Sunday, April 28, 2024
Fair, 52°Wind: 8.1 mph, W
Welcome to our new web site!
To give our readers a chance to experience all that our new website has to offer, we have made all content freely avaiable, through October 1, 2018.
During this time, print and digital subscribers will not need to log in to view our stories or e-editions.
City of Las Cruces representatives joined southern New Mexico military veterans to commemorate “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” in a ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park March 25.
As many as 250 southern New Mexico veterans, their family members, friends, and residents attended the ceremony. The Las Cruces Vietnam Veterans Association hosted the event.
The Vietnam Memorial, at Veterans Memorial Park, 1251 N. Roadrunner Parkway, was the setting for the “Reading of the Names of New Mexico Veterans” who gave their lives during tours of duty in Vietnam, the city said. The Daughters of the American Revolution presented Vietnam combat veterans with lapel pins depicting the American Eagle symbol during the ceremony.
Mayor Ken Miyagishima, city Community Development Director Larry Nichols and White Sands Missile Range Command Sgt. Maj. José G. Meléndez were keynote speakers at the event. Nichols, a Vietnam veteran, serves as the city’s liaison to the Veterans Advisory Board.
“Your service contributed to our freedom,” Nichols said. “Your service and attendance promote healing among all veterans and honors the memory of those killed in action and supports our military men and women worldwide. “It took years before a lot of us mentioned to others, our service in Vietnam, due the negative (public) perception of the Vietnam War during that era. That has changed over the years … the change has been due to veterans like you attending ceremonies such as these.”
The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act, signed into law in 2017, designates March 29 as National Vietnam War Veterans Day. On March 29, 1973, the last U.S. combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam and the last prisoners of war held in North Vietnam arrived in the U.S. The day commemorates the sacrifices of Vietnam veterans and their families and is part of an effort to recognize the men and women who were denied a proper welcome upon returning home almost 50 years ago, the city said.
