Friday's Internet Edition, September 10, 2010.
Vietnam Veterans Treated Like Heroes - Finally
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| Facing the Davie JROTC flag squad, Vietnam veterans and a crowd of Davie residents, Shane Young sings the National Anthem at the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans rally last week. - Photo by Robin Snow |
Those two words were especially sweet for some 50
Davie residents last week. All veterans of the Vietnam War, they received the hero’s welcome they didn’t receive 40 years or more ago.
In a ceremony coordinated by Veteran’s Service Officer Don Cover, they watched members of the Davie High JROTC present the flags of their country and state. They heard Shane Young as he belted out “The Star Spangled Banner” that could be heard throughout Downtown Mocksville. They heard one of their own, Leland Richardson, invoke God’s blessings. They watched as members of the Mocksville Fire Department hoisted a flag high above Main Street, just steps away from the monument that bears the names of Davie residents who were killed in the war. They accepted a medal and handshake from cover.
But most of all, the veterans relished in the welcome. Put together in about a week after U.S. Sen. Richard Burr had legislation passed officially welcoming them home, a couple of hundred Davie residents were there to cheer.
“Many communities do not have the support for veterans that we ... subscribe to the Davie County Enterprise Record, P.O. Box 4639, Salisbury, N.C. 28145.