Honoring past dues; Vets to mark 40th anniversary of Vietnam with documentary event
Published 10:35 am Friday, April 24, 2015
Area veterans have partnered with KSMQ Television to honor former soldiers who haven’t always received their due: the veterans of the Vietnam War.
KSMQ President Eric Olson, VFW Post 1216 Commander Scott Wiechmann, Kirk Olsen and Michael Bednar discuss the upcoming Vietman Veterans celebration last week at the VFW in Austin. — Trey Mewes/trey.mewes@austindailyherald.com
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Vietnam, which marked the end of U.S. involvement in the war, KSMQ and Mower County veterans are inviting all Vietnam War veterans and their families to a documentary and discussion at the Paramount Theatre on April 30.
“That’s one of our missions,” VFW Post 1216 Commander Scott Wiechmann said. “We honor the dead by service to the living. That’s who we are, that’s what we do.”
The Austin VFW will host Vietnam veterans and family members from 5 to 6:30 p.m. with free pizza and beverages, while the event itself starts at 7 p.m. Area color guards are invited to take part in a ceremony beforehand outside of the Paramount Theatre, while Wiechmann and others will have various Vietnam War memorabilia on display, including a prisoner-of-war listing that shows how many people are still presumed missing from the conflict.
Wiechmann said the event started when Nathan Lee, an Iraq War veteran, approached the VFW about doing something to honor Vietnam vets for the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
At the same time, KSMQ had looked to partner with area vets to help host a new, PBS-produced documentary, “Last Days in Vietnam.”
“It made me feel really good that younger Iraq War vets, Afghan War vets wanted to honor people who served in Vietnam,” Wiechmann said.
As Vietnam veteran Warren Smith puts it, people may appreciate veterans much more today, but soldiers who served in the Vietnam War era often didn’t get public recognition — they were scorned by people who were angry at the U.S. government for getting involved in the war.
“It was like 30 years before anyone thanked us,” Smith said.
To that end, the documentary program will begin at about 7 p.m., along with speeches by VFW State Commander Gary Anderson and KSMQ President Eric Olson.
The event is free to the public.
“It feels really good to honor our Vietnam vets,” Wiechmann said.
