CHANUTE — Time has smoothed out dissent to the Vietnam War. Close to 1,000 people flooded Santa Fe Park here Saturday morning to recognize Vietnam veterans. “OUR COUNTRY sent us there,” Sayers told about 200 Vietnam veterans among the crowd. “Finally, the nation is appreciating your service. It wasn’t a volunteer war, you were drafted.” THE TRAVELLING memorial is 298 feet long and six feet tall at its apex. It contains 58,267 names of those who died in Vietnam.
About 150 were honored with Kansas Vietnam War medals and medallions.
In a prelude to the recognition ceremony, Gene Sayers, Area East commander of the Kansas American Legion, noted deaths from hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan were much less than in Vietnam in part because of advanced technology.
More than 58,000 service personnel died in Vietnam. Their names are on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., and are replicated on a traveling memorial wall that was set up in Santa Fe Park, near a permanent edifice recognizing veterans of all U.S. wars.
The draft ended in 1973.
“It was rough for the boys and their families at home,” Sayers continued. “We haven’t forgotten the 58,000 who died.”
Lloyd Houk of Moran was among those recognized. Houk worked as a medic, dental technician and processing clerk at a hospital in Cuchi, about 80 miles south of Saigon from 1969 to 1970.
Houk enlisted in the Army in 1968, took basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and studied dental technology at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Nowadays Houk is hospice chaplain for Allen County and frequently fills pulpits in area churches, as well as officiating at funerals and weddings.
Gregg Burden, director of the Kansas Commission of Veterans Affairs, said legislators in 2009 approved issuance of Kansas medals and medallions for Vietnam veterans.
“We’ve handed out 4,500 so far and hope to hand out another 4,000 to 5,000,” Burden said.
Veterans who wish to apply for recognition may do so through the Burden’s office at Jayhawk Tower, 700 SW Jackson, Ste. 1004, Topeka, KS 66603-3743. The phone number is (785) 296-3976.
The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, North Weymouth, Mass., who was killed on June 8, 1956. His son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, was killed Sept. 7, 1965.
Greg Walsh, manager of the exhibit, said 39,996 soldiers were 22 or younger, and 8,283 were 18 when they died.
The wall in Chanute is one of three that travel the nation. A permanent wall is in Washington, D.C.
For some, it takes a while to confront the wall, Walsh said, but “it starts the healing process for many.”
Hundreds turn out to honor Vietnam War vets
