News : Music, parade and ceremony declare: Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans

Boys Scouts from Pack 47 joined veterans during the parade Wednesday evening.

The color guard leads the way during the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Parade.

Vietnam vets posed for a photo along with other veterans after the parade.

World War II and Korea veterans also posed for a photo.

Veterans salute during the ceremony.

A large crowd gathered at the courthouse to honor Vietnam veterans.

Iowa Legion Commander Jerry Sebben and Legion member Monte Railsback salute the flags.

This Vietnam vet's hat tells his story in medals and pins.

Monte Railsback speaks during the ceremony, as MC Ron Geiger listens.

The raising of the U.S. and MIA/POW flag

Veterans of the Gulf wars were also honored.

The Honor Guard lines up as the ceremony begins.

Parade participants rode in a variety of vehicles.

Ron Geiger salutes Iowa Legion Commander Jerry Sebben.

Vietnam veterans ride together in the parade.

Welcome Home, Vietnam Veterans: Parade honors those who served.

Several citizens also joined the parade to thank veterans.

     The chimes from the Wesley United Methodist Church tower played patriotic music as hundreds of people gathered long the streets and at the courthouse to honor the area's Vietnam veterans.

    On March 30, 1973, the U.S. formally ended its participation in the Vietnam War under the treaty of Paris (although the last U.S. soldier was killed there in May of 1975). To give the Vietnam veterans a long-overdue thank you and welcome home, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution declaring March 30 to be "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day."

    Veterans organizations, the local Boy Scouts and many others spent Wednesday evening in downtown Vinton, where a parade and a courthouse lawn ceremony honored those who served in Vietnam.

     Vietnam veterans rode together in the parade, followed by fire trucks and others, including area students who carried a banner honoring veterans. The parade ended near the courthouse, where several speakers spoke briefly about Vietnam, and the Americans who served and died there.

     Speakes urged the audience to remember those veterans who died in Vietnam, as well as the 100,000 Vietnam veterans who have committed suicide and the 150,000 who are still homeless. Vinton Mayor John Watson read the proclamation that calls on America to honor all of its veterans, and to help them readjust to civilian life when they return home from war. Speakers included Iowa Legion Commander Jerry Sebben, Iowa AMVETS Denny Miller and Monte Railsback, a Shellsburg Legion member who served two tours of duty in Vietnam.

    At the end of the ceremony, Tom Pingenot led the audience in an impromptu chant of "Welcome Home."