In the News

MOUNT VERNON — It’s been 50 years, but some of the men and women who served during the Vietnam War have yet to be thanked for their service.

“Coming home and welcomed home are two different things,” said Francisco Ivarra, president of the Washington State Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America. “All of us who are here came home; many of us were not welcomed home.”

In ceremonies throughout the country Thursday, including in Skagit County, many Vietnam veterans got their recognition.

“You weren’t welcomed back the way you should have been welcomed back,” said state Sen. Keith Wagoner, a Navy veteran. “But our country learned and things were much easier for me because of that.”

At a ceremony at Skagit Valley College, 55 Vietnam War veterans from all branches of the military were honored with lapel pins as part of the nationwide Vietnam War Commemoration project, hosted in Skagit County by U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene.

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