{"id":85788,"date":"2017-03-30T06:37:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T11:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=85788"},"modified":"2017-03-31T07:50:20","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T12:50:20","slug":"85788","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2017\/03\/30\/85788\/","title":{"rendered":"Service Commission honors Vietnam vets"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

The Van Wert County Veterans Service Commission held the first of a series of planned veteran recognition dinners Wednesday evening at American Legion Post 178 in Van Wert, with the first event honoring local Vietnam veterans.<\/p>\n

\"Vietnam
Vietnam veteran Donald Dempsey receives mementoes of the war from Van Wert County Veterans Commission members during a dinner held Wednesday evening at American Legion Post 178.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dinner, held in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, as well as Vietnam Veterans Month, honored veterans of the various service branches who served during the war, which officially ran from November 1, 1955, until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. The war\u00a0resulted in the death of 58,220 Americans, while 1,626 are still listed as missing in action.<\/p>\n

County Veterans Service Commission President Bill Marshall, himself a Vietnam veteran, said the dinner is the first in a series of several dinners to honor Vietnam veterans, while other dinners are planned in the future to recognize other local veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have 2,200 or so veterans in this county, so we\u2019re not going to stop with just the Vietnam veterans; we\u2019re starting with them first, then we\u2019ll go along the line and honor the remaining veterans from the various wars, before and after,\u201d Marshall noted.<\/p>\n

While many honors have been heaped on World War II veterans, who have\u00a0been called \u201cThe Greatest Generation,\u201d veterans of other wars have not fared as well, with Vietnam veterans especially ill-treated by fellow Americans during that controversial conflict.<\/p>\n

Marshall said Vietnam veterans still\u00a0served honorably.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came back holding our heads high, even facing the scorn of some of our countrymen, but we knew we had done the best of our ability,\u201d Marshall said, adding: \u201cTime has healed most of those wounds and respect has now been given to the men and women who served. It truly is a welcome home to the \u2018Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veterans attending the dinner were also given\u00a0a number of mementos provided by the County Veterans Service Commission, including lapel pins, a button commemorating the 50th anniversary of the war, and a patch that can be worn on a jacket or shirt.<\/p>\n

\"Vietnam<\/a>
Vietnam War veterans pose as a group following a dinner honoring them Wednesday at American Legion Post 178 in Van Wert.<\/strong> Martin Burchfield for the<\/em>\u00a0Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vietnam veterans attending included the following, by branch of service:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • U.S. Army — Max Case Jr., Donald Dempsey, Thomas Dunno, Mike Dunno, James Francis, John Good, Keith Harman, James Henry, Larry Herrick, Gary Hertel, Mike Hughes, Larry Kiracofe, Robert Klausing, Denny Krugh, Jim Lindeman, Lloyd Marvin, Steve Mendenhall, Kenneth Minnich, Jerry Miracle, David Mosier, Gary Profit, David Routt, Lawrence Schoonover, Kenneth Siders, James Sheets, John Stemen, Larry Stutz, Teddy Tumbleson, and Lanny Ward.<\/li>\n
  • U.S. Navy — John Grothouse, Robert Hogan, Gary Kesler, and David Shook.<\/li>\n
  • U.S. Marines — Michael Gaskill, Harold Hodgson, and Randall Shell.<\/li>\n
  • U.S. Air Force — Danny Dunlap, Bill Marshall, Jerry Reigle, and Richard Shobe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    During the dinner, the names were also read of those county residents who died in Vietnam. They\u00a0include Stephan E. Bebout, U.S. Army, who died August 18, 1969; William E. Carter, U.S. Army, who died September 16, 1969; Courtney J. Cosgrove, U.S. Army, who died June 29, 1969; Larry E. Evans, U.S. Army, who died March 8, 1969; David G. Fell, U.S. Navy, who died November 1, 1970; Carey A. Fosnaugh, U.S. Army, who died January 23, 1970; William J. Miller, U.S. Army, who died August 21, 1967; Paul G. Parsons, U.S. Army, who died March 4, 1966; Jackie R. Poling, U.S. Army, who died July 22, 1968; Paul E. Ream, U.S. Army, who died March 22, 1967; and Stephen Jay W. Smith, U.S. Army, who died June 21, 1970.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor The Van Wert County Veterans Service Commission held the first of a series of planned veteran recognition dinners Wednesday evening at American Legion Post 178 in Van Wert, with the first event honoring local Vietnam veterans. The dinner, held in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, as well as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 13:22:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}