VIETNAM VETERANS walked from their ride on the Honor Train through a large crowd who showed up to provide a long overdue «welcome home» from their service in the Vietnam War. Versailles resident and Army veteran Lee Stormbringer, in a blue shirt and baseball cap, leads the way. (Photo by Scott White)
BRENDA JACKSON, a lifelong Woodford Countian, attended the Honor Train event on March 29 to honor her late husband, Lee Jackson, who served as a medic in the Army during the Vietnam War era. Brenda wore his dog tags during the event. Lee Jackson went on to have a successful career at Lexmark. (Photo by Scott White)
THE HONOR TRAIN pulled into the station at the Bluegrass Railroad Museum on March 29 with precious cargo aboard, 62 Vietnam War veterans. (Photo by Scott White)
By Scott White
Woodford Sun Staff
“This is just amazing, it makes me feel like my service wasn’t wasted,” said Ron Chesser, a Versailles resident, who served as a mine sweeper aboard a Navy vessel during the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1967.
Chesser’s sense of both pride and humility was mirrored in the faces and voices of nearly 65 Vietnam veterans who rode the Honor Train this past Sunday at the Bluegrass Railroad Museum. The event, sponsored by Military Missions and Jack Kain Ford, was intended to provide a heroes’ welcome home to as many area Vietnam veterans as possible to make up for the horrible, scarring return they encountered as young men and women returning home from serving their country.
“This is unreal, like a dream, just the fellowship . . .” said Robert Webb, of Georgetown, with lots of family and friends in Woodford County and who seemed to know and hug everybody, as his voice trailed off with emotion. “We came home through the back door. This is great.” Webb served four tours from May 10, 1970, until June 23, 1972, in the Navy as a firefighter, or a “stripie,” aboard a destroyer patrolling Vietnam’s coastal waters
And it was a great experience, indeed.
Fred Doster, a Vietnam veteran living in Lexington who came up with the idea for the event and then worked with Military Missions to make it happen, arranged for a remarkable program. The train departed the museum at 1:45 p.m. and returned to the hero’s welcome at 3:30 p.m. During the ride, three veterans shared their experiences both in Vietnam and how their lives had been since. The veterans broke into smaller groups, enjoying the fellowship of being amongst men and women who had shared the same experiences.
In the interim, a crowd of nearly 300 heard from speakers Versailles Mayor Laura Dake, Glenn Walker, with the museum, and Pastor Steve Fisher of Clays Mill Baptist Church in Lexington. The honor choir of Commonwealth Baptist College sang a selection of patriotic songs, and the honor guard was composed of the Sons of the American Revolution’s Fife and Drum Corps.
The well-known veterans motorcycle club “Rolling Thunder,” which supports veterans and veteran activities, showed up in force.
“We were requested by Military Missions to come and support these men and women. We are very thankful for the opportunity. We hold our Vietnam War veterans close, they are near and dear to our hearts,” said Todd Matonich, club president and a veteran of Desert Storm.
Dake recounted her experience as a child seeing the POW/MIA bracelets worn by so many people, before eloquently segueing, “Behind each name (on the bracelet) was a life interrupted, a family’s hope and heartbreak and a nation deeply indebted to their valor, courage, and sacrifice . . . what the country didn’t see then, we see now, all of them were and are deserving of our respect for their bravery, their leadership and their extraordinary resilience. On behalf of Versailles and Woodford County, welcome home.”
As the train arrived back at the station, the crowd erupted in cheers, horns honked and an enormous American flag flew from the extended ladder on the Versailles Fire Department’s fire engine. Before debarking, Doster told the veterans, “Today is March 29, National Vietnam War Veterans Day as well as Palm Sunday. My fellow veterans, as we get ready to get a welcome home that is now 50 years overdue, let’s be silent as we depart, as we remember all who went before us, our brothers and sisters who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our collective freedom.”
The veterans, many accompanied by family members and friends, a few using wheelchairs and walkers, walked from the platform and down the sidewalk, which was lined shoulder-to-shoulder and two-deep of grateful folks applauding, high-fiving, hugging and crying.
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Leslie “Les” Beavers, who served as an advisor to the Vietnamese Army between 1967 and 1968 in the Phong Phu district and who later served as Kentucky’s first commissioner of Military Affairs, was beaming ear-to-ear, holding his wife’s hand, soaking in the moment.
“When we came back, it was very confusing; we didn’t know much about all the protests and attacks on soldiers coming home,” he said. “We were told when we got back to go to the PX, get some civilian clothes before we left for home, because many would scream terrible things at us. This . . . this (waving his arm to encompass the scene) means a lot.”