Vets Gaining Back Pride, Medals

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Still in his Army greens, William Tallerdy barely had both feet back on American soil when a man came up to him, demanding to know if he was returning from Vietnam. Then, right there in the airport, the heckler punched the veteran in the face.

Tallerdy exploded. The police and his relatives had to restrain him.

Soon after, he threw out his war ribbons. That was 1967.

"I was always proud of my military service," said Tallerdy, who is now 57 and lives in Cheyenne, Wyo. "It was just that people made me feel like scum."

Tallerdy wasn't alone. Many returning Vietnam veterans, faced with a hostile public, threw out their medals. Some, like former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, even did it in public as an act of protest. Others simply tossed them in drawers and foot lockers - if out of sight, perhaps out of mind.

Four decades and a nation friendlier to the military, though, have helped a number of veterans come to terms with their service. Now, they regard their medals with a renewed sense of pride - and are replacing them or dusting them off.

"We made peace with the former enemy," said Bob Kerrey, a former Nebraska senator who earned the Medal of Honor in Vietnam. "And we made peace with a former enemy that had defeated us, which is extremely hard to do."

Tallerdy requested his Purple Heart medal a few years ago. Today, the replacement is in a cabinet alongside eagle figurines, dog tags and other war memorabilia.

The Pentagon doesn't keep statistics on replacement medals, according to spokeswoman Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke. The anecdotal evidence from the veterans themselves, however, suggests the numbers are high.

While Tallerdy displays his Purple Heart in his living room, William Muns shows off his honors - among them the Good Conduct and Vietnam service medals - on the wall of his office in Beaver County, Pa., where he is the county's director of veterans affairs.

Muns had stashed his medals and his uniform inside a foot locker when he came home in January 1968. He wanted to move on. He never talked about the war, not even with his family.

Then, five years ago, his wife brought his medals out and created a shadow box for him.

"'You were there. You were exposed. You were put in harm's way,'" Muns recalled her telling him.

Many who served in Vietnam, Muns said, are in the process of "coming out" as the passage of time has changed feelings about that war.

"Today we're showing ourselves because we want those men that are active right now to know that they are welcome and they are being supported," Muns said.

Honored though he was, John Wallace packed up his medals because he just didn't want to relive that moment when he helped men out of a downed helicopter before a B-52 strike.

That changed in 1989 when Wallace began doing advocacy work for veterans.

"The doors started opening up in my mind," Wallace said. "I was feeling better, I was relating more to my brothers in arms than I was to the civilians."

Now, he's president of the Vietnam Veterans of America state council in Maine and keeps his medals, which include the Bronze Star and Air Medal, on the wall in his computer room.

"They see that and it sort of makes them feel better," Wallace said of younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. "They can ask about how I got them, I can explain to them how I got them. It makes them feel better because what I went through was maybe worse than what they went through."

Tallerdy traveled to Branson, Mo., last month for the first Operation Homecoming USA, a weeklong tribute to Vietnam veterans. The experience moved him profoundly.

"I think now," he said, "it's almost become prestigious to say that you're a Vietnam veteran."

HOMECOMING REPORT FROM WINGMAN

I just drove in from Branson, an 8 hour and 45 minute trip and I haven’t slept much for the last several days. So please forgive me for errors in punctuation and grammar but I thought it was important to give you a first hand account from a Veteran who was there. We arrived late in Branson Wednesday night due to the fact that my wife was not able to get out of work early from her night shift and the traffic was backed up from an accident on I-44 on the way to Branson. We arrived at the Comfort Suites and Inn on Gretna Rd. at approximately 7:00 p.m. and dropped off our luggage and immediately went to the Grand Place to see the Wall. When I arrived at the Grand Palace, I was immediately greeted with Welcome Home from my fellow veterans and handshakes and this continued no matter where I went in the Grand Palace Area. I don’t know why I keep doing that, going to the Wall. I have visited the Wall in D.C. two times and never have I been able to walk the full length without breaking down. After spending a couple of hours at the Grand Palace talking with the others vets I realized that we needed to eat something before we went to bed. As I was driving around, I remember that the Cracker Barrel stayed open late so we went there to eat. We arrived at 10 minutes tell ten and they told us we could take as long as we wanted. I didn’t want to take advantage of them so we ordered and ate very quickly. After we ate, I came out on the porch and there was a Marine standing there with long white hair. You know the kind that looks really tough that you wouldn’t want to mess with. I walked up to him and said “Brother, what happened to you, you are so old?” He first looked at me like I must have lost my mind and then I smiled and said we are all so old. He smiled back at me and said Welcome Home and then gave me a bear hug. That is the way it was all week, we were all totally accepting of each other and were happy that each one of us had made it home. We have been very busy for the last several days and the last few days have been amongst the most glorious, I have spent in my life. I was with my true family/my true brothers & sisters and we shared something I could never hope to express to anyone that is not a Vietnam Veteran. Even though the vast majority of the vets were made up of Army and Marines and even though I’m an Air Force Veteran I was accepted as one of them - it made no difference. I was amongst some true American Heroes that had won silver stars, bronze stars, air medals etc. There were even a few who had won the Congressional Medal of Honor, yet we were as one, regardless of our former rank or branch of service.

The problems as we had discussed in the past with the organization that was responsible for setting this all up continued, but regardless we enjoyed each others company through the griping and complaints about some of the greediness and disorganization we seen during the week especially at the finale on Saturday. Many of us are convinced that they were those whose primary purpose was too made a windfall of profit. Regardless of that, the people of Branson totally came through in everything that could be expected of a city that claims to love Veterans - They do, and they continually showed it the whole time we were there. It seemed there was not enough they could do for us to make us feel welcomed and show how much they appreciated us. The parade last Friday was ideal. I was in the first Duck, the one painted with the Operations Homecoming banner along with my wife. I had requested special permission to bring her along because she is a former VA Nurse and deeply loves and appreciates Veterans. I could not believe the large turnout of people from Branson that lined the parade route and the salutes and the joy expressed and the many people shouting Welcome Home. It was far above anything, I believe any of us ever expected. Every Vet I spoke to was so very appreciative of what Branson has done for them.


Please remember this night & every night, before you go to bed to pray for our current troops now serving. These are great people, fine young men and women with a great attitude. I went up to one of them at the finale concert Saturday and took off a V for Victory Pin that I had worn on my Veterans Hat and presented it to a young PFC. He was astonished that I would do that for him. I told him that I was giving this to him as it stood for Our Victory in the war on Terrorism. He said to me, Sir I will wear this when I'm deployed to Iraq and I told him we all would be praying for his safe return.