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05/14/2019 12:00 AM“Local town ISO Vietnam veterans. I want to honor you and show you appreciation for the sacrifices you’ve made. Please get in touch so we can make it happen.”
This might be a pre-Internet personal ad run by the town of Old Saybrook as it continues its slow-going search for Vietnam veterans. It’s part of a statewide recognition effort spearheaded by the Lieutenant Governor’s Office in conjunction with the Connecticut State Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.).
The date for an Old Saybrook ceremony, to take place at the VFW, hasn’t yet been set because the effort to locate veterans is ongoing.
“When I was of secretary of state, our office honored World War II [WWII] and Korean [War] veterans,” said Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz in a phone conversation. “We traveled to almost every town in the state to honor WWII veterans and then we started on Korea. We are now partnering with the V.A. to honor Vietnam veterans and Korean veterans in some towns because there are some towns that haven’t yet done the Korean War veterans ceremony.”
The program came up in Bysiewicz’s discussion with Old Saybrook First Selectman Carl P. Fortuna, Jr., as part of the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s efforts to meet with every mayor and first selectman in the state. Old Saybrook has had past programs to honor veterans of WWII and the Korean War.
“One in every 10 people in the United States was serving in WWII and a lot of those...who served never thought they did anything that was special because almost every able-bodied person of their generation was serving,” Bysiewicz said.
“What we do in the ceremonies, we give people the opportunity to speak about their experiences,” she continued. “With our Vietnam veterans, those...soldiers were not welcomed home because there was so much anti-war sentiment.
“It was the first war that people saw on television and our Vietnam veterans were not treated well when they came home,” she said. “This is another opportunity for us to say thank you to those who served in that conflict. It’s one small way to rectify the terrible reception that they received when they came back.
“I think now our citizens very much appreciate service—they may not agree with a particular war, but they appreciate military service,” Bysiewicz said.
Fortuna and Bob Bailey of the Old Saybrook VFW have been doing their best to track down those who served in Vietnam. Many, but not all, veterans apply for tax assessment reductions; of those who do, not all are Vietnam veterans.
“We were chasing our tails” at first, said Fortuna. “It’s not that easy. I only have so many ways to reach out.”
A notice was placed in this newspaper and Bailey said he believes the number of veterans they’ve located has risen to 10. He has a list of several people to contact and is hoping for more to come forward.
Once the list is complete, it will passed along to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office.
“We will present a citation and the commissioner’s office of the V.A. has wartime service medals that they will be presenting,” said Bysiewicz. Family members, she said, will be invited.
Vietnam veterans and their families are encouraged to contact the First Selectman’s Office at 860-395-3123.