The Turlock community gathered on Saturday to honor a group of veterans who have long been ignored at best, and the object of ire at worst. The Vietnam Veterans Day ceremony was held on the corner roundabout of the Public Safety Facility parking lot in front of the display of the United States Military flags.

“We have the opportunity to do what should have been done 50 years ago, welcome our Vietnam veterans home with honor and thank them and their families for their service and their sacrifices,” said Navy veteran and keynote speaker Rick Kindle.

Kindle talked about the 58,276 names carved into the black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) located in Washington, D.C., the more than 350,000 Americans who were wounded during the war and the tens of thousands who returned disabled.

“These facts provide us some context of the understanding of the true cost of war. It is not measured in dollars and cents, but in lives, neighbors, friends, family, who come home with seen and unseen scars that need mending and intensive care or do not come home at all,” he said.

Kindle was also able to present 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War veteran commemorative lapel pins to veterans present at the ceremony.

Annie Henrich was proud to accept a lapel pin for her husband, John Henrich, at Saturday’s ceremony. John couldn’t attend the ceremony because he is currently in the veterans hospital in Livermore, but Annie was happy to share that her husband is a Navy veteran who was stationed on Phú Quốc island during the war, but traveled all along the Mekong Delta helping to maintain radar and communication stations. Annie remembers that time well, because she was a young woman living with her family in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) during the war when she met the Navy man. Her cousin’s boyfriend, who was in the South Vietnamese Navy and had worked with John,  invited the American to celebrate the holidays with him in the big city. While Annie was made to play chaperone for her cousin and her beau, she also got to know John. They were eventually married and have been living in Turlock for the past 30 plus years. 

Following the ceremony, members of the community were invited to tie a yellow ribbon on a military flag pole in honor of loved one who served in the Vietnam War.