Posted 10:55 pm Saturday, October 06, 2012
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Vietnam vets honored with weekend event
BY ADAM RUSSELL
arussell@tylerpaper.com
J.D. Collett and dozens of fellow Vietnam veterans received a standing ovation Friday night during a Country for Our Country event created to give Vietnam veterans the “welcome home” they did not receive after the war.
arussell@tylerpaper.com
J.D. Collett and dozens of fellow Vietnam veterans received a standing ovation Friday night during a Country for Our Country event created to give Vietnam veterans the “welcome home” they did not receive after the war.
Collett served three tours of duty as a Marine during the war from 1966 to 1969. He was “in the thick of things,” he said. He began the war as a fresh, tough 18-year-old country boy and came back a changed 21-year-old, he said.
San Francisco was not so welcoming for veterans in 1969. Marines were told not to wear their uniforms outside the base, he said. Soldiers were spit on and rejected for their role in an unpopular war, he said.
“It was a hostile atmosphere here at home,” he said.
Collett struggled with anxiety and depression from what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder until 2009 when he finally turned a corner and sought help. Now he is a certified peer specialist who counsels veterans struggling with decades-old mental and physical wounds and soldiers fresh from battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Events such as Country for Our Country are mending old wounds from an unwelcoming public after the Vietnam War, he said. Collett said it gives veterans a chance to bond and that the public is increasingly appreciative of their service and understanding that the appreciation is long overdue.
“Now we are being welcomed home,” he said. “It’s nearly 40 years late, but there is no such thing as too late.”
The Friday night event sold out, said Mary Pennington, who owns the Villa di Felicita facility with her husband, Paul Pennington.
Mrs. Pennington said there are some individual tickets remaining for the Saturday concert for $200.
For the past three years, the Penningtons have raised money through Country for Our Country to benefit soldiers returning from tours of duty and who have difficulty reintegrating into civilian life.
The past three events have raised more than $260,000 to purchase books, computers or to help soldiers finish their education. The Country for Our Country concert will feature Rodney Atkins, recipient of the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Male Vocalist of the year award in 2006. He has multiple awards and multiple No. 1 hits, including “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before The Devil Even Knows)” and “It’s America.”
Collett struggled with anxiety and depression from what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder until 2009 when he finally turned a corner and sought help. Now he is a certified peer specialist who counsels veterans struggling with decades-old mental and physical wounds and soldiers fresh from battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Events such as Country for Our Country are mending old wounds from an unwelcoming public after the Vietnam War, he said. Collett said it gives veterans a chance to bond and that the public is increasingly appreciative of their service and understanding that the appreciation is long overdue.
“Now we are being welcomed home,” he said. “It’s nearly 40 years late, but there is no such thing as too late.”
The Friday night event sold out, said Mary Pennington, who owns the Villa di Felicita facility with her husband, Paul Pennington.
Mrs. Pennington said there are some individual tickets remaining for the Saturday concert for $200.
For the past three years, the Penningtons have raised money through Country for Our Country to benefit soldiers returning from tours of duty and who have difficulty reintegrating into civilian life.
The past three events have raised more than $260,000 to purchase books, computers or to help soldiers finish their education. The Country for Our Country concert will feature Rodney Atkins, recipient of the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Male Vocalist of the year award in 2006. He has multiple awards and multiple No. 1 hits, including “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before The Devil Even Knows)” and “It’s America.”
Saturday’s concert also includes Derek Sholl and Heidi Newfield, as well as newcomers Wayland Hicks and The Backroad Travelers, Jaida Dreyer and Storme Warren. Tonight’s tribute to Vietnam veterans will feature food and drinks; the traveling Vietnam War Memorial wall; live music by Kayla Conn featuring Nick Verzosa and the Noble Union Band; and Miranda Lambert’s father, Rick Lambert.
Linda Rudd and Steve Hellmuth of Striping Technology sponsored Friday’s event.
The weekend’s event includes the American Veterans Traveling Tribute, a replica Vietnam War Memorial wall erected as part of the celebration welcoming Vietnam veterans home. Volunteers, many of them war veterans, helped assemble the traveling wall.
“When I saw these men putting up the wall and crying, I just can’t explain the feeling,” Mrs. Pennington said. “The best healing process for those veterans is for us to say ‘thank you.’”
Maj. Gen. Red Brown, of Lindale, said Vietnam veterans held the country together during a tumultuous time in the nation’s history. He said their experience was not forgotten and drives much of their service today as volunteers who welcome veterans home from ongoing wars.
“They remember what it was like for them when they came home and they work hard to make coming home a wonderful experience for soldiers today,” he said. “I know (Vietnam veterans) are appreciative, but their welcome home is long overdue.”
Linda Rudd and Steve Hellmuth of Striping Technology sponsored Friday’s event.
The weekend’s event includes the American Veterans Traveling Tribute, a replica Vietnam War Memorial wall erected as part of the celebration welcoming Vietnam veterans home. Volunteers, many of them war veterans, helped assemble the traveling wall.
“When I saw these men putting up the wall and crying, I just can’t explain the feeling,” Mrs. Pennington said. “The best healing process for those veterans is for us to say ‘thank you.’”
Maj. Gen. Red Brown, of Lindale, said Vietnam veterans held the country together during a tumultuous time in the nation’s history. He said their experience was not forgotten and drives much of their service today as volunteers who welcome veterans home from ongoing wars.
“They remember what it was like for them when they came home and they work hard to make coming home a wonderful experience for soldiers today,” he said. “I know (Vietnam veterans) are appreciative, but their welcome home is long overdue.”
