Vietnam War 50th anniversary has few events set

If you look at the dates on the Vietnam Memorial Wall, it starts with 1959 and ends 1975.

Tribute to Vietnam veterans sputtering
50th anniversary has few events set

WASHINGTON - They returned home to a politically traumatized nation that treated them with indifference and scorn.

Now, veterans’ advocates fear the country will again miss an opportunity to recognize the toil and torment of the 3 million service members sent to fight the Vietnam War. The Pentagon’s plans to celebrate the veterans - five years in the making - are sputtering.

This Memorial Day is supposed to be the curtain-raiser for a series of gatherings to mark the 50th anniversary of the beginning of US involvement in the decade-plus war and to honor those who served. Yet few events are planned and crucial corporate sponsorship is nonexistent. Most veterans have not even heard about the effort.

“It has to be some issue of leadership and motivation,’’ Phillip Jennings, a veteran Marine Corps captain who served in Southwest Asia and has written several books about the war, said of what he considers to be a flagging effort. “There is no real direction. There is no champion of it at the Pentagon or the White House.’’

Pentagon officials acknowledge the criticism but insist the commemoration events will, in the end, be numerous, appropriate, and timely. They point out that the events will be scheduled to coincide with key moments in the war 50 years after they occurred, giving them time to plan.

“I’m optimistic we will get it right,’’ retired Army Lieutenant General Claude “Mick’’ Kicklighter, who was appointed to oversee the effort last July, told Vietnam Magazine last month. “I believe that the country wants to do this right and will do it right.’’
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