News Release — White River Junction VA Medical Center
March 24, 2016
Contact:
Joe Anglin
Public Affairs Officer
White River Junction VA Medical Center
802.295.9363 ext. 5880
Joseph.anglin@va.gov
www.whiteriver.va.gov
White River Junction, VT – More than four decades after the fall of South Vietnam, America’s Vietnam War Veterans will be honored in a ceremony at the White River Junction Veteran Affairs Medical Center (WRJ VAMC).
The Vietnam War 50th anniversary commemoration ceremony is set to thank and honor Veterans of the Vietnam War at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, at the WRJ VAMC. Due to the overwhelming response, (more than 500 people have indicated they will attend), the ceremony has been relocated outside under tents on the hospital grounds. To accommodate necessary parking, the public is asked to park behind the Toyota dealership on Sykes Ave, and use the VA provided shuttles to attend the ceremonies.
Throughout the country on that day, the Department of Veterans Affairs will honor the service, sacrifice and enduring achievements of the veterans. Each Vietnam War veteran will receive a Vietnam Veteran Lapel Pin during a pinning at the ceremony. Living U.S. veterans, who served on active duty at any time between Nov. 1, 1955 and May 15, 1975, regardless of location, are eligible to receive a lapel pin.
While U.S. involvement in Vietnam goes back to the mid-1950s with military advisers, it was March 1965 when then-President Lyndon Johnson sent in the first conventional ground troops. U.S. combat forces were withdrawn in 1973 following the signing of the Paris Peace Accords and the war finally came to a close in 1975 when North Vietnamese forces entered the South Vietnamese capitol of Saigon.
Read the story on VTDigger here: VA Medical Center to Honor Vietnam War Veterans on Tuesday.
