The Lawrence County Vietnam Veterans Organization will honor all service members who died in defense of the country and Gold Star Families at a ceremony on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. on the Lawrence County Courthouse lawn.
The American Legion Gillen Post 33 will present the colors, JoAnna Hackney will sing the national anthem, and Maj. Gen. Dan Colglazier (ret.) will be the keynote speaker.
Although there has been an observance of Memorial Day at the courthouse in past years, this year is the first time that the Vietnam Veterans Organization will host the event.
Vietnam Veterans Organization hopes to increase attendance
After a poor Memorial Day turnout in 2024 and hearing talk of possibly discontinuing the event, Steve Warren, the Vietnam Veterans Organization’s commander, asked Brad Bough of the Veterans Service Office for “a shot at putting it on” this year. Bough agreed.
Warren attributed the lower turnout to aging veterans from past wars and lack of promotion, the latter of which he plans to change by asking for help from The Times-Mail, WBIW, the American Legion, and the John Wallace Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. They will also pass out flyers, he said.
A former flight engineer of a P-2 Neptune anti-submarine aircraft, Warren reminisced about his days patrolling the West Coast of the United States against Russian and Chinese submarine incursions. He mourned the loss of World War II, Korean War, and fellow Vietnam War veterans, many of whom were his friends and “are on that monument up there (at the courthouse).” He stressed the importance of Memorial Day and the need for younger generations to understand its true meaning.
“Memorial Day… is a remembrance of all that have lost their lives In defense of our country,” he said.
WWII veteran expected to attend Memorial Day event
Warren mentioned James Lee Hutchinson, a World War II radio operator on a B-17 bomber over Germany, who will most certainly attend the event. Hutchinson will be 100 years old in June. The mortality rate of those crew members was near 60%, Warren said. “It was unreal,” he added. “The tour was 25 missions, and if you could survive 25 missions, they sent you home… [Hutchinson] was one of them.” Hutchinson flew 20 missions by the time the war ended.
The Vietnam Veterans Organization has about 35 members. They assist struggling veterans; give out two $500 scholarships, one to a student at Mitchell High School and one to a student at Bedford North Lawrence High School; put flags on the 681 veterans’ graves at Beech Grove Cemetery on Memorial Day; and perform maintenance work on the veteran gravestones at the cemetery.
Given the unpopularity of the Vietnam War, Warren said, its veterans struggled to talk about their experience. Some of the protests were directed at the soldiers, who were not at fault. So, “they just clam up… and some of them had some real issues because they couldn’t deal with it.” Having a group where these veterans can talk and which understands their experience is the biggest benefit of the Vietnam Veterans Organization, he said.
Although he described service members as people of honor and commitment, who “signed a blank check over to Uncle Sam” to do “whatever you want to with me, including my life,” Warren had no illusion about the horrors of war. “War is not good,” he said. “Shooting rabbits is one thing, but shooting people is quite another.”
Whether “you were the one pulling the trigger” or were in a supporting role, he said, veterans can’t absolve themselves from the responsibility for the people who were killed. “You pray that it’s for the right cause.”
Remembering those who served
Warren had a close childhood friend who was killed in Vietnam in 1969, an experience that he said he never got over. “We were kids, but he ended up getting killed in Vietnam. Here I am, 76 years old. Had a good, long life and everything, you know. Why is that?”
So, for this Memorial Day, his message to the 99% of the population who has never put on a uniform is “to pause for just a moment” and be thankful for the people who gave their lives in service of this country.
“At 10 o’clock on Memorial Day, May the 26th, come and pay respects,” Warran said. If not, “at least be aware that the freedoms [you] enjoy today came at the expense of some people [your] own age.”
This article originally appeared on The Times-Mail: Vietnam Veterans Organization takes over Lawrence County Memorial Day ceremony
Reporting by Trung Le / The Times-Mail
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
