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Wednesday, April 6,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 7A
Community remembers Vietnam veterans’ sacrifices
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
Reading from a heart
felt script, Don Brown
reminded an audience of
veterans, their loved ones
and other community
members that “it’s up to
us not to forget those who
gave some and those who
gave all.”
The Vietnam Veterans
of America Chapter 970
held a ceremony to com
memorate National
Vietnam War Veterans
Day on March 29 at
Dawson County’s
Veterans Memorial Park.
Just a few years ago, at
the end of 2017, then-
U.S. President Donald
Trump signed a law that
made an official national
holiday to honor Vietnam
veterans on March 29.
That date marks the last
day of combat troops in
the southeast Asian coun
try in 1973.
Chapter 970 president
Bill Martin, a U.S. Army
veteran, helped set the
tone for the event by
recalling how the
Vietnam War, unlike
America’s previous major
conflicts, did not receive
a positive reception in the
United States.
However, he said that
circumstances generally
allowed service members
from all five branches to
form “a brotherhood that
can never be replaced.”
“They’ve got our backs,
and we’ve got theirs,”
Martin said of those from
the other branches.
Don Brown, also an
Army veteran, elaborated
on Martin’s sentiments by
reading the former’s
words. Brown mentioned
that returning Vietnam
veterans were often disre
spected or even regarded
as villains.
“When they came
home there was no wel
come, only protests
against participation in
the war. Our own fellow
veterans from World War
II and Korea threw us
under the bus. Many
didn't want us as mem
bers of their veterans
organizations.”
The words “welcome
home” were not heard
outside of families, nor
was the phrase “thank
you” from strangers.
“Today is to honor us in
the way [we] should have
been honored then,”
Brown said.
He explained that some
people in the country
have wondered why vet
erans from the Vietnam
era complain, and in
doing so, they miss the
point.
“It’s not what other
folks think but it’s about
us...[it’s about] remem
bering and not forgetting
until the last of us is
gone.”
Matt Pesce, the group’s
chaplain and veteran of
the army’s 101st airborne
division, delivered the
keynote speech during the
ceremony.
As he spoke in front of
the memorial park’s mon
ument of a helmet-and-
rifle statue, he
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Julia Fechter Dawson County News
Army veteran and Chapter 970 Public Affairs Officer Don Brown rings a bell to remember each of the county's Vietnam veterans
who have since died.
recalled his battalion
would hold monthly ser
vices for the fallen sol
diers, often setting up a
helmet on top of a rifle to
honor them.
A chaplain would pray,
and the battalion com
mander would slowly
read the names of dead
soldiers. One could tell
what platoon the fallen
were from by where the
crying came from in the
assembly, Pesce said.
After such a service, it
wasn’t uncommon for
him and others to load
onto a chopper for their
next assault, with “blood
in their eyes.”
He also shared a poem
about his experience as a
soldier during that time.
Before enlisting, he and
others viewed the 1960s
as a time of change.
Racism was being chal
lenged, and women were
likewise challenging the
status quo.
“Nobody knew much
about war,” Pesce said. “I
wrote the first check to
my country at 18 years
old, for an amount that no
one could estimate-up to
and including my life.”
After training, he
wished goodbye to his
family members, who had
mixed reactions about his
participation in the con
flict. In return for his ser
vice, the government
promised Pesce $78 a
month. But, like with
many other service mem
bers, the conflict was
often more than what he
bargained for.
During military
encounters, he had to
navigate being parched,
drenched in sweat or eat
ing with one hand and
holding his rifle with the
other. He described nar
rowly fleeing jets drop
ping incendiary napalm
and the “incredible level
of insanity” behind “los
ing half of our men and
walking away” like “they
continued the Navy’s tra
dition of ringing a bell
for passed Vietnam ser
vice members after their
names were read.
Those late members
include:
• Randall Densmore,
Army
• T.G. Gunny Moore,
Marines
• Alan C. Wade, Air
Force
• Sherman “Tank”
Heaton, Air Force
• Arthur “Art”
Dover, Air Force
• William J. Misko,
Army
• Rick Fehernbach,
Army
• William “Bill”
Repella, Army
• John V. Bryant,
Marines
• Michael McCue,
Army
• Bill Brown, Army
• Wayne Watkins,
Army
• Larry Harris, Navy
and Army
• Tom Gurnsey, Air
Force
• Dale Cheney, Air
Force
• Jim McQuirt, Air
Force
• Marvin E. York,
Army
• Victor Wallace,
Marines
• Thomas Begush,
Army
He later rang the bell
eight times to signify
those men’s watch was
over and all was well.
Veterans from the
Vietnam War and more
recent conflicts attended
the ceremony.
Thatcher Helton with
the PTSD Foundation of
America came to the
occasion to show sup
port. He is also a seven-
year army veteran from
the war in Afghanistan.
“They showed us a lot
of support,” he said,
looking at Bill Martin,
“because they gave us
the ‘welcome home’ that
they didn’t get.”
Doggy Spotlight
Etowah Water and Sewer Authority
awarded Plant of the Year award
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
In a press release this
week, the Etowah Water
and Sewer Authority
announced that its
Dawson Forest Water
Reclamation facility has
received the Georgia
Association of Water
Professionals Plant of the
Year Award for 2021.
According to the
release, this award recog
nizes the best operated
and maintained water rec
lamation facility in the
state.
The Dawson Forest
Water Reclamation facil
ity has received the Plant
of the Year award in
2009, 2010, 2014, 2017
and 2019, and the facility
has also received the
Georgia Association of
Water Professionals plat
inum award for the past 9
years.
“These Plant of the
Year and Platinum
Awards are a testament
to the diligence and non
stop hard work ethics of
the management and
staff of the water recla
mation facility and main
tenance departments,”
General Manager Brooke
Anderson said in the
release. “We are blessed
to have excellent staff of
top operators and
employees. Our employ
ees truly enjoy serving
the community of
Dawson County with
excellence in water and
sewer services.”
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Dawsonville
Veterinary
Hospital
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103 Industrial Park Road,
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didn’t matter.”
He wondered why he
and his comrades were
even there.
“I, we, had a vision, but
it was painfully wrong.
We weren’t fighting for
our country. We weren’t
fighting for freedom. We
were fighting not to die.”
Pesce reminded the
audience of more than
58,000 who died in ser
vice and “never got to
live the American dream.”
Another 500,000 were
injured, with 100,000 los
ing pieces of their bodies
and a million “losing
their souls to the invisi
ble wound, PTSD.”
In Pesce’s case, his
war ended with a year in
the hospital with bullet
wounds.
He chronicled his own
struggle to fit in after
getting home, stating that
if he wasn’t also a Korea
combat veteran, proba
bly would’ve taken even
longer to find a job than
three-and-a-half months.
Thirty years later, the
Department of Veteran
Affairs acknowledged
the two most prolific
killers