Dozens of Vietnam War veterans were honored Friday at a ceremony attended by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rear Admiral Richard Meyer in San Francisco.
During the event, which was hosted by the San Francisco Fleet Week Association and the Port of San Francisco, Meyer presented the veterans with commemorative lapel pins to honor their service in the war.
Pelosi shared words of appreciation and gratitude to the men and women who served during the turbulent war.
The American-Vietnamese War, which stretched from 1955 to 1975 and is known as the Vietnam War, was one of America’s most controversial periods. By the end of the war, there were 58,281 dead (47,434 from combat), and 303,644 wounded (including 150,341 not requiring hospital care). Two major catalysts of U.S. involvement in the war were the French losing and leaving Vietnam after the battle of Dien Bien Phu, and the controversy which would be named the Gulf of Tonkin incident. On Aug. 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox was fired upon by three North Vietnamese Navy PT boats while performing a signals intelligence patrol. On Aug. 3, 1964, the destroyer USS Turner Joy, claimed that they were fired upon also, but later reports proved that they weren’t. After the incident, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson sent in the Marines. From there, the war escalated.
Editor’s note: Advocate staffer Leon Watkins participated in this event, receiving the pin on behalf of his veteran father and uncle.