In 2012, the President of the United States proclaimed March 29th to be Vietnam Veterans Day. The date was 47 years after the fighting in LZ X-Ray and 48 years after Everett Alvarez Jr. became the first American pilot to be shot down and taken prisoner. The date was 44 years after Marines fought house-to-house in the city of Hue and far too many years after service members returned home to a nation that was struggling to separate the war from the warrior. For the first time in history, Americans were able to watch the fighting from the Vietnam War play out on their television sets, both in Vietnam and on the increasingly violent streets of the United States. who served in the Vietnam War — and more than half of the names onTheW Signedintolawin2017,National Vietnam War Veterans Day has been set aside as a day to honor the legacy of the millions who served our nation during the Vietnam war. On March 29, 1973, the last American combat troops left Vietnam. More than three million Americans served in-country during the war and 58,281 men and women made the ultimate sacrifice. We continue to lose Vietnam veterans every day as a result of the war’s lingering effects.
National Vietnam War Veterans Day is an opportunity for national reconciliation. It offers a chance for a grateful nation to recognize the fortitude and commitment that Vietnam veterans showed and continue to show every day. March 29th is an opportunity to thank and honor the 2.7 million service members who served in Vietnam.
Throughout and after the Vietnam War, thousands of men returned home with physical injuries and many more later would come to suffer from exposure to Agent Orange and other toxins. More than 58,000 brave heroes paid the ultimate price for our freedoms, their names forever inscribed on the black granite panels of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Of the more than 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, approximately 1,500 are still listed as Missing in Action. Eight women, all nurses, are among the 58,000 names on the memorial wall. Most were killed in airplane or helicopter crashes. Only one was killed by enemy fire. In those days, women were barred from combat, they served in medical, communications, intelligence and administrative positions. Over 265,000 women served in the military during the Vietnam war and nearly 10,000 military women served in-country during the conflict. Two thirds of the US military who served in Vietnam and one half of the names on the wall volunteered for duty and the two thirds were drafted.