Vietnam veterans from LI honored — 50 years later
Vietnam veteran Alfred Bosco, right, receives his medal of honor from U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice and State Sen. Jack Martins during the Vietnam 50th Anniversary Commemorative Medal Ceremony at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, Saturday, March 5, 2016. Thirty-nine Vietnam vets were honored on at this ceremony. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
For Hugh Reyes, the emotional release was a very long time coming.
As he stood outside the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Saturday, clutching a black handkerchief, the tears wouldn’t stop coming.
“It feels good,” he said. “I feel really good.”
Reyes, 72, of Uniondale, was among 39 Vietnam veterans honored for their service — a recognition by all accounts that was decades overdue.
The ceremony, marking the more than 50 years that have passed since the war began, was organized by the Long Island Air Force Association and held in the sun-streaked atrium of the Garden City museum. Scores of the veterans’ family members and friends attended, many dabbing away tears of their own.
“The veterans gathered here today came home . . . and were often scorned for their service to their country,” retired Air National Guard Col. Bill Stratemeier told the audience.
Republican state Sen. Jack Martins of Old Westbury presented medals to the veterans with Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) and Col. Thomas Owens, commander of the 106th Rescue Wing of the Air National Guard in Westhampton Beach.
A color guard marches into position during the Vietnam 50th Anniversary Commemorative Medal Ceremony at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City on Saturday March 5, 2016. Thirty-nine Vietnam War veterans were honored. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams Jr.
“We as a country missed an opportunity 50 years ago, and here we are 50 years later taking the opportunity to say, ‘Thank you, God bless you,’ and to welcome you home with open arms and recognize the sacrifices you made and the sacrifices your families made,” Martins said. “It’s long overdue.”
Reyes, who served in Vietnam and earned the Combat Infantry Badge, said thoughts of fellow Army soldiers who died in the jungles and the anti-war resentment he encountered back in America still haunt him.
“I’m honored to have fought for my country and to come home alive and with all my limbs,” Reyes said after the ceremony. “I’m blessed.”
“I was hurt, the way we were treated when we came home,” he said. “My unit, the first four months I was in Vietnam, 80 percent of my company got wiped out.”
“My wounds are up here,” he added, pointing to his head.
Alfred Bosco, 69, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, said he is still nursing emotional wounds.
But he likes how veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan today are hailed as heroes, and is grateful that the thank-yous for his generation’s service and sacrifice are finally being said.
“It took a long time, a lot of healing,” said Bosco, who lives in Oceanside. “Fifty years. It’s about time.”
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