Members of our AMVETS team representing on Friday for REMEMBERING EVERYONE DEPLOYED!
We continue to keep each and every military member and family in our thoughts and prayers!
National Vietnam War Veterans Day, we honor all those who bravely served in the Vietnam War and who sacrificed, as did their families and caregivers.
Since the birth of the United States, no single generation of Americans has been spared the responsibility of defending freedom by force of arms. More than 44 million American men and women have sacrificed and served in times of war.
In 2008, the Secretary of Defense was authorized by law to conduct a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War.
All military families endure the hardship of separation, uncertainty, and fear, but the families of our Vietnam Veterans also witnessed their husbands and wives, sons and daughters, and fathers and mothers returning home to a nation in turmoil. They watched as the vast majority received no formal recognition for their service and weren’t welcomed home in ceremonies hosted by their communities.
Like Veterans returning from today’s battlefields, those who served in Vietnam came home with both physical and unseen injuries of war. Many of the unseen injuries suffered by our Vietnam Veterans went undiagnosed and weren’t understood by our medical community or citizens as they are now. Veterans were left to meet these challenges without the assistance available today.
History makes clear the importance of this Commemoration. Vietnam was a long war, and accordingly, a long commemoration period is planned. By presidential proclamation, the Commemoration extends from Memorial Day 2012 through Veterans Day 2025.
No distinction is being made between Veterans who served in-country, in-theater or who were stationed elsewhere during the Vietnam War period. All were called to serve and the overwhelming majority served honorably and admirably.
58,307 names appear on the Wall in Washington, D.C. The average age of those name at death… 23. Many tens of thousands were disabled. Approximately 7,500 women, the majority of whom were nurses, served in Vietnam.
1,627 are still considered missing in action and their families await word of their fate.