OFF THE WIRE
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
VIETNAM VETERANS DAY!!
http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/534787/Thanking-Vietnam-War-veterans.html?nav=5002
Thanking Vietnam War veterans National ‘Welcome Home’ overdue for those who served March 30, 2011 - By Sam Shawver, sshawver@mariettatimes.com
Thirty-eight years after the last American troops pulled out of Vietnam, the U.S. Senate has, for the second year in a row, passed a resolution welcoming those soldiers home.
For the soldiers, who were greeted with protests and sometimes even spit on when they arrived back in the U.S. the recognition and the "welcome home" are long overdue.
The resolution, introduced both years by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and passed unanimously in the Senate, declares March 30 "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day."
"I think it's a little late," said Marietta City Councilman Mike McCauley who served with the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam from 1963 to 1964 and said he believes all troops should be recognized when they come home.
He was among the initial troops sent into Vietnam as "advisors" during President John F. Kennedy's Administration.
"We were stationed at Da Nang air base-only about 280 Air Force personnel were there," McCauley said. "And back home I'll bet not one in 100 people even knew where Vietnam was at that time."
McCauley was discharged from the military in 1964 and landed a job with the Marietta City Police Department where he witnessed several anti-war protest rallies by students at Marietta College.
"It wasn't a good time to be telling people you had served in Vietnam," McCauley said.
Jim Waybright, of Marietta, was commander of the U.S. Army's Bravo Company, 3/506 Infantry, 101st Airborne Division that lost 18 members in battle during the first half of 1970.
He said a friend told him about the recently-passed U.S. Senate resolution designating today as "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day."
"I don't think many people are aware of it," Waybright said. "It's 40 to 50 years later for Vietnam veterans now, and we appreciate that the Senate passed this resolution.
"But I'm also glad to see those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan being welcomed home now," he added. "Maybe we've learned another lesson from Vietnam."
To honor those from his unit who never made it home from the war, Waybright notes 18 bricks bearing the fallen soldiers' names have been placed in the Veterans Walk of Honor near Marietta's National Guard Armory on Front Street.
"The war protesters were being pretty vocal when the rest of us returned to the states," he said. "Everybody just wanted to go home-we didn't really want any attention."
But Waybright said he would be remiss not to thank all the veterans who have served their country, including the members of Bravo Company.
"We need to thank both the veterans and their families," he said.
For years now, members of Waybright's unit and their families have gathered for annual reunions, and keep in close contact with one another.
"We've all maintained a pretty strong bond over the years," he said.
Former Marine Sgt. Keith Kapple, now pastor of the Open Door Baptist Church in Marietta, was just 20 when his tour of duty ended shortly after he took part in a major battle with North Vietnamese forces at Khe Sanh, near South Vietnam's border with Laos and North Vietnam.
"Many people were killed or wounded at Khe Sanh," Kapple said. "There were only about 7,000 American troops against 20,000 to 25,000 from the North Vietnamese army. It was a real turning point of the war and it all happened just 10 days before I left Vietnam."
During those days Kapple said he began to question whether he would ever make it out alive.
"But you kind of get into a survival mode," he said. "Your only objective is to survive. And the night before I was to fly out was probably the worst 24 to 48 hours for me."
In fact Kapple said the fighting was so intense that Korean planes picking up Marines from the Khe Sanh base could not come to a complete stop, but kept rolling along the runway.
"I had to run alongside and jump into the plane," Kapple said. "Bombs were exploding behind us as the Korean pilots took off. The next day they stopped all flights into Khe Sanh."
Several days later Kapple was discharged from the Marines and flew TWA into San Diego.
"It was kind of like coming off a vacation-there was no one to meet me, so I got off the plane and went downtown," he said. "But I took off my uniform and put street clothes on first. I didn't want to be noticed as a soldier because there was so much protesting of the war going on."
Kapple said while he can appreciate the U.S. Senate's proclamation of a Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day since it's been more than 40 years since he and fellow soldiers returned from the Southeast Asian nation.
"I think most just wanted to put it all behind us," he said.
Roy Ash, Washington County's veterans services officer, was also not aware of the U.S. Senate proclamation.
"It seems a little late," he said. "And I haven't had any official word about it. But we welcome any recognition of all of our veterans."
