NAMPA — A pinning ceremony hosted by Humana honored local Vietnam veterans who were thanked for their service and finally welcomed home.
Humana is a healtth and well being company that provides medical care to active duty military members in the western United States, they are part of an effort to salute and support Vietnam veterans.
They Vietnam War started on November 14, 1965 and nine million American heroes fought in the conflict, they never lost a major engagement in eight years of fighting in Vietnam, there are seven million Vietnam veterans alive today.
But these veterans were not greeted as heroes when they returned home from this controversial war, it was quite the opposite as many of them were spit on or had rocks thrown at them.
"That was a sad time," said Marv Hagedorn a Vietnam veteran who works with the Idaho Division of Veterans Services. "I'm proud of what I did and I know all of you are proud of what you did, we served our country and we served it with our chins up and our chests out."
Humana honored our local veterans at the Warhawk Museum in Nampa by hosting a pinning ceremony for these Vietnam veterans so they could finally receive some of the credit that they deserved so long ago.
"Fantastic, I mean fantastic, it was good for our families to be welcomed home and our fellow brothers and sisters being welcomed home," said John Wilch a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran.
"This was such a blessing between the speakers, the singers and the video, I started crying during the video it was so special," said Sue Hoffman a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran.
It was fun to see the smiles on these veterans faces because I know as a soldier in the U.S. Army I was treated in a different lens by the American public because of the injustices the Vietnam vets suffered.
To see more on this special celebration check out the video.
