50 Years later: Vietnam veterans properly 'welcomed home' in Milwaukee

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Vietnam veterans from Wisconsin were properly "welcomed home" Wednesday, exactly five decades after they returned from the war.

Fifty years ago on March 29, the last of the U.S. troops and prisoners of war came home from Vietnam; though it wasn't actually until 1975 that the war, officially, came to an end.

"We went over to 'NAM as strangers but actually, we came back as brothers," said Barry Toepfer, who served as corporal in the Marine Corps from 1966-1968.

A proper "welcome home" procession took place Wednesday morning, followed by a “lived experience” panel discussion by Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans, and a wreath-laying ceremony for the fallen and all who have served at the Milwaukee War Memorial Center.

When they returned home, many veterans told CBS 58 they were not welcomed with open arms.

"We were shunned upon, spit upon, protesting and all that," recalled Toepfer.

Toepfer added that back then, they were too young to understand the political turmoil.

"We were all kids, I mean, 18, 19 years old, we just got out of high school," he said. "We, you know, did our duty like our fathers and our grandfathers did when they're called to serve your country, it's part of being an American."

On National Vietnam Veterans Day, veterans share stories and shed light on a different time: when going to war meant fulfilling their civic duty.

"People now don't realize that you did get drafted, you got a letter that said 'greetings you are hereby able, ordered to report..." explained Harry Keehn, who served in the U.S. Army as Sgt. in Infantry.

Over a thousand Wisconsin service members died in Vietnam.

"May of 1970, I was there about a month when my cousin Mike Bohrman was killed in action, he'd been there about six months," said Robert Bohrman, who served in the Marine Corps.

Even half a century later, the heroes standing tall, want their message to be loud and clear.

"We can still support our warriors regardless of how we feel politically about that conflict, so thank you for that," said Azael 'Ozzie' Brodhead, the director of the Veteran Resource Center.