For three days last week, the government sought to make up for decades of neglect with a series of events on the National Mall meant as a symbolic “homecoming” for Vietnam veterans.
The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration, set up by President Barack Obama in 2012 and authorized by Congress, billed the belated recognition as a “Welcome Home Celebration,” although the term “celebration” can seem utterly out of place in reference to a long and divisive conflict that took the lives of more than 58,000 Americans and triggered widespread anti-war protests.
Navy Cmdr. Brian Wierzbicki, a Pentagon spokesman for the commemoration, said the intent of describing the events as a celebration was to mark the contributions of those who served in Vietnam on the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of the last U.S. combat troops in March 1973.
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“We are using ‘celebration’ in the context of giving Vietnam Veterans the ‘welcome home’ celebration they deserved, yet never received” from official Washington, Wierzbicki said.
“It’s not a celebration of war, it’s a celebration of veterans’ service,” said Steve Maxner, director of the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University.
“It’s about celebrating service; that’s what the whole commemoration is about,” Maxner said, but some of the veterans at the events said that the organizers…
