Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of the last American troops leaving Vietnam. Former President Donald Trump first declared March 29 National Vietnam War Veterans Day in 2017.
"It's just sad that when we came home, nobody cared," said Ross Bigley, a sailor who was in Vietnam on the last day American troops were there. "That's the sad thing. As a Vietnam veteran, I always made a point to make sure people who came home from Iraq and Afghanistan, I shook their hand."
"Coming through San Francisco was not a good time," said Air Force Veteran Dan Mathys, who went to Vietnam in 1966. "But now we get thanked. We get respect."
Before leaving his base in Indiana, Mathys says he was assigned to the Honor Guard for a pilot who had been shot down.
"I can still see the two little girls he left behind when he got shot down and killed," he said. Mathys works with Patriot Guard Riders now, attending funerals for fallen veterans and first responders.
DFW National Cemetery hosted an event Wednesday to mark the anniversary. The cemetery placed a wreath and released homing pigeons.
"We're never going to fill that void, that loss," said Cemetery Assistant Director Sean Baumgartner. "But we can make it easier by honoring them."
The Texas Capitol Veterans Monument said 500,000 people from the state served in Vietnam; 3,417 died or went missing.
"I have family here," Bigley said of DFW National Cemetery. "My brother-in-law's right up there."
"Every veteran gave something," Baumgartner said. "We didn't treat them right when they first came home, and we need to make that right."
He said memorials can give Vietnam veterans a place to come together to share memories and meet others who have dealt with the same trauma. Similar events were held Wednesday in DeSoto and at Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth.
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