LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) — Local Vietnam veterans were honored Friday afternoon with a special welcome home, 50 years after the end of the war.
At American Legion Post 96, dozens of Vietnam veterans boarded buses escorted by local fire and law enforcement agencies. The procession made its way to the Allen County Fairgrounds, giving veterans a "welcome home" that many say they never received decades ago.
“We are celebrating our Vietnam veterans. It is the 50th year since the end of the Vietnam War, and so many veterans from that era did not get the proper welcome home,” said Tamara Wilson, executive director of the Allen County Veterans Service Commission. “So this is Allen County giving our Allen County veterans a proper welcome home.”
“We didn’t get the welcome when we got back. Now they’re giving it to us,” said Glen Richardson, a Vietnam veteran. “It wasn’t very pleasant. Wasn’t pleasant at all. A lot of us changed our uniforms as soon as we got back because we weren’t welcome when we came back.”
Along with the honor ride, veterans had the chance to share stories, reconnect with old friends and reflect on their time in the service.
“Just being around the vets that I was with — and they went through the same thing I went through — it’s nice talking to them again,” Richardson said.
“It’s been a great time,” said Vietnam veteran Steven Sellers. “I met some Vietnam veterans that I’d known in the past, and it’s just been a great time. You know, we go away, and we go off to a war, and you don’t know if you’re going to come back. Veterans deserve to be honored because they have given up a part of their life for the freedom that we have today.”
The Allen County Veterans Service Commission says this will be remembered as a proper welcome home — five decades in the making.
