50 Years Later, Dunedin Gives Vietnam Vets Long-Overdue 'Welcome Home'

DUNEDIN, FL — Following a grueling campaign in Southeast Asia, the last U.S. troops stationed in Vietnam returned home on March 29, 1973. But, instead of receiving the ticker-tape parades and welcome-home celebrations that military members received at the end of previous wars, Vietnam service members were reviled for taking part in the unpopular Vietnam War.

"It was a really bad time," said 98-year-old O’Neil Ducharme, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He began his service following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942 and received his final discharge from the Marines in 1985.

"The troops coming home could not really wear a uniform," said Ducharme, who was dressed for the occasion in his U.S. Marine Corps dress uniform. "There was turmoil and they were spit upon. But we were called to do service, and we did the best we could to the best of our abilities."

Fifty years later, communities throughout the country, including Dunedin, are giving Vietnam veterans long-overdue gratitude for having served their country.

On Wednesday, a day now known as National Vietnam War Veterans Day, to honor the sacrifice of Vietnam veterans, Empath Health and the city of Dunedin hosted a belated welcome-home and thank-you event for the community's Vietnam veterans at John R. Lawrence Pioneer Park.

More than 200 people attended the event, including more than 60 Vietnam veterans, who, during a tear-filled moment, were asked to stand while the community formally welcomed them home.

"It meant a lot," Ducharme said. "I had to sit down for a while. It was too moving for me."

The event included patriotic music, speakers, military displays, the presentation of colors by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Honor Guard, the national anthem by Katie Ducharme, an invocation by the Rev. Bob Swick, who served in the Marine during the Vietnam War, and a proclamation by Dunedin City Commission Vice Mayor John Tornga, also a U.S. Marine during the Vietnam War.

The keynote speaker was retired U.S. Air Force Col. Jerry Custin, who served in Vietnam.

U.S. Army Vietnam veteran Mal Clingan, commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Dunedin Chapter JFK 1963, presented all the veterans with a commemorative Vietnam War lapel pin.

Additionally, Kim Allison, a Gold Star mother and president of the VFW Post 2550 Auxiliary, read the names of Dunedin’s fallen soldiers from Vietnam War.

All these years later, Ducharme, who comes from a family of military service members, said he doesn't regret serving his country. In fact, he continues to serve as a member of Honor Flight of West Central Florida, which provides free trips for veterans to Washington, D.C., to visit the war memorials.

"Our chapter has organized 46 honor flights with 3,500 passengers, and we have four more planned this year," he said. "I remain semper fidelis — always faithful."