GRAYSONVILLE, Md.,
Oct. 3,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Former United States Senator Jim Webb, President of the non-profit Lost
Soldiers Foundation, announced today that on October 26th it will hold a ceremony
in Westminster, California,
marking the 5th anniversary of the Foundation's "nearly
impossible" feat of bringing the remains of 81 South Vietnamese
soldiers who were killed during the war to be honorably buried and
remembered in America.
"They were men without a country, without a government sponsor
on any side to assist their cause," said Webb, who fought as a
Marine rifle platoon and company commander in Vietnam.
"The American C-123 aircraft in which they were flying in
December, 1965 crashed in the mountains and could not be reached
until 1974, just before North
Vietnam's final offensive. Their intermingled bones
were sent to Thailand and then to
Hawaii, where they were kept on a
shelf in a government building for 33 years. Hanoi refused to accept their remains since
they had fought against the communist takeover. The American
government was paralyzed by policies that did not allow the burial
of foreign soldiers unless they had family members in the United
States. But our view was different. They were our
fellow soldiers fighting on the same battlefield. It took two years
of intense negotiations with the State Department and the
Department of Defense, but finally we brought them to America,
where they could be remembered in a well-deserved place of
rest."
The hour-long ceremony will take place at 10 O'clock in
Westminster's Freedom Park,
preceded by an hour-long musical as guests take their seats.
It will be followed by a visit and further ceremonies at the
gravesite of the 81 ARVN soldiers in the Westminster Cemetery, the
largest resting place of Vietnamese-Americans in the country.
The Lost Soldiers Foundation will be joined by numerous war
veterans of the South Vietnamese military, some of whom will
participate in ceremonial activities. A contingent of active
duty United States Marines will provide a color guard, a
traditional firing squad to honor the fallen soldiers, and a bugler
to play "Taps" after a wreath-laying at the end of the
ceremony.
The main speakers at the ceremony will include former Senator
and Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb,
Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, Chairman of
Coalition of The Republic of Vietnam Veterans Associations in
Southern California, and keynote
speaker Lieutenant General George W. Smith,
Jr., who served for 38 years as a Marine infantry and
reconnaissance officer and recently retired as commanding general
of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Camp Pendleton. His late father, Major General
George W. Smith, served with distinction as a Marine infantry
battalion commander in Vietnam.
All visitors and members of the press are invited to attend.
Contact with the Lost Soldiers Foundation can be made to
Jeff McFadden at
lostsoldiers@lostsoldiersfoundation.com
Phone: 410-490-1163
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content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lost-soldiers-foundation-to-hold-ceremony-for-81-south-vietnamese-soldiers-who-perished-in-vietnam-and-spent-54-years-as-men-without-a-country-302266394.html
SOURCE Lost Soldiers Foundation