DuncanDeMarsh

"Welcome Home" our Vietnam Veterans

On April 30, 1975, the last American helicopters lifted off the rooftops of Saigon and the Vietnam War came to its painful, chaotic end. For the more than 2.7 million Americans who served in Southeast Asia, the homecoming that followed was, for far too many, no homecoming at all. Our Vietnam veterans returned not to parades or cheering crowds, but to an indifferent—and at times hostile—nation that preferred to forget the war and, in doing so, too often forgot the men and women who had fought it. They set down their rucksacks, changed out of their uniforms, and quietly rejoined civilian life carrying wounds most of us never saw. More than fifty years later, many of them are still waiting for the two simple words they were owed in 1975: welcome home .   This petition—written as a companion to my recent OpEd in the West Volusia Beacon —is our community’s chance to finally say those words, together, out loud, and in public. By adding your name below, you are joining your neighbors in honoring every Vietnam veteran who calls West Volusia home: every door-gunner and grunt, every Navy corpsman and Air Force mechanic, every nurse, every Marine. You are telling them that their service mattered, that their sacrifice is remembered, and that the country they fought for is proud of them. On this anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, let us make certain that no Vietnam veteran in our community goes another year without the welcome they earned. Please sign, share this page with a neighbor, and help us bring them home—at last.