Welcome Home

The Vietnam War was obscenely long and the cost was much greater than the $173 billion dollars the United States poured into the war machine at the time. More than three million people were killed in the conflict. 58,000 were Americans. Three times as many came home wounded and broken in spirit. Still, more than 60 years since the first American boots hit the Vietnam shores, we are dealing with Vietnam Veterans with health problems and mental health problems, with veterans committing suicide and homelessness among aging Vietnam Vets. Our involvement in Vietnam divided the nation almost as much as our own Civil War had. Fraught with confusion, conflicting messages and questionable actions, our role there was often unclear. With both sides declaring they wanted a unified Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh wanted a government patterned after communist countries, while we backed Emperor Bao Dai seeking a government on a more democratic theme. The citizens simply wanted their country back. Brutality reached a new high. While our soldiers fought in unfriendly jungles against an enemy who looked exactly like the friendlies, people back home became weary of the war and took sides for and against it. Stories about innocent people being killed, and international laws being ignored added fuel. The government’s conflicting reports increased the division. Protests blossomed in cities and on college campuses around the country and quickly became violent. When National Guardsmen in Ohio shot and killed four students at Kent State University on May 4th of 1970 and it was followed ten days later with two more students being killed at Jackson State University in Mississippi, public ire reached an all time high. Much of the tension was taken out on the soldiers as they returned to the U.S. Soldiers, many of whom were unwilling participants of the war. Found themselves under attack on home soil. As they stepped off airplanes that had carried them from the hells of battle, they were assaulted physically, spit upon and verbally challenged. This would continue long after the last soldier was pulled out of Vietnam in 1975. Fearing more protests and violence, it was decided to forego the celebratory homecoming, WWII soldiers had enjoyed at the end of that war. These warriors came home to jeers and hate filled epithets that were undeserved. These warriors were never honored as they should have been. These warriors have paid a far greater price for their service than they should have. On March 31, Rector will, in a small way, do its part to give these warriors the respect and recognition they earned. Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans and all those veterans who supported you in the air, on the seas and on the ground around the world. Welcome Home!