thedrifter
05-02-09, 05:39 AM
Posted on Sat, May. 02, 2009
Vietnam vets welcomed home
By CHUCK CRUMBO
ccrumbo@thestate.com
Protesters chanting “baby-killer” greeted Jeff Lantz when he returned from Vietnam in 1967.
Lantz, a Navy corpsman who served with the 4th Marines, said he got into a fight with the protesters and had to be escorted through the terminal by police.
“We didn’t get no warm welcome when we came home,” said Lantz, 62, of Columbia.
On Friday, Lantz got his warm welcome during the Vietnam Veterans Survivors & Remembrance Day program at the Dorn VA Medical Center.
Hosted by the S.C. Combat Veterans Group, the program has been an annual event the past 11 years. In 2006, South Carolina became the first state to designate an official Day of Remembrance for Vietnam survivors.
Members of the group are combat veterans who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and receive treatment at the VA hospital.
The program, which included a wreath-laying ceremony earlier at Memorial Park in downtown Columbia, was a way to help veterans recover from the horrors they witnessed in combat, officials said.
It also provided some salve to the shame, guilt and anger they may have felt when they returned home to a country that did not celebrate their service, as it does today for troops coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s something that’s long overdue,” said the Rev. Benjamin Gridine, 59, a retired Army master sergeant who fought with the 1st Battalion, 12th Airborne Cavalry in 1968-69.
The veterans, many wearing the group’s uniform of a floppy bush hat, wine-colored shirt and black pants, listened to speeches from a politician, a retired Army general and a psychologist.
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., drew applause and cheers when he told the audience next year’s proposed budget includes $5.6 billion for veterans’ benefits. Congress also wants to eliminate a “means test” that denies care to veterans — even though they earned it — because their income is too high, Clyburn added.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. George Bowman, a Sumter native whose father was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, reminded the veterans they’re among the few who know the real cost of war.
“Those who glorify the wars are the people who have not fought the wars,” Bowman said. “Anyone who has ever been in a conflict has never said anything about the glory of war or the glory of combat. They wanted to survive intact and be able to return home.”
While they may have returned physically, PTSD sufferers may never feel at home, said Linda Jenness-McClellan, a retired VA psychologist.
“You will never be able to come back to the world you left,” she said. “But you have found new ground, and love and acceptance from each other. I welcome you back to your world.”
Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.
Ellie
Vietnam vets welcomed home
By CHUCK CRUMBO
ccrumbo@thestate.com
Protesters chanting “baby-killer” greeted Jeff Lantz when he returned from Vietnam in 1967.
Lantz, a Navy corpsman who served with the 4th Marines, said he got into a fight with the protesters and had to be escorted through the terminal by police.
“We didn’t get no warm welcome when we came home,” said Lantz, 62, of Columbia.
On Friday, Lantz got his warm welcome during the Vietnam Veterans Survivors & Remembrance Day program at the Dorn VA Medical Center.
Hosted by the S.C. Combat Veterans Group, the program has been an annual event the past 11 years. In 2006, South Carolina became the first state to designate an official Day of Remembrance for Vietnam survivors.
Members of the group are combat veterans who suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and receive treatment at the VA hospital.
The program, which included a wreath-laying ceremony earlier at Memorial Park in downtown Columbia, was a way to help veterans recover from the horrors they witnessed in combat, officials said.
It also provided some salve to the shame, guilt and anger they may have felt when they returned home to a country that did not celebrate their service, as it does today for troops coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s something that’s long overdue,” said the Rev. Benjamin Gridine, 59, a retired Army master sergeant who fought with the 1st Battalion, 12th Airborne Cavalry in 1968-69.
The veterans, many wearing the group’s uniform of a floppy bush hat, wine-colored shirt and black pants, listened to speeches from a politician, a retired Army general and a psychologist.
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., drew applause and cheers when he told the audience next year’s proposed budget includes $5.6 billion for veterans’ benefits. Congress also wants to eliminate a “means test” that denies care to veterans — even though they earned it — because their income is too high, Clyburn added.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. George Bowman, a Sumter native whose father was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, reminded the veterans they’re among the few who know the real cost of war.
“Those who glorify the wars are the people who have not fought the wars,” Bowman said. “Anyone who has ever been in a conflict has never said anything about the glory of war or the glory of combat. They wanted to survive intact and be able to return home.”
While they may have returned physically, PTSD sufferers may never feel at home, said Linda Jenness-McClellan, a retired VA psychologist.
“You will never be able to come back to the world you left,” she said. “But you have found new ground, and love and acceptance from each other. I welcome you back to your world.”
Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.
Ellie