Vietnam War era veterans honored with commemorative pins

CORVALLIS — The weight of a small lapel pin can carry decades of unspoken gratitude.

A group of 10 Vietnam War-era veterans gathered at Suburban Christian Church Tuesday morning in southwest Corvallis to receive special commemorative pins honoring their service. Among them were three Philomath residents whose stories reflect both the sacrifice of that generation and the complicated homecoming many faced.

The ceremony, organized by Corvallis resident Wayne King in partnership with the Vietnam War 50th Anniversary Commemoration Committee, represented a long-overdue acknowledgment for many who served during one of America’s most divisive conflicts.

“A lot of veterans that served during the Vietnam era felt unappreciated, some even treated worse than that when they returned particularly in uniform,” said King, a Navy veteran who also served during that period. “After volunteering at the Coffee Bunker in Tulsa (Oklahoma) for eight years, I met a lot of veterans who served during that period of time who still had some hard feelings about the fact that they just didn’t feel like the country recognized their sacrifice and service regardless of where they were stationed.”

The Coffee Bunker is a nonprofit veteran service organization.

The lapel pin recognition program, launched in 2012 by the U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration Commission, ends this year. The program is for veterans who served on active duty during the period of Nov. 1, 1955 and May 15, 1975 regardless of location around the world.

At a recent ceremony at the Oregon Veterans’ Home in Lebanon, 93 qualified to receive pins and about 60 participated, King said.

For Terry Osborne, 81, the recognition carries particular meaning. The Philomath resident joined the U.S. Army in 1967 and spent a year in Vietnam with a medical unit stationed alongside a combat engineer battalion.

“It was a unique experience and what was so unique about it was when we came home from Vietnam, they flew us into the state of Washington and they deplaned us right onto a bus and took us to Fort Lewis,” Osborne recalled. “They gave us a new uniform, fed us, put us on another bus and took us to the airport. There was no fanfare, there was no thank yous. It was just very routine and you start to wonder ‘what’s going on here?'”

The engineers Osborne worked alongside constructed airstrips and roads — work that attracted enemy attention. But what stayed with him most was the dedication of the medical staff.

“I met a lot of good people and worked with some wonderful doctors,” he said. “They were fantastic and they worked on anybody. It didn’t matter if they were the enemy or our own combatants. They just went way over the line to take care of our people and even the enemy’s people. That was an experience.”

John Rankin, 74, served with the U.S. Air Force from 1970-74, stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California where he learned pavement maintenance. Those skills launched a career spanning over 35 years in road maintenance for Benton County.

But the technical training came with a cost. Rankin shared uncomfortable memories from his service years, including being refused restaurant service and facing harsh treatment from war protesters.

Don Cruise, 80, was drafted into the Army in 1967 and sent to Vietnam’s medical corps, where he spent a year at a clearing station about 40 miles from Saigon. His descriptions of daily life captured the surreal nature of war in a country still functioning amid conflict.

“I often describe it as if that war was going on here in the valley, you might see them bombing Lewisburg and the plane swooping in and dropping bombs but Corvallis would be going on about its business as if the war wasn’t really going on,” Cruise said. “So you could sit and watch them drop bombs on a village maybe five, 10 miles away, but we just went through our lives.”

Cruise survived a close call when a mortar shell dropped on his bunker but failed to explode. “From then on, the doctors all said, ‘Cruise, you’re going with us because you’re living this charmed life,'” he recalled.

Asked about the significance of receiving the pin, Cruise offered a broader perspective on conflict and division.

“I hate to say this but I feel there’s no honor in war, there’s no glory in war,” he said. “Because all you’ve done is have a disagreement with somebody and the only way you’ve been able to resolve it is to kill each other. I have to say that’s what’s going on today. If somebody disagrees with you, rather than respecting everybody’s opinion and valuing all of us working together and finding common ground, there’s too much division. And that’s what war is — it’s dividing against each other.”

Three other veterans who expressed interest in receiving a pin were unable to make it to the ceremony.

The event featured participation from four Lebanon High School U.S. Army Junior ROTC cadets, who presented colors and gave each veteran a special medallion. Philomath High seniors Lucy and Maggie King sang the national anthem.