Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
FULL SUPPORT
National Vietnam War Veterans Day celebrated at City Park
When Bernie Bingham first returned home from the Vietnam War, he didn’t speak much about his military service.
It was 1965, and the conflict in southeast Asia was unpopular with many Americans. The ire of those opposed to the war was often turned toward the fighting men and women simply doing what they felt their duty was to their country.
And that left those returning from Vietnam to hide from their service.
“At one time, nobody wanted to accept they were a Vietnam vet,” Bingham, an Army veteran, said to a crowd gathered Friday at Reading’s City Park. “Anyone who wore those shoes knows what I mean.”
Bingham, who is now president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 131 Berks County, said for the first five or six years he remained silent about his time in Vietnam, afraid of the reaction he would get if he mentioned it.
But over the years, he said, that has changed. And looking out over the crowd of about 80 people who turned out for Friday’s ceremony to mark National Vietnam War Veteran’s Day, he said that support for Vietnam veterans has increased by 150%.
“You don’t have to stand in the corner and whisper anymore,” the Amity Township man said. “It isn’t like that anymore.”
That support was on full display during the event at City Park’s Vietnam War Memorial to recognize the day 51 years ago when the last U.S. troops left Vietnam.
“We need to remember this: Never again will we hold soldiers accountable for decisions made by politicians,” county commissioner Christian Leinbach said, adding that instead those who serve need to be honored. “That’s the lesson of Vietnam.”
State Rep. David Maloney likewise stressed
that, no matter what conflict they serve in, veterans should be treated with dignity and respect.
“I appreciate the honor we give those who gave, really without any hesitation,” he said.
Words like that were welcome ones to the ears of Kenneth Wunder.
Like Bingham, Wunder
struggled when he returned from his yearlong deployment in Vietnam with the Army’s 1st Calvary Division. He felt alone, he said, he felt ostracized.
Part of the way that he was able to deal with it was by founding the local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America and working for the establishment
of Berks’ Vietnam War Memorial, which was officially dedicated in 1988.
And seeing so many people gathered around that monument Friday warmed Wunder’s heart.
“I love it,” he said, looking over those at the ceremony. “We needed it. For so long we thought that nobody cared, but Berks County cares.”