By: Hadley Cottingham
(Cleveland)- A small crowd gathered at Freedom Park in Cleveland yesterday to honor Vietnam veterans’ service and their sacrifice. Tuesday was Vietnam War Veterans Day and the event was conducted by the Northeast Georgia Veterans Society.
Taps played on a keyboard as former soldiers saluted the flag, remembering a time when their nation was not so welcoming.
Speaking to the crowd Northeast Georgia Veterans Society President Ron Webb “Vietnam veterans did not get a welcome home, just the opposite. Some of them were spat on in airports, they were called baby killers or warmongers.” The national observance of Vietnam Veterans Day was signed into law in 2017.
White County Commissioner Lyn Holcomb read a proclamation approved by the commission board designating the day as Vietnam War Vietnam Day in White County.
White County is one of the few communities in Northeast Georgia to regularly hold a ceremony commemorating the day.
“It’s an opportunity for the public to express their appreciation for their service and sacrifice,” Webb said. “We try to honor those guys [veterans], and give them the welcome home they’ve never gotten.”
Trying to locate a fellow Vietnam Vet named Chris Cagle. He once told me he was from White Georgia. He did not say if White was a town or a county I assumed it was a town name. We were there(Nam) in 1971.
Thank you.
Jerry L. Sims Sr.
Saint Augustine, Fl.