OZARK, Ala. (WDHN)—Of the nearly nine million Americans who served in the Vietnam War, less than 850 thousand are still “alive”.
In 2017, a presidential proclamation declared march 29th as Vietnam Commemoration Day.
A large ceremony took place in Ozark.

Due to COVID, the official dedication of the Vietnam wall in front of the Dale County government complex was delayed for more than a year. It contains the names of 50 U.S. service members from Houston, Dale, Coffee, and Geneva counties killed in the war. Their names read. More than 58-thousand Americans would die in Vietnam from 1955-to-1975.

Retired Army aviator Bob Cooper says “Vietnam war commemoratives all veterans who served in the U.S. Armed forces from November First, 1955 to May 1975 regardless of location and their families.”

Ozark Mayor Mark Blankenship and former Mayor Bob Bunting were accompanied by Ft. Rucker Lt. Col. Ryan Kelly in the wreath presentation.

Bunting says “You know all of us that went, we did what our country told us to do and we tried to do it to the best of our ability and I’m just thankful I got to come home.”
(nat. sound)
Mayor Blankenship says “but I came along in the late 70s and joined the guard and always had a special bond with the Vietnam-era soldiers.”

In April 1975 South Vietnam fell to Communist North Vietnam. Speaker after speaker said
the U.S. Military never lost a battle with the enemy, they blame the politicians of that era for losing the war.

And this date marks 50 years since the last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam on March 29th, 1973. This afternoon, a “Vietnam Veteran’s Day” ceremony took place at the “Wall of Freedom” at Johnny Henderson Park in Enterprise.