Vietnam Veterans Get Their Long Overdue "Welcome Home"

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Michael Rodgers recalled being treated as a pariah by some of his fellow Americans. It was as though he and other U.S. veterans were considered the enemy when they returned home after serving in Vietnam. “We were getting spit on. They were calling us baby killers,” he remembered of the hostile reception he received in 1968 when he was 19 years old and had just finished his tour of duty in the war. As difficult as that experience was for Rodgers, his most painful memory of his return home from Vietnam was when he was refused membership in his then-hometown VFW post in Philadelphia when he tried to join. “They just didn’t want anyone to join who had served in Vietnam. It was sad,” he said. But in dramatic contrast to the perception that they were outcasts in the 1960s and 1970s, Rodgers and other Vietnam veterans were hailed as heroes Tuesday during Sea Isle City’s annual ceremony commemorating National Vietnam War Veterans Day. At the end of the ceremony, Mayor Leonard Desiderio called all of the veterans sitting in the audience up to the podium of the war memorial at Veterans Park. While surrounded by the veterans, Desiderio officially unveiled a bronze plaque that honors the country’s military men and women who remain missing in war. “YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN,” the top of the plaque says in all capital letters. A bronze plaque honoring missing U.S. servicemen and women is unveiled during the ceremony. The inscription goes on to note that more than 81,000 U.S. service members are unaccounted for from World War II to the present. The plaque represents the second part of a “Chair of Honor” that was dedicated at Veterans Park during Sea Isle’s POW-MIA Recognition Day ceremony last September. The plaque and chair act as a permanent reminder of all the servicemen and women who remain missing. “After that chair was installed, we wanted to go one step further and erect a bronze plaque that would better explain the purpose of the chair – and serve as a written reminder of a group of military members we should never forget,” Desiderio told the audience. “And, before you go home, I hope each of you will take a moment to read the wording we have inscribed on the plaque – and allow those words to remain in your hearts as a reminder of the sacrifices made by our POWs and all U.S. military members who are still unaccounted for,” he added. Rodgers, a 77-year-old retired bank executive and Sea Isle resident, was touched by the ceremony – a long-overdue “Welcome Home” to him and other veterans who risked their lives fighting in Vietnam. Vietnam veteran Michael Rodgers, now 77, remembers the hostility that he and other U.S. servicemen faced after returning home from the war. During his tour of duty in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, Rodgers served as a combat photographer with the U.S. Army’s 124th Signal Battalion. At that time, he was living in Philadelphia. Although painful memories of his return home from Vietnam came rushing back to Rodgers on Tuesday, he also focused on how he and others have been warmly embraced by the people of Sea Isle. “This was a long time coming. A very long time coming,” Rodgers said of the enthusiastic hometown reception. Desiderio, who delivered keynote remarks at the ceremony, sadly recounted how the Vietnam veterans “were our nation’s forgotten heroes for far too many years.” “We all know that the Vietnam War occurred during a turbulent chapter in our nation’s history,” he said. “Nonetheless, countless men and women stepped up to serve our country with honor during the Vietnam War – and for many, they are just now receiving the thanks they deserve.” Mayor Leonard Desiderio delivers keynote remarks during the ceremony at Veterans Park. Desiderio also pointed out that it took many Americans decades to recognize the challenges and hardships that Vietnam veterans faced both on the battlefield and after they returned home. “Gratefully, we now have this day to remind us that we should stop and remember those who served in that long and difficult war,” he said of National Vietnam War Veterans Day. “On this day each year, we should – and we will – take the time to officially honor the sacrifices of the men and women of the United States military who served in southeast Asia during the Vietnam War – and I hope each of you will be able to be here for many years to come as we do so, because this is a day we should all take to heart.” Richard Lomax, a Vietnam veteran and trustee of Sea Isle’s VFW Post 1963, noted in his remarks during the ceremony that his generation was the last to be drafted into a U.S. war. "We were young, probably naive, but we grew up fast," he said. He added that he and his fellow veterans "never wavered" in their love for their country. Lomax was a U.S. Navy corpsman in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. He grimly noted that there are more than 58,000 names inscribed in the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., representing all of the servicemen killed in the war. "Vietnam, like all wars, was brutal," he said. During the ceremony, Lomax was given the honor of accepting a memorial wreath from fellow Vietnam veteran Joe Harris and placing it at the Memorial Fountain at Veterans Park. Vietnam veteran Richard Lomax pays tribute to the more than 58,000 U.S. servicemen who were killed in the war. Cape May County Clerk Rita Rothberg, another speaker during the ceremony, said 16 servicemen from Cape May County were killed in the Vietnam War. “Sixteen souls we honor from Cape May County,” Rothberg said. Ruth Brown, treasurer of the VFW Post 1963 Auxiliary, said the “long, costly and polarizing” Vietnam War resulted in the mistreatment of U.S. veterans after they returned home. “We can never, and will never, let that happen again,” Brown said. Mayor Leonard Desiderio officially unveils the bronze plaque commemorating the missing servicemen and women from U.S. wars. The audience listens to remarks during the ceremony. Mayor Leonard Desiderio is joined by veterans for his remarks.