Veterans, community members and officials gathered Friday, March 29 at Veterans’ Monument Park to pay tribute to Vietnam veterans on National Vietnam Veterans Day.
The solemn ceremony commenced with an invocation by Dr. Daniel Middlebrooks, US Army Chaplain, Retired, the presentation of colors by Plant City High School JROTC members and pledge of allegiance led by Sherry Scheitler. Then, the national anthem, performed by Hope Storter, echoed through the gathering as attendees stood in silent reverence, some standing at attention in a salute while others put their right hands over their hearts.
Notable speakers included Commissioner Mike Sparkman, Army veteran Chad Landry and State Representative and Retired Army Veteran Danny Alvarez, took to the podium to express gratitude and respect for the sacrifices made by Vietnam veterans, many of whom did not receive a proper homecoming.
Alvarez, speaking to many Vietnam veterans who sat in the audience, apologized for the homecoming they received and promised to forever work to right the wrong. “The story of a Vietnam veteran to me is the story of the shame of a nation that we will never rectify,” he said. “If you’re a Vietnam veteran what happened to you was unforgivable. I don’t care what the temperature of a nation is, when a man or woman signs on the dotted line, there is nothing but incredible honor due to that person, whether you agree with the policies of your government or not.”
Alvarez, a first-generation American, joined the Army as a way to say ‘thank you’ to a country that took in his family, who in 1959 escaped Cuba and its communist rule to forge a new life in a new country. Even though he has taken off his uniform, he continues to fight for veterans’ rights.
“We fight for veterans because that is the greatness of our country,” said Alvarez. “I serve my veterans brothers and sisters to this day. I tell people on the floor of our house every time we pass a veterans law that we owe you a debt we cannot repay, we can never repay.”
Speaker and retired Army First Sergeant Don Day, a veteran of the Vietnam War, spoke about his experience coming home to an inhospitable country where citizens openly protested the war (and members of the service who fought in it). “Seeing the protestors gathered at the airport in San Francisco gave us the first idea of what the American people thought about the war and so the only people they could take it out on was us soldiers but their protest was their right as citizens of the United States,” he said. “We have lots of freedoms but for every freedom, every right and every privilege we have, the only reason we have it is because every day around the world a bunch of men and women get up every morning and put on one of these uniforms.”
He candidly expressed his own feelings about the war, that took the life of many of his friends and fellow soliders. “When I got drafted I didn’t even think about Vietnam, when I got the word I was going to Vietnam I didn’t want to go, the year I was there I hated it, I hated what I saw and what I did, but I’ll tell you right now, I wouldn’t trade that year for anything in the world,” he said. “You grew up fast in Vietnam, you grew up fast or you didn’t make it, you grew up quick.”
During the event, Day was presented with a commemorative Quilt of Valor by Tangled Threads.
Judy Wise, Elks Lodge Veterans Chairman, said the event will hopefully become an annual tradition. “My particular high school group was a group that spent time in Vietnam and they never got welcomed home properly,” she said. “Hopefully we can make up for that a little bit at a time.”