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NATCHEZ—On Thursday, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson honored the veterans from our area who served in Vietnam on the steps of City Hall, offering them the thanks of a grateful community.

“It began in the 1950s at a time when we were so worried about communism. I do believe that some well-meaning individuals felt that by going there, we could avoid the spread of something evil,” Gibson said. “I guess life is always a matter of retrospect, and we have the benefit of looking back.”

“So many served and so many at the time after World War II were spurred on by patriotism and the desire to serve our country. They went on to do the American thing, the right thing, to stand up for freedom. Their motives were pure,” Gibson said.

He said 2.7 million American young people served in Vietnam, many of them going to a place they had never heard of. Gibson said 58,220 died there and 300,000 were injured.

He described taking a late-night walk with his then-teenage son to the Vietnam Memorial in 2012.

“I can’t tell you the emotions that overcame us as we passed the names of those who are memorialized on that wall. That monument is very poetic. It’s not something grand. It’s a very strange gash on the edge of the mall in our nation’s capital. It represents the darkness that this country experienced during that time.

“This is a country that has made mistakes. We were in Vietnam far too long. Unlike those who came back from World War II and Korea to a hero’s welcome, those who came back from Vietnam came back to something entirely different.”

Gibson said it was a time that “changed our country forever. It was a time during the 1960s when in the wake of political turmoil, assassinations, changes in leadership all over the world and the evils of Watergate, we became a country that no longer trusted its leadership. Those who served in Vietnam are the ones who are forgotten.

Gibson honored several Vietnam-era veterans with special medals as a token of the community’s appreciation.

Several joined him on the steps of City Hall. However, Gibson acknowledged the many in our community who served in Vietnam but did not attend the event.

“We know you are in our community and you are in our hearts,” Gibson said.

Capt. Jack Kerwin, Owen Hornstein, John Smith, Samuel Minor, Doug McCallister, Albert Jones, and Tommy Norris were among those who were presented with medals.

Gibson said Kerwin “is about to turn 99 and is one of only two surviving World War II veterans in our midst.” Kerwin also served in Korea and Vietnam, retiring from the U.S. Army after 25 years.

Each Vietnam veteran was allowed to speak.

“I went to Vietnam in 1968 and came back in 1969. When I was there, they killed Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. I didn’t understand what was going on here. I was 20 years old and thought when I came back, I would be a hero. But they told me to get out of the uniform because of the way America has changed. They didn’t like anyone in uniform,” Jones said. “I think God I was OK when I got back. So many came back as alcoholics, drug addicts or had PTSD. They were suffering. Thank God I made it back and I am safe and thank God for this country.”