GRAFTON, W.Va. (AP) - Don Barney had several friends who served in Vietnam but never returned home. One of them was Buddy Powell of Farmington.
“We grew up together, went to school together, hung out together,” said Barney, a resident of Simpson. “He was killed shortly after I got out of the service.”
Barney, who also served in the U.S. Army but was stationed in Alaska, took part in a Vietnam War Commemoration ceremony at Grafton National Cemetery on March 29 to honor not only his late friend, but also the many other brave men and women who served during the 1960s and ’70s.
“I honor him very proudly because he stood up for his country,” Barney said of Powell. “He was one of us that went to serve our country and didn’t hold back. When they called us, we went.”
Barney, who visits Powell’s grave a few times each year, was joined by about two dozen other Taylor County Honor Guard members, wartime veterans and dignitaries during the commemoration ceremony.
Honor Guard members Randy Jennings and Butch Pickens presented a wreath during the ceremony and participated in a gun salute.
Jennings and Pickens each spent two years in Vietnam.
“We do military services about daily,” Jennings, who was a helicopter gunner in the war, said of the Honor Guard. “I personally have in excess of 1,050 over eight years.”
Pickens, a retired Navy chief petty officer who also served in San Diego and Norfolk, Virgina, before retiring in 1994, knew several men from Grafton who served in Vietnam. He also heard of some who did not return home safely.
“It was an honor,” Pickens said. “The ’thank you’ for the Vietnam vets returning home has been forever. We came back to people spitting on us and throwing things down on ships as we crossed under bridges. We weren’t very much appreciated.
“We were just doing the job we were sent to do.”
Pickens said the best way for people to honor veterans is through patriotic acts, such as involvement in services honoring veterans or in school events.
The Pickens family has at least a four-generation history of military service. Pickens’s father, John, served 30 years in the Air Force; son, James, served 27 years in the Marine Corps; and grandson, Christopher, is in his third year in the Marine Corps, currently serving as a crew chief on helicopters in the Persian Gulf.
Wednesday’s ceremony was part of the nation’s 50th anniversary commemoration of the Vietnam War that, by presidential proclamation, began on Memorial Day 2012 and will conclude on Veterans Day 2025
Grafton Mayor Peggy Barney issued a proclamation for the occasion.
“We observe the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and reflect with the solemn reverence upon the valor of a generation that served with honor,” Barney said. “We pay tribute to more than 3 million men and women who left their families to serve bravely a world away from everything they knew and every one they loved.
“Through more than a decade of combat over air, land and sea, these proud Americans upheld the highest traditions of our Armed Forces. They endure not only in medals and memories, but in the hearts of all Americans who are forever grateful for their service and sacrifice.
“Let us renew our sacred commitment to those who answered our country’s call in Vietnam and those who awaited their safe return.”
Cemetery Director Keith Barnes said there are more than 2,300 soldiers who served between the Civil War and the Vietnam War buried in Grafton National Cemetery. Others are buried in Pruntytown National Cemetery four miles away.
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Information from: The Exponent Telegram, https://www.theet.com
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