GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – The Green Cove Springs community held its annual Vietnam Veterans Day ceremony Saturday morning to thank those who fought in that war.
The community gathered at the TAPS monument in Green Cove Springs to give proper recognition and appreciation to people like Army veteran William Smith.
“I always have a good feeling, but it is nice to see the people now, or at this moment, rather to thank us for our service,” Smith.
Smith said he did not get those things from the public when he first came home from the Vietnam War after two tours.
Smith, a Silver Star and Purple Heart recipient, said the only “welcome home” he got was from family and friends.
“From the family and friends, it made me feel good. But from others, I just let it pass,” Smith said.
Those who attended the ceremony wanted to show honor to these Vietnam veterans during the nearly 20-year war. Some of them made it back to America, others were killed, and there are some who are still missing in action.
Frank Haggard, a Navy veteran, served in the Vietnam War in 1967 and 1968.
“It was not the conflict. It was the coming home and how they were treated. I think that was the hard part,” Haggard said. “I think life just went on. I did not get involved in any of the peace movements or anything like that. I just came home and went back to work, and just tried to forget about it.”
The ceremony’s pomp and circumstance included a flyover, wreath-laying, and a playing of Taps.
In the ceremony, they also read the names of 21 U.S. service members who died in combat during the Vietnam War.
All of that was a tribute to those who may not have gotten a warm homecoming, or as this community puts it -- a way to right a wrong.
This event was a lead-up to National Vietnam War Veterans Day which is on March 29.