California welcomes vets home from ' Nam

By ANDREA WOLF/Times-Herald staff writer

Finally formally recognizing the service and sacrifice of California 's military men and women during the Vietnam War, the Legislature is saying "Welcome home."

Late in the 2008 session, legislators unanimously passed a resolution introduced by a retired Marine Corps colonel, Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, a Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient.

Cook said he wanted California 's approximately 200,000 living Vietnam vets - and the 5,822 Californians who lost their lives during the war - to finally receive the welcome home they deserve.

"Many Vietnam veterans are still struggling with the way they were treated when they returned to the United States ," Cook said. "This resolution goes a long way toward healing the wounds these veterans have carried for years in a country that has forgotten them."

David Lidell, a Vietnam vet and commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1123 in Vallejo, said this is the first formal recognition for their service, other than events put on by veterans groups.

"It only took them 40 years." said Lidell, who served with the Navy in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968. "There never really was anything for Vietnam veterans for a long time. The memories are starting to finally fade now."

Lidell, 60, said he did not personally experience any of the anger or mistreatment by war protesters that other soldiers came home to after leaving Vietnam .

"I didn't wear a uniform home. They allowed us to go home in civilian clothes after they got word about the public not treating people in uniform very well," Lidell said. "I didn't personally get spit on or called a baby killer, but it did happen to some guys."

But unlike veterans of other wars, who returned with their comrades to welcoming crowds and parades, Lidell said his homecoming was like "The Twilight Zone."

"We went in as individuals and came back as individuals, in other wars men went and came back as a unit or battalion," Lidell said.

"I went from being on a river boat (in Vietnam ) during an ambush to being back in ( Spokane ) Washington in the cold snow in 48 hours," Lidell said. "It was complete culture shock. There was no parade for me when I got home."

After returning from Vietnam , Lidell continued his service and stayed in the Navy for 22 years.

While the time he spent fighting is long behind him, the effect of the war has stayed with him, Lidell said.

"I wasn't diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) until about four or five years ago," Lidell said. "It's nothing drastic, like some of the guys have suffered, but it has affected me through all these years. I lost some friends and saw some terrible things."

Lidell said like many combat veterans, the horrors he experienced during the war has left him with a guilt syndrome, nightmares, and occasional bouts of melancholy or moodiness.

"This is California 's opportunity to remember and honor the service, efforts and sacrifices of our Vietnam veterans and pay homage to those veterans still living," Assemblyman Cook said.

The week honoring Vietnam vets coincides with the 20th anniversary of the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a monument depicting soldiers, nurses and POWs with the engraved names of all 5,822 of the dead and missing.

The memorial, which was built entirely through donations in 1988, is in Sacramento near the state capitol.

A parade and other events honoring the veterans are planned Dec. 10-14.

For more information about memorial events visit www.cavietnammemori al.com.

Paul J Bylin

Author of, The Other Casualty Of War