Transcripts For CSPAN3 Veterans Day Ceremony At The Vietnam

National captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Im the president and ceo of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and ill be your master of ceremonies for today. It is my pleasure to be the first to welcome you to the annual veterans day ceremony at the wall. Before we begin the formal program, i would like to recognize all of the gold star family members we have with us here today. The mothers, father, wives, siblings, spouses, nieces, nephews, and the sons and daughters in touch. All those who have experienced experienced the loss of a loved one and know all too well the sacrifices that our military families make. And finally, to those still waiting for the return of their loved ones who are listed as missing. Thank you for joining us. [ applause ] id like to take a moment to thank the wall volunteers. Theyre the folks you see in the Yellow Jackets in the yellow hats. And the staff of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund for all they do year round to honor veterans and preserve the memorial. They truly put everything they have into making the experience of every single visitor at the wall as meaningful as it can be. [ applause ] and my last thank you today goes to our 35th Anniversary Commemoration sponsors, pbs, edie and fred ross, land of the free foundation. Pen fed credit union. The slater foundation. Usaa and wells fargo. Thank you for helping to make todays ceremony and all that we have done this year to mark the 35th anniversary of the wall possible. [ applause ] before we begin our program today, well pause to recognize our p. O. W. S and m. I. A. S. I call your attention to the chair which occupies a place of dignity and honor on our stage. Let us always remember and never forget their sacrifices. And now id like to start with an invocation. Please welcome our chaplain, major luis a. Garayua iii who will lead us in the invocation. Would you please join me in prayer. Heavenly father, as we celebrate the 35th anniversary of this wall let us remember all those who served and those that are not here today. We commemorate those names that are on the wall and lord, we pray for those that are here today that still carry the scars from service in vietnam. We ask that in your precious and mighty name. Amen. And now i would like to introduce the joint Armed Forces Color Guard from the military district of washington for our presentation of colors. Color guard, please present the colors. If you would stand, please. To zynga and national anthem, the to sing the national anthem, please welcome Master Sergeant kevin veneer from the United States marine band. O say, can you see by the dawns early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming . Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight oer the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming . And the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh, say, does that starspangled banner yet wave oer the land of the free and the home of the brave . [ applause ] please remain standing while we are led in the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. My name is Lieutenant General chuck petey, and mark milley and our chief of staff of the army, i may add my father and fatherinlaw who are both Vietnam Veterans, i thank you for being here and for the privilege of leading you in our pledge of allegiance. If youd please place your hand over your heart and join me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america. And to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god. Indivisible. With liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. Please be seated. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund hosts a ceremony each year in partnership with the National Park service. At this time, id like to welcome the secretary of the interior as our partner in todays ceremony. Secretary ryan zinke is a former navy s. E. A. L. He certainly understands the importance of remembering the sacrifices of those who serve in military service and we are extremely pleased to have him join us for a few days ago to read names listed on the wall. Welcome, secretary zinke. [ applause ] well, happy veterans day. You know, all of us have a different experience about vietnam. My experience was growing up in a little town called white fish, montana. And every veterans day a parade would go by. My grandfather owned a chevrolet dealership. Used to bring me to the curb and give me a flag. I remember the veterans marching by. From the time the veterans would march by the year and the war they fought. I remember the dough boys. They had their weapons shouldered. And they marched, brilliantly. Followed by the world war ii veterans. At the time there was a lot of world war ii veterans. You recall the world war ii veterans growing up in my lifetime were always the ones the Civic Leaders in charge of the lions club, the kiwanis club and they were the pillars of our community. In the korean war, my step father was a marine. Semper fi. He fought in the korean war and they marched. Then i remember as a child looking at the Vietnam Veterans. Up front, you always marched a little differently. A war was a different war. The monument behind us is a different monument than all of the other monuments in this great mall. If you can compare the monument to the world war ii monument the glory, the size and the majestic of the monument, compared to the monument behind us, it lies low on the horizon. When i was a congressman, on the 50th anniversary of the war one of my greatest honors would be to give pins to the veterans that served in the vietnam war. And the