Yorktown Commemorates Vietnam Veterans
March 31, 2023 – Yorktown officials commemorated the 50th anniversary of the departure of the last American soldiers from South Vietnam with a resolution.
On Tuesday, the Town Board voted to proclaim March 29 National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The observance marks the end of the presence of U.S. combat forces in South Vietnam on March 29, 1973.
“They were the most forgotten veterans, probably on the face of the Earth,” Supervisor Tom Diana said to representatives of local veterans’ groups who attended the Town Board meeting. “These fine men and women who served this country came back here with no notoriety, no fanfare, no applause, no tickertape parade. Some came back and didn’t have any place to go. They were left with a nickel and a dime in their pocket and that was about it.”
The Vietnam War was one of the longest wars involving the United States, stretching from 1955 to 1975. About nine million Americans served in the conflict. The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975, with the fall of the South Vietnamese capital Saigon.
According to Wisevoter.com, New York has 234,646 Vietnam veterans, the sixth largest number of Vietnam veterans in the United States.
Photo caption: Members of the Yorktown Town Board joined with local veterans at the March 28 Town Board meeting to commemorate National Vietnam War Veterans Day. Photo courtesy of the Town of Yorktown.
