 These proud Vietnam veterans from the Central Flint Hills region and around the country finally received the homecoming welcome they deserve November 6th at Marshall Army Airfield on Fort Riley. The post held a special ceremony as part of the nationwide 50th anniversary commemoration of the Vietnam War. Fifty years ago, our nation did not express gratitude to these veterans in words or deeds. Our community, both military and civilian, has come out today. We are here today to show their gratitude for your service to our nation that somebody did not understand the sacrifices that you made. America's ground war in Vietnam began in March of 1965. By war's end, more than 10 years later, nearly 3 million Americans had deployed and more than 58,000 lost their lives. The official Vietnam War 50th anniversary commemoration is being observed this year Related welcome home ceremonies are being held to give these veterans the honor and respect most did not receive upon their return from Vietnam all those years ago. They really, they really didn't like us. They really didn't like us. They didn't spit or anything, but you knew you were, it was like they knew we killed babies. And of course we didn't. We avoided it obviously. But it was a very uncomfortable and unpleasant feeling and there was nobody there at all to say welcome home. Not a soul, not my local VFW, not my town, not my church, not my friends, but it was a feeling of emptiness. For 40 years, 40 years it's been one trauma situation after another, one anger management situation after another and not knowing why. When I came home from Vietnam, I left out of Cameron Bay and flew to Yokota, Japan. And within 24 hours, you know, I was at Fort Lewis dressed in dress screens and had a plane ticket to go home, flew to Kansas City, Missouri. And my family was there to greet me and there were a lot of other people there to greet us that were not so happy to see us. It was ugly. It was not fun. And it was real rude. No, we didn't know that back home that there was so much chaos and so much animosity and so many hard feelings and so much anti-military. I mean, I was drafted in 69. I was one of those guys that, you know, didn't really have a choice, but I did what my country asked me to do. And I can see it today. I can remember it easily. And it was like, what? Are you kidding me? Why? What did I do wrong? For some of these men and women, the scars from that experience have not healed. In ceremonies like this being held in communities across the country, Vietnam vets are finally receiving the simple thank you they did not hear when they first came home. And Americans at Fort Riley and everywhere else are getting the chance to show their gratitude to these vets for their service, valor and sacrifice. We show by our deeds today and we deeply appreciate your service. And we want to make sure that you get the homecoming that you deserved. When I heard this event was going to occur, I figured this is the cap. This is the final, I'm home. And it feels that way. It does. Just coming on post felt that way. For me, when I saw that they were going to do it, it was a good, easy decision. I said, yep, I'm going. I want to see some people maybe that I haven't seen for a long time, meet some people that I've never met before. And the recognition of our service and what we did, even though it's taking a long time, is okay. And I believe that, you know, the way the Vietnam veterans generation was treated, nationally and in an ugly way, if we're the only generation of veterans that's ever treated that way, put it on our shoulders, we can take it, it's okay, it's over, it's done. And I'm very, very happy that they treat all of the younger veterans, generations behind us, with the way that they do now. That's good. To the veterans of Vietnam, a grateful nation says, welcome home. It was a long time coming. Reporting from Fort Riley, I'm Scott Rowe.