experience of the vietnam war was different than mine. The war in vietnam came to me. I remember watching it with Walter Cronkite with me every night. I remember my parents with me watching the war. When you came home, it was a different experience than what i experienced. The number of veterans that served that war always talk about coming into either San Francisco, taking off the uniforms, throwing them in trash cans. Thats a different experience than what i experienced. When i came home, it was adulation. Thanks, support your troops, bands. A lot of the reason why i received what i did in my generation is because you did not. I think as a nation we should be ashamed. At how we viewed your service. Your dedication. The monument behind me i think is not a tribute to victory or defeat. Its a tribute to remembrance. We should never run away from the history of our country. We should learn. When i served in the s. E. A. L. Team for 23 years, in 1995 most of my instructors were s. E. A. L. S that had served in vietnam. They cut their teeth in the jungles and the rivers and i learned a lot. From those fine warriors. I have learned a lot from you. Those that have fought. I have learned commitment, dedication, sacrifice. And i thank you. To tell a quick story while i say semper fi to every marine i see. As i fought with general mattis in fallujah, i can tell you i sleep better at night knowing general mattis has the military. [ applause ] and i have to tell you, you know god loves us because general kellys in the white house. But when i was in fallujah, i was on the front lines. I was the Deputy Commander of special forces in iraq and we were looking at what was going on in fallujah. And general conway, later became the commandant of the marine corps and general mattis who was the First Division marine commander, i showed him what we were doing, where the safe houses were, where the snipers were. You know, kind of laying out the battle and that went along and this young sergeant next to me bear in mind, im the commander. This young sergeant grabs me by my collar and nearly throws me down. When i get up and shake myself off and im red in the face and i go right up to him, and he goes, sir, theyre shooting at you. And for you Marines Semper fi, thank you. So lastly i want to express how grateful i am to be your secretary and how grateful our nation is for you magnificent Vietnam Veterans. And for those family members today, share in the understanding that we are a better nation for your service. With that, god bless. [ applause ] thank you, secretary zinke. Now please welcome Diane Carlson evans a vietnam war veteran nurse and a founder of the vietnam foundation. Thank you. We are grateful to be here for the 35th anniversary because it means were all survivors. We a here, were together. And exactly one year from today well celebrate another anniversary, the 25th anniversary of the dedication of the vietnam womens memorial. Which stands behind you and designed by glenna goodacre. One of the women who this memorial will share her story as an army nurse in vietnam. We are very proud of kate oharepalmer. She was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1967 from seal beech, california, at the ripe old age of 21. She served as an operating room nurse and emergency room nurse at the ripe old age of 21. At the second Surgical Hospital in laicai in 1968 and 1969. Kate came home like most of us just wanting to get on with her life, have a family and continue with her nursing career. There were bumps in the road. However, her commitment to her fellow veterans has always been there. Kates career in nursing has spanned 30 years. Her story can be found in the book officer nurse woman. Upon returning home she completed her bs degree in nutrition at uc berkeley. She has held the Vietnam Veterans of america chair for the past five years. She has worked with legislators and Community Members at the state and national level, fighting for veterans rights and benefits. Kate never gave up in her fight to care for veterans. She continues to sit on the sfva Medical Center Womens Health committee and works with various education committees at the high school and College Levels to enhance the knowledge of Women Veterans. Please give kate ohare a warm welcome. [ applause ] thank you, diane, for that wonderful introduction. Its am thank you, diane, for that wonderful introduction. Its amazing to me i have been coming here for years, sitting out there with you all. And now im up here to tell my story. And i wanted to say that this is a special anniversary, the 35th. I was here for the 25th for the parade. This is amazing. Last month i opened up a Fortune Cookie and it said, you will be traveling and coming into a fortune. Well, i traveled across from california to here and heres my fortune, my brothers and sisters. Welcome home. I want to share just a short bit about my time as an army nurse in vietnam, my transition home and the current needs of Women Veterans. Who have served in the military. My military service truly began in my home because both my parents were in the Army Air Corps during world war ii. And my mother scrambled eggs in the morning and was teaching us morse code. Dit dit dit, dada dada. I could have used that sos a few times in vietnam. My older brother tom was an in country veteran in 1965 and 66. I saw his pictures come home, he was in a hospital there. And i wanted to help. I was a nursing student. It was that simple. Upon graduation i raised my right hand with three of my friends and we took the oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies. I believe this. I am a constitutionalist. The war was permeating all our lives and i didnt know