Viet Nam vets come together for Memorial Day
4:19 p.m. Monday, May 26, 2008
"A lot of us came back with guilt feelings, as to why we were chosen to come back and not our friends," said Gary Farris, retired Vietnam veteran.
Gary Farris came to Kansas from California to reunite the company he fought with in Vietnam.
"It brings back memories, it also makes me very proud. They talked about the heroes of Vietnam. The folks buried are definitely the heroes," said Farris.
The graves stones are a grim reminder of the sacrifices many men and women make every day for our country.
Governor Sellebius spoke at Monday's memorial in the post cemetery at Fort Riley.
"This is very real. Each of those grave stones is a person who left behind a family, friends, children, parents, who know what it means to bear the ultimate cost of sacrfice," said Governor Sebellius.
Gary says coming together for Memorial Day means so much.
"None of us had been together or seen one another since Viet Nam. Two years ago in 2006 was our first reunion, so we came back to honor our fallen soldiers," said Farris.
Even though he hasn't seen many of his friends he fought with in years, "It's like we've never been apart. We were finishing sentences that we started forty years ago and it was just incredible," said Farris.
Fort Riley has lost 150 soldiers since the war began in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)