A sea of American flags fluttered across 38,000 graves on the green grass of Punchbowl cemetery Monday as the nation’s war dead were remembered and an overdue debt of gratitude was paid to Vietnam veterans decades after the contentious Southeast Asian war was fought and debated back home.
A big turnout of nearly 3,000 people was on hand for the ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as Punchbowl, that consolidated the mayor and governor’s Memorial Day ceremonies as the capstone event of a week of Vietnam War remembrances.
With some exceptions, Vietnam veterans did not get the homecoming they deserved, and the ceremony was intended to be a belated “welcome home.”
“Our servicemen and women served with pride and honor,” Vietnam veteran Allen Hoe, a member of the 50th-anniversary organizing committee, told those in attendance. “In many cases their return home simply consisted of walking through the front door — no parades, no handshakes, no thank-yous for your service. However, today will be our opportunity to welcome our Vietnam and Vietnam-era veterans.”
Retired Army four-star Gen. David Bramlett, the keynote speaker, said National Archives records indicate 58,220 Americans died in the war. Of those, 276 were from Hawaii.
Bramlett, who also served in Vietnam, noted the concerts, banquet, parade and seminars over the past week with the theme of “Thank you” for the veterans.
“But we’re here today to remember the folks that will never be welcomed home,” Bramlett said. “They will never come home — except in our memories, in our hearts and the time we take to remember them.”
A total of 3.4 million American service members deployed to Southeast Asia between 1964 and 1975, many stopping in Hawaii either going to or coming from the war. As did other speakers, Bramlett mentioned fallen service members by name.
Among those was Honolulu-born Staff Sgt. Roberts Machado, who at 18 years in the Army was within two years of retirement, “and there he was, doing his job,” Bramlett said. Machado was killed in action on Nov. 19, 1966, helping one of his soldiers.
“He’s right over there, Section H, Site 512,” Bramlett said, gesturing. “Sgt. Machado is always in my memory, particularly on this day each year.”
Bramlett also brought up the evolution over the past 20 years or so in the nation’s view of the Vietnam War — not “about the fierce debate about why and for what purpose, but rather about those who did their duty, and particularly those who gave their life in doing so.”
In earlier days “our nation confused the war with the warrior,” Bramlett said. “But over time the nation has come to understand. There’s been a lot of reflection on that in remarks today — this renewed appreciation of those veterans of the Vietnam era.”
Among those who had a change of heart since those turbulent times is Mayor Kirk Caldwell. Caldwell noted the war ended in 1975 — the year he graduated from college.
“All of us who are boomers grew up with the beginning, the middle and the end of the war. They called it the 10,000-day war,” he said.
The conflict spanned Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the civil rights movement, the assassination of the Kennedy brothers and King, the race riots and burning of inner cities, the Summer of Love, Woodstock, the moon landing, the Kent State killings and the Vietnam War protest movement, which millions of college kids joined, Caldwell said.
“I was one of them,” Caldwell said. “The Vietnam War divided our country in ways not seen since the Civil War, and there were kids on both sides, those who served and died, and those who protested. And I have to say as one of the kids on the other side, I wish I would have said ‘Thank you’ to those vets when I was younger. But today, 50 years later, is about many thanks to the vets who served and those who did give their last full measure of devotion.”
The ceremony included the laying of more than 50 wreaths, a “missing man” F-22 Raptor fighter flyover, a Marine Corps 21-cannon salute and taps.
Brian Fagan, a 76-year-old retired Marine who served in Vietnam in 1965-66 and 1969-70, said he was not criticized for being in the war when he came home. But he knows others who were.
“I think having been to a lot of these events during the week here, I find that a lot of the veterans really appreciate this welcome — because they never got anything but abuse when they came home,” he said.
Because of the number of attendees expected, Punchbowl was closed to most car traffic. Army Maj. Paul Watkins, wife Lori and their two boys, ages 4 and 7, made a half-mike trek to the commemoration after parking downhill from the cemetery.
“We wanted to bring our children here because both of us (have served). My wife is former active duty, and I’m current active duty. We wanted to just inculcate in our children as young as possible the importance of commemorating a day like this, which is honoring our fallen in defense of this nation,” Watkins said.