how much then my heart, my mind, and my soul would be tested. I went to vietnam in june of 68 the day after Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Within two hours of hitting chulai i was in the hospital operating room scrubbed in. After three weeks i began to wonder how i was going to make it. Working between the emergency and operating rooms, i saw injuries and carnage that no one could be prepared for. Even though i trained at a 5,000 bed l. A. County general hospital. I was grateful for the training i received in the army before i went over, and it helped me with my first tracheostomy to save a life. The team work of all the medics, nurses and doctors that i was able to work with was hard to beat and will be forever remembered. We were a team. We supported the first cav in icorps in 68. Some of us were either dating, engaged or married to men who were also serving in the military. So not only were we caring for those in our hospital, we were worrying would we see our guy come in on a litter . The 312 Evacuation Hospital came up to chulai and second surge was sent down to 3 corps to laicai and we changed our mission to support big red one. I know theres a lot of you here. In the spring of 69, the Long Range Reconnaissance patrol brought to our hospital american soldiers who had been held as p. O. W. S in cambodia. They were severely mutilated, some of their genitals cut off and they were barely alive. One of them asked me to let him die. He didnt want to go home like that. I just hugged him. My duties were never ending. My hands continued to work but my compassion was being drained. My soul was tearing and no one that wants no one that is in a war ever wants war to continue. The robot kate took over those last few months in country. It was too much. Coming home to air force base and bussed into oakland depot, we had protesters throw rotten vegetables on us. We were not prepared for that. I was buffered somewhat in the early 70s by being at ft. Stewart, georgia, with my husband, and i worked at a local hospital while the south vietnamese soldiers were being trained. However, the war followed me home. An unexpected thing happened to me. I started having dreams, bad dreams, blood dreams. Covered in blood because i was an operating room nurse. They started intruding into my daytime life and i called them my day mares. After being in vietnam and being so strong, i felt so weak and scared and i didnt know what to do. It broke up my marriage because i didnt want to tell my husband after being so strong that i was so scared and weak. So those memories were relegated to a subconscious and i returned to San Francisco and finished college. One night while i was working at the v. A. San francisco a patient came out of his room and up to me and he said, you were my mask angel. I recognize your blue eyes and your voice and i will never forget when you said to me, you are safe now. You will go home. It was stunning to me to meet somebody that was alive. We cry for all these names. We cry for all of these men and women that died. But to meet somebody that made it back was the beginning of our healing. The dedication in 1993 of the womens memorial was an ecstatic day for us. We women were back together and acknowledged. The effort, energy and support to get this project completed were herculean and on that veterans day dedication we were greeted by our brothers. Many had their military records and were looking for their nurses, clerks, women they worked with in intelligence or aircraft maintenance. They were looking for the American Red Cross workers who had flown into their lz. These thank yous and hugs that we got and continue to get every time we come here are so warm and so amazing to us. Dianes message and circle of healing was truly begun. The spiritual component of our healing was weaving through us and it was only the beginning of a long road home for many of us. Im grateful to the vets center because they really helped me. They gave us back our pride and honor in our service when we were feeling less than whole. During our vietnam war era 2 of the military were women because there was a cap on how many could serve. Now theres almost 15 women that serve. Over 250,000 served during the vietnam war era, but much more now. What i wanted to mention because theres still many areas that need advancement. And we continue to help with that. Women experience toxic exposure related to cancers and ptsd like our fellow soldiers. The Vietnam Veterans of america and other major veteran Service Organizations have worked tirelessly to help get that toxic exposure and research act passed last year. But thats only the beginning. You need to keep on everyone so that we get the benefits and the care that we deserve after toxic exposure. Its for our children and our grandchildren now. Timely care is needed at the v. A. Health care. Obstetrics and gynecological care should be standard in all v. A. Hospitals. Its a goal but hasnt been met yet and infertility in both women and men that serve in country or serve in other areas today that have toxic exposure is something that we need more work on. V. A. Benefits meet inclusion of comparable claims for Women Veterans. Suicide and homeless rates for Women Veterans are really on the rise and we need to look at that and help. Military sexual trauma care is a sore point. In 2014, we had a bill passed that was supposed to help take care of that. Its not enough. And we need to say no more ever again. The forever gi bill that just passed will be greatly used by our veterans that have been delayed entry back to school for either family, Mental Health or medical reasons. The majority of us veterans, all of us, we have gon