At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial today in Washington, the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs marked the ninth commemoration of National Vietnam War Veterans Day.
The annual commemoration is held on March 29 to mark the day U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam was disestablished in 1975. That same day was when the last U.S. combat troops departed Vietnam.
During his first term in office, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017, which established National Vietnam War Veterans Day as a day of recognition in the United States.
"We're here to pay tribute to the 58,281 names who are engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial behind me and also to solemnly honor their families," said retired Army Maj. Gen. Edward J. Chrystal, who leads the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration. "We [also] pay tribute to the some 1,500 service members and families of those service members who are still unaccounted for.
"Finally, we're here today to salute our Vietnam veterans, those still with us, those who have passed and also to their family members, some who are with us today," Chrystal said. "We thank and honor today all who served and sacrificed during the Vietnam War."
The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration, led by Chrystal, stood up in 2012 as a national commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The commemorative period officially ends this year, Nov. 11, 2025, on Veterans Day, to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. The commemoration was meant to recognize, thank and honor U.S. military veterans who served during the Vietnam War.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins recognized how America had initially failed its veterans when they returned home from Vietnam. He promised that would never happen again.
"You did not come home to a nation that was thankful, but the nation has been reminded of that error," Collins said. "As we look forward today, you taught us that we should never again let the politics of war interfere with our duty and our honor that we give to our veterans. We can do better, and we will not fail you again."
As part of the event, Chrystal, Collins and Fern Sumpter Winbush, the principal deputy director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, laid a wreath together at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. That wreath was dedicated to National Vietnam War Veterans Day. A second wreath was laid at the memorial in honor of warfighters, and a third to honor their families.
Wayne Reynolds, who serves as national treasurer of the Vietnam Veterans of America, said the recognition today of Vietnam veterans contrasts significantly with how things were when he returned home from the war.
"It's poignant to me because ... I served in Vietnam, 1968-1969, I was a medic," he said. "When I came back, you just erased all that. There was no recognition, and you didn't even acknowledge it."
At the event, Reynolds talked with Thomas Barrett, a retired Army officer who initially enlisted in 1982 but later went to officer candidate school to earn a commission.
Barrett never served in Vietnam, but his father was a Vietnam War veteran — one of those who never came home; Barrett is a Gold Star son.
The two men didn't meet in Washington, however. They met in Columbus, Georgia, when Barrett was a young man in high school, and Reynolds was a school teacher there following the war.
While the two interacted frequently as part of their involvement in the high school band, neither knew of the other's connection to the war — Barrett having lost his father and Reynolds being a veteran. Back then, Barrett and Reynolds agreed, nobody talked about the war.
"There was a lot of shame, a lot of shame around Vietnam," Barrett said.
Today, Reynolds said, that has changed, though it took years for Vietnam veterans to be open about their service.
"I'm 78 now. For us to be able to be public for what we've done," he said, is a welcome change.