-duty Marine with recent tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he said he rides with Vietnam veterans because he feels indebted to their service and sacrifice.
"To carry the legacy that the Vietnam vets did for us, they set the foundation, the stuff they didn't have, now we're getting the recognition and respect," Rauda said. "Now the country is more appreciative of the military, and it's because of them. He did his part in history and I want to pass it on."
Rauda gestured to John Peterson, 64, of Menifee, a patch-holder in the Vietnam Legacy Vets. He said he served in the Army in 1966 and 1967 in the Mekong Delta.
"These younger folks from Desert Storm and going forward, they changed the public's attitude," Peterson said. "Before that, we were lower than whale shit."
More than 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War, with most of the fatalities occurring between 1965 and 1975.