Veterans group observes milestone
VVA commemorates 25 years, renewing plea for recognition
Toolbox
By Gordon Dritschilo Herald Staff - Published: April 18, 2005
With their war 30 years in the past, a small group of Vermonters were asked to keep in mind a new generation whose war has not yet ended.
As Chapter 1 of the Vietnam Veterans of America celebrated their 25th anniversary at The Palms Saturday night, a number of speakers extolled those present to keep the people currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan in their thoughts, and to make sure they do not face the same struggles Vietnam veterans did upon returning home.
About 60 people turned out for the event, including Rutland Mayor John Cassarino and Vermont Gov. James Douglas.
Conversations at the tables drifted from people's jobs and their children, eventually to where they trained, where and when they served, people they knew, things they saw and heard about. There were few, if any, stories of personal heroism, just sober remembrances of the things seen decades ago, half a world away.
Chapter president Adrian Megrath of Rutland Town kept his own remarks brief, and spent much of the evening reading communications from others, including VVA founder Bobby Muller.
When Muller first created VVA in the late 1970s, it was a nebulous, loosely organized group. He said he was initially opposed to the formation of local chapters, but in hindsight he is glad the Vermonters won him over.
"It should be remembered that the traditional veterans organizations, the House and Senate veterans affairs committees and the VA itself were unsympathetic to our situation," he wrote.
Muller went on to observe that with a new set of veterans returning home from a new war, many of the same issues were cropping up again.
"We all learned that the benefits and services that we needed and deserved were only realized as a result of fighting for them," he said. "We also learned that the local network of support was critical in the actual delivery of those programs."
Muller closed by saying he hoped the anniversary would mark a renewal of the group's energy and commitment to Veterans issues.
Megrath recognized Olive Pettis of Castleton, whose son Steven Pettis was killed in Vietnam. He urged every veteran in the room to give Pettis a hug.
"She's earned it," he said.
The gathering also paid tribute to Lt. Col. Mark Truhan. One of the founding members of the chapter, Truhan is on active duty with the Army reserve in Iraq. His mission is training officers of the Iraqi army in American military doctrine.
In a series of e-mails read to the gathering, Truhan sent greetings from Iraq. He said he wished he could have been in the company of his fellow members that night.
"Instead, I find myself with another bunch of great guys, albeit much younger guys, who are still wearing helmets and carrying M-16s to work like we used to," he wrote. "They look at me like I'm a dinosaur escaped from a museum display … I ask them if they're toilet trained yet."
Truhan said he saw little difference between the young men he is serving with in Iraq and the young men he once served with in Vietnam.
"Like us, they represent what is best about our country," he said. "They still think senior officers suck pond water and their favorite word starts with an 'f.' And like us, they feel boredom and fear, joy and loneliness, and yet share that unique comradeship that can only be forged between soldiers under fire together."
The keynote speaker was VVA national president Thomas Corey, who was left a paraplegic from wounds suffered during the war.
"Whoever thought something would have started out of Rutland?" he asked the crowd. "A lot of good things have come out of Rutland. A lot of people per capita are serving from this town, this state. I see a lot of flags flying from here to Burlington. People here are proud of their people who are serving."
Corey said he hopes that pride will translate into a will to preserve veterans benefits currently under attack on Washington.
"We're $4 billion short of what is needed to take care of those in the system today and those serving today," he said.
Corey also blasted the administration for recent remarks he said showed a gross insensitivity to veterans.
"When we have an undersecretary of the Department of Defense make the statement that we're taking up money that should be spent fighting the war, that is shameful," he said. "It's unconscionable for him to say something like that. There still hasn't been an apology from him or from the administration."
Corey said he hoped everyone in the room would urge their representatives to fully fund veterans programs.
"Those that served should be taken care of," he said. "We did what we were asked to do when we were asked to serve. Leave no veteran behind. Don't keep asking us to come and beg for money. We know there's money. We don't want to take away from anything else. We just want what's right."
Contact Gordon Dritschilo at gordon.dritschilo@rutlandherald.com.
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