A welcome home for all Vietnam veterans
When Gerry Rice served as a draftee in Vietnam, the Army made him a dog handler, walking point for a year with a storied unit of the 101st Airborne.
The dog never made it and Rice was ordered to cremate his teammate. War is unspeakably cruel in too many ways to count.
Joe Duran trained as an Airborne paratrooper, Ranger qualified, then they made him a marksman. That means he was assigned as a sniper. He was there about five years before Rice.
“They would point out who I had to take out,” Duran said.
Both came home with the post traumatic stress disorder that nobody had yet diagnosed as a hard consequence of the many cruelties of war. Rice, president of Vets4Veterans, and Duran, author of “Silent Heroes,” spoke Saturday at “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans.”
Duran and Rice were with about 200 other Vietnam War veterans who got an annual, big “Welcome Home” ceremony at Poncitlán Square.
If anyone had told these veterans they would be welcomed, saluted by youth groups like the Antelope Valley
Young Marines, cheered by supportive women and treated to a ceremonial luncheon because of a war that started more than 60 years ago, they would have wanted to know what you were smoking.
About 500 people showed up at the park by Palmdale City Hall. The newish organization that put it all together is called the Boots On Ground Alliance — the brainchild of Iraq War veteran and Marine Alejandro Castillo.
As veterans dismounted a double-decker bus, they walked — some assisted by wheelchairs and walkers — into the park, passing through a “gauntlet of love,” with a cheering crowd, waving signs and flags.
“We just want to make sure that they get the ‘welcome home’ that they deserved,” Castillo said.
So there were balloons, a Rio Brazilian Grille-catered meal, speeches, but most of all there was affection and respect.
“When I got home, I got out of my uniform as fast as I possibly could, and there was nothing like this, ever,” Rice said. “This recognition is good even years after.”
The event capped a big week of recognition for veterans, beginning with a salute to Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger at the Homes4Families gala where the group raised more than $100,000, with dozens of the homes for low-income veterans under construction in
Palmdale’s veterans enriched neighborhood.
With Barger’s support at the county level, CalVet and the City of Palmdale are providing financial assistance to get the project done.
Another large event Friday was the local Vets4Veterans Evening of Community Support in Lancaster. The group provides veterans with emergency assistance, scholarships, help with housing, jobs and mental health. The authentic grassroots organization raised more than $20,000 from sponsorships and auctions, with no one taking a salary and benefits going directly to serving veterans.
If anyone asks why, the answer lies in what veterans have already done, contributions already made working 24/7 worldwide.
Juan Blanco, president of Coffee4Vets, noted, “It takes the world’s greatest military serving worldwide to provide for the protection and safety of Americans and the world.”
He cites the sailors at sea, air crews, troops in Europe, the Pacific, the Middle East and other far-flung locations. All service is needed everywhere, which is why the veterans earned the help we provide.
Dennis Anderson is a licensed clinical social worker at High Desert Medical Group. An Army veteran who deployed with the National Guard to cover the Iraq War for the Antelope Valley Press, he serves on the Los Angeles County Veterans Advisory Commission.