Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans
“We never had a welcome home. This is it for us.” -Ray Saldana, Vietnam War veteran
In Spring 2015, I visited Winchester, Indiana for their Welcome Home Parade for Vietnam Veterans. As the smiling veterans marched through the quaint streets and waved to the crowd, I saw an elderly man with a walker. The man, who wore a Vietnam Veteran hat, stood and saluted every veteran who walked by. At the end of the parade, I went over and met Ray and his proud wife Kathryn. I told him I admired how he stood for every veteran who walked by and he expressed the sentiment that I’ve heard often from Vietnam Vets; “We never had a welcome home. This is it for us.”
As a squad leader with the 3rd division Marines, Ray was injured 4 times but kept fighting. He was captured near the Cambodian border and was thrown into a bamboo box, which was around three by three feet wide. Ray was routinely urinated on while trapped in the box and tortured by his captors by getting his fingernails torn off. His meals came when he could catch a rat. One night, Ray finally saw an opportunity to escape and had to kill his guard. 40 years later, Ray still felt bad about it but did it to live. The war affected him for years and still does, but it wasn’t until he met Virginia that he started to feel more like himself again. She stands by his side and you could really sense how much they loved each other.
By the end of his story, everyone was in tears and then I asked him what he took away from the Vietnam War. Ray replied “I’m proud to be an American.”
Heroes
That is so awesome of you. Great work.
To be classified as a hero was never my intentions To be noticed as a true American was all I expected and to give my life if need be so my fellow Vet’s and Americanss back home could live free were my intentions God Bless America