Salute to Rosebud County Veterans

​The United States involvement in the Vietnam war began in 1954, when the U.S. began providing support and funding for armaments and training to the South Vietnamese government and military. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy committed to the war by sending in U.S. troops to Vietnam to fight communism. After President Kennedy’s assignation, Lyndon B. Johnson became president and continued sending U.S. troops to Vietnam. During his first year in office, he sent over 23,000 troops. By the late 1960’s, the American public’s hostility to the war and the soldier returning home from war was dreadful The Vietnam war was the first war to have constant media attention. The media was showing alleged atrocities being committed by military personnel and the rampant drug use by some soldiers and the American public began to associate the horrors of war with the soldiers returning home. Soldiers were spit on, called baby killers and other disgusting names. The U.S. started withdrawing troops in 1974. The official end of the war was 1975. For many years, Vietnam veterans refused to talk about their time in service in large part to how they were treated by the American public. This past month, on Friday, March 29, Montana held a Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans ceremony. Although fifty years too late for many veterans, the ceremony was a start to healing the mental wounds of many Vietnam veterans. In Montana there are over 36,000 Montanans who served during the Vietnam War, 264 from Rosebud County. This week we salute all the Rosebud County Vietnam veterans. From one veteran to another, Thank you for your service.