Nearly 400 Vietnam veterans honored
Ceremony remembers names that aren't on memorial wall
From Hannah Buchdahl
CNN
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More than a thousand people attended a ceremony to remember about 400 Vietnam veterans whose deaths are attributed to the war.
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A ceremony to mark names of veterans not on the Vietnam Memorial served as a stark reminder that casualties from war occur even after the fighting stops (April 22)
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With the war in Iraq winding down and former prisoners of war celebrating their return home , there was a stark reminder Monday that a war's casualty count doesn't always end when hostilities stop.
More than a thousand people gathered by the Vietnam Memorial Wall for the fifth annual In Memory Day ceremony to honor men and women who died prematurely because of noncombat injuries and emotional suffering attributed to the Vietnam War.
The veterans honored Monday do not meet the Pentagon's parameters for inscription on the Vietnam Wall, which lists the names of 58,229 men and women who died of injuries suffered in Vietnam War combat zones. The In Memory Day ceremony is a way to recognize their service to their country.
"Many of those honored in the program lost their lives because of exposure to Agent Orange or to the psychological wounds that never healed. Others were killed in accidents on their way to or from Vietnam," said Jan Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which sponsors the event.
Three hundred eighty-nine names were added to the In Memory honor roll Monday. They include young soldiers who died while the conflict was still raging in the 1960s and '70s, and grandfathers who succumbed to Agent Orange-related cancers just recently.
Agent Orange was a herbicide used in Vietnam between 1965 and 1970 to defoliate trees, which provided cover for guerrillas. The Pentagon now says more than a dozen illnesses can be attributed to Agent Orange exposure.
"This memorial has helped us put some closure to our fallen hero," said Earl Hockaday of Arlington, Virginia, whose brother Glenn Hockaday was a 2002 In Memory Day honoree.
"I'm very proud to call them my heroes and my comrades," said guest speaker Lt. Gen. John Caldwell Jr., military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.
"Their sacrifices, and the sacrifices of all Vietnam veterans, must always be remembered," Caldwell said. "Not just today ... but every day, let us remember the sacrifice and valor of those who paid the ultimate price for freedom. Let's remember those who are paying that price right now, too."
Family and friends, young and old, participated in the slow, rhythmic and emotional reading of the honor roll. They then walked down to the Vietnam Memorial Wall to place their loved ones' memorial placards near fallen comrades listed on the wall.
Singer/songwriter Chuck Price, a Navy veteran from Austin, Colorado, performed his song "The Unsung Heroes," which has become an anthem of sorts to Vietnam veterans: "Let's all sing a song for the unsung heroes. ... Let's make sure that we all remember 'cause the price they paid is too much to forget."
