ELEANOR HALL: As the US president brings the troops back from thecountry's longest running overseas conflict, he is issuing a pleatoday for Americans to be welcoming to veterans of the Afghanistanwar. At a Memorial Day speech in Washington today, president Obamadescribed the way Vietnam veterans were treated when they returnedhome as a national shame and a disgrace. From Washington, Brendan Trembath reports. BRENDAN TREMBATH: Coming home from Vietnam was hard on manyveterans.
There were no major welcome home parades in America, orAustralia for that matter. Vietnam veteran Richard Ryan lives in Waterford, Pennsylvania. RICHARD RYAN: It's been tough sometimes yeah. Yeah I went through acouple of marriages and drinking, you know, and other thingsconnected because when we came home we didn't get any kind of awelcome home, you know, it was kind of rough.
BRENDAN TREMBATH: His experience is a common one. The US president Barack Obama has tried to make up for it in aspeech to veterans and their families. BARACK OBAMA: At this time I would ask all our Vietnam veterans -those of you who can stand - to please stand, all those alreadystanding raise your hands as we say those simple words which alwaysgreet our troops when they come home from here on out - welcomehome! Welcome home! Welcome home! Thank you. We appreciate you.Welcome home. BRENDAN TREMBATH: He spoke at the Vietnam War Memorial.
BARACK OBAMA: You were often blamed for a war you didn't start whenyou should have been commended for serving your country withvalour. You're sometimes blamed for misdeeds of a few. (Clapping) When the honourable service of the many should have been praised,you came home and sometimes were denigrated when you should havebeen celebrated. It was a national shame, a disgrace that shouldhave never happened. BRENDAN TREMBATH: At the Vietnam War Memorial the names ofthousands of American men and women who died or went missing arecarved into giant slabs of dark stone.
BARACK OBAMA: We honour each of those names etched in stone -58,282 American patriots. We salute all who served with them and westand with the families who love them still. For years you've come here to be with them once more and in thesimple things you've left behind, your offerings, your mementos,your gifts, we get a glimpse of the lives they led. BRENDAN TREMBATH: Every day of the year mementos are left at thememorial wall.
BARACK OBAMA: The blanket that covered him as a baby, the baseballbat he swung as a boy, a wedding ring, a photo of the grandchild henever met. The boots he wore still caked in mud, the medals sheearned still shining. And of course some of the things left herehave special meaning known only to the veterans - a can of beer, apacket of M&Ms, a container of spam, an old field ration -still good, still awful. BRENDAN TREMBATH: For Vietnam veterans and their families it was aspecial speech in a special place. This is Brendan Trembath in Washington for the World Today.
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