thedrifter
03-22-08, 05:23 AM
Vets mark 35 years after Vietnam
SUSAN SILVERS ssilvers@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 03/22/2008 12:07:28 AM EDT
TRUMBULL — For 1st Lt. Thomas Lee of the U.S. Army, the end of the Vietnam War came on March 28, 1973, when he filed under the noses of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong onto a Northwest Orient plane for a flight that would take him home.
"It was horrible," the Trumbull resident, now a lawyer, said Wednesday, recalling his humiliation as enemy forces "counted out" some of the last 5,000 American combat forces to leave Vietnam.
Just a day later, all of them would be gone, as called for in the Paris Peace Accords.
While the enduring memory of America's end in Vietnam may well be the calamitous departure April 30, 1975, of the last Marines from the U.S. Embassy, the day the combat forces pulled out was actually more than two years before.
Next week, the 35th anniversary of the end of U.S. operations, which cost the lives of more than 58,000 service personnel, will be remembered here through the efforts of Lee and other veterans.
"Thirty-five years is a long time," Lee said. "I thought it would be an appropriate time to commemorate the cessation of this war."
Next Saturday, through the efforts of the American Legion Post 141 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10059, veterans, their families, friends and others will gather at the local Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Park.
The 10 a.m. program will take place at the memorial, directly across from where Route 25's Exit 7 meets White Plains Road, abutting Twin Brooks Park.
Plans for the ceremony are not complete, but American Legion Commander George Areson said it would be very brief. He said there would be some an invocation and benediction, remarks probably from Lee and First Selectman Raymond G. Baldwin Jr., wreath-laying, and possibly bagpipers. It will be followed by a gathering in the Town Council chamber where people can share thoughts and recollections about the Vietnam War.
The ceremony is the centerpiece of a broader commemoration of the war's end being organized under the auspices of Baldwin.
At Baldwin's request, the Trumbull Library is showcasing memorabilia from the war in its display case next to the front entrance.
On view are a sample of books and other media about the war, as well as photographs and uniforms.
Veterans organizations are also sponsoring an essay contest on the theme, "35 years later: How should the Vietnam War be remembered?" A $500 award will be presented to a student essay from an entrant attending Trumbull High School, St. Joseph High or Christian Heritage School. Entries are due by May 1 with the winner to be announced Memorial Day.
"The young people don't know what [the war] was," Samuel L. Branstein, a Tennessee-born lawyer who joined the Army in 1964.
He said he avoids many veterans' events because "it does dredge up old memories" that can be hard to deal with.
But "it's time for those of whose who are still alive to get a little bit of closure," he said.
Ellie
SUSAN SILVERS ssilvers@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 03/22/2008 12:07:28 AM EDT
TRUMBULL — For 1st Lt. Thomas Lee of the U.S. Army, the end of the Vietnam War came on March 28, 1973, when he filed under the noses of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong onto a Northwest Orient plane for a flight that would take him home.
"It was horrible," the Trumbull resident, now a lawyer, said Wednesday, recalling his humiliation as enemy forces "counted out" some of the last 5,000 American combat forces to leave Vietnam.
Just a day later, all of them would be gone, as called for in the Paris Peace Accords.
While the enduring memory of America's end in Vietnam may well be the calamitous departure April 30, 1975, of the last Marines from the U.S. Embassy, the day the combat forces pulled out was actually more than two years before.
Next week, the 35th anniversary of the end of U.S. operations, which cost the lives of more than 58,000 service personnel, will be remembered here through the efforts of Lee and other veterans.
"Thirty-five years is a long time," Lee said. "I thought it would be an appropriate time to commemorate the cessation of this war."
Next Saturday, through the efforts of the American Legion Post 141 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10059, veterans, their families, friends and others will gather at the local Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Park.
The 10 a.m. program will take place at the memorial, directly across from where Route 25's Exit 7 meets White Plains Road, abutting Twin Brooks Park.
Plans for the ceremony are not complete, but American Legion Commander George Areson said it would be very brief. He said there would be some an invocation and benediction, remarks probably from Lee and First Selectman Raymond G. Baldwin Jr., wreath-laying, and possibly bagpipers. It will be followed by a gathering in the Town Council chamber where people can share thoughts and recollections about the Vietnam War.
The ceremony is the centerpiece of a broader commemoration of the war's end being organized under the auspices of Baldwin.
At Baldwin's request, the Trumbull Library is showcasing memorabilia from the war in its display case next to the front entrance.
On view are a sample of books and other media about the war, as well as photographs and uniforms.
Veterans organizations are also sponsoring an essay contest on the theme, "35 years later: How should the Vietnam War be remembered?" A $500 award will be presented to a student essay from an entrant attending Trumbull High School, St. Joseph High or Christian Heritage School. Entries are due by May 1 with the winner to be announced Memorial Day.
"The young people don't know what [the war] was," Samuel L. Branstein, a Tennessee-born lawyer who joined the Army in 1964.
He said he avoids many veterans' events because "it does dredge up old memories" that can be hard to deal with.
But "it's time for those of whose who are still alive to get a little bit of closure," he said.
Ellie