(The Center Square) – Illinois legislators from both sides of the aisle came together to recall the sacrifice and suffering associated with the Vietnam War.
A Vietnam War refugee now serving at the Statehouse joined military veteran lawmakers to mark 50 years since the war ended.
State Rep. Hoan Huynh, D-Chicago, said the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, was a day of heartbreak and upheaval for his family and many others.
“For the South Vietnamese people, it meant the end of a dream for freedom in their native land. For Americans and South Vietnamese veterans, it meant the conclusion of a conflict that has taken so many lives and left so many wounds. And yet, from that sorrow, a powerful story of resilience and hope began,” Huynh said.
State Sen. Mark Walker, D-Arlington Heights, is a Vietnam War veteran. Walker said his mother did not understand why he left college and volunteered to fight.
“When I came home from Vietnam, she asked me, ‘Why did you do that?’ And I said, it just popped into my brain and out of my mouth, ‘I fought for the Bill of Rights,’” Walker recalled.
State Rep. Dan Swanson, R-Alpha, said he was welcomed home at the Quad City airport after serving in Iraq from 2007 to 2008.
“But when our Vietnam veterans came home, they had no such greeting. They were spit on, called baby killers and were treated horribly, as if they were the enemy,” Swanson said.
State Rep. Wayne Rosenthal, R-Morrisonville, served in the Illinois Air National Guard from 1971 to 2001. He said he was in training in the early 1970s and said the crews he flew with were Vietnam flyers and aviators.
“That’s who I learned to fly from and fly with,” Rosenthal said.
Huynh closed his remarks an an optimistic note.
“Let us never forget that even from the most painful chapters of history, a new story can arise: one of hope, of healing and of enduring strength,” Huynh said.
