“Welcome home, Vietnam veterans. Thank you for your service.”
These words were spoken by Camp Verde Mayor Charlie German, and the message was oft-repeated at the seventh annual Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day event, on Saturday, March 31, at Fort Verde State Historic Park.
Dozens of veterans of the Vietnam War and other conflicts since paraded into Camp Verde on motorcycles, starting at Sedona’s Elk Lodge and passing through Cottonwood and Clarkdale on the way. In the field outside the fort, they were honored.
The event was hosted by numerous veteran and public interest groups in the Verde Valley, including chapters of the American Legion, Marine Cops League and Veterans of Foreign Wars from communities around the Verde Valley, as well as the cities of Cottonwood, Sedona and Camp Verde and the Modified Motorcycle Association. More than 70 volunteers, many of them veterans themselves, traveling from places as far as Las Vegas, came together to put on the event.
The event also featured performances by the Well Dressed Wolves, a Phoenixbased rock band of former Verde Valley residents who performed 1960s classic rock tunes recalling the Vietnam era, and Terrie Frankel, who had been a USO performer for the troops during Vietnam, and regaled the crowd with both a performance on her accordion and stories of her time entertaining in the 1960s.
For many veterans, the celebration of their service marked a notable difference with how their cohort was received coming back from their tours in Vietnam, when many Americans blamed the soldiers for a war that had gone bad.
That was the experience of the event’s surprise special guest, the 11-time Grammy nominated Navajo flutist R. Carlos Nakai. Nakai, who served for five years in Vietnam with the U.S. Navy, was pelted with eggs and rotten vegetables when he arrived in San Diego after his service in 1971, and he used his speech to highlight the struggle that many of his comrades faced at the time, and that many still face.
It was a moving speech, according to Cottonwood Mayor Tim Elinski.
“He’s expressing frustration that a lot of veterans have felt, and the importance of beginning to heal those wounds,” Elinski said.
Nakai’s speech focused on the importance of honoring those who had fought for the country, especially those who had been disrespected. He veered into the political with a call for accepting immigrants and diversity tied into his Navajo heritage.
“This is a country of immigrants, no matter what the politicals say,” Nakai told the crowd. “Everyone who comes here comes with a dream in mind.
“We are proud of who we are,” Nakai said of the Vietnam veterans.
After he spoke, Nakai performed “Taps” and “Amazing Grace” on his Navajo flute. Following his performance, Nakai was awarded the Warrior’s Medal of Valor, an honor bestowed by the Hearts of the First Nations Peoples of the United States of America, a cooperation of tribes across the U.S. The award was developed in 2002 by Marshall Tall Eagle, himself a Vietnam veteran and a member of the Northwest Eagle Clan of the Apache Nation in Oregon, as a means for American Indian tribes to honor any veteran who had fought for the United States.
“I’m surprised. I can now say that I was honored for coming home,” Nakai said. “But not by everyone. By the Vietnam veterans. And that means more than anyone in the world.”
“There are fewer of us every day,” said Edward Uzumeckis, a Vietnam veteran and Warrior’s Medal of Valor recipient who helps organize the event. “We still encounter those who have never heard ‘Welcome home.’”
The event served that purpose for some in the community, who fought for their country but had nevertheless felt they had missed out on the recognition they deserved. A veteran named Emmett [he requested not to have his last name included] who had been deployed in numerous tours with the U.S. Army after Vietnam, approached Uzumeckis, mentioning his difficulty dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“You were boots on the ground,” Uzumeckis told Emmett, impressing upon him the theme of the event before explaining to him how he could better navigate VA benefits like he felt was deserved. “You’re part of a special group called Vietnam veterans.” “He was the first person I talked to who really knew what he was talking about,” Emmett said of the help he received through attending the Veterans Day event.
The struggles of veterans to receive the care they are entitled to from the VA was a key part of a speech given by Rep. Tom O’Halleran [D-District 1], who spoke at the event and stressed the importance of politicians in Washington, D.C., treating the military and veterans with more compassion, and preventing the long-term operations that have typified recent U.S. miltiary engagements.
“Any time we honor our vets is a good thing, especially our Vietnam veterans, because their welcome home was not appropriate,” O’Halleran said. He highlighted seven bills Congress has passed in the past 15 months to reform and increase funding for the VA.
“The bottom line is we still have a lot to do. We don’t have the services now to be able to help them like we should.”
Not all veterans attending Vietnam Veterans Day felt that the event made up for the treatment of veterans when they first arrived back in the U.S. in the 1970s.
“It’s another feel-good thing that doesn’t change anyone’s mind,” said Mingo Morvin, a former Marine who lives in Rimrock. He felt that the event was too little, too late for the “society that didn’t like us and still don’t,” but nevertheless admitted he said he was moved hearing “Taps” and seeing veterans raise the flag.
For those who still hold on to anger at how vets were treated coming home from Vietnam, events like this can’t wipe away long memories easily. But they still have an impact.
“This was a good thing for me,” Nakai said. “It let me let go of some stuff. It’s a 50-year anger.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
