On March 29, 1973, the last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam. On Tuesday, 49 years later, a small crowd gathered at Freedom Park in Cleveland to honor Vietnam veterans’ service and sacrifice.
The Northeast Georgia Veterans Society hosted the ceremony as part of the fifth annual national observance of Vietnam Veterans Day. Taps played on a keyboard as former soldiers saluted the flag, remembering a time when their nation was not so welcoming.
“Vietnam veterans did not get a welcome home, just the opposite,” NGVS President Ron Webb said. “Some of them were spat on in airports, they were called baby killers or warmongers. When I came back from Vietnam, they told us not to wear our uniforms off the base because we would have been verbally assaulted, sometimes physically assaulted, with indignities.”
Commissioner Lyn Holcomb read a proclamation approved by the board of commissioners designating the day as Vietnam War Veterans Day in White County. The national observance was signed into law in 2017. White County is one of the few communities in Northeast Georgia to regularly hold a ceremony commemorating the day.
“It’s an opportunity for the public to express their appreciation for their service and sacrifice,” Webb said. “We try to honor those guys [veterans], and give them the welcome home they’ve never gotten.”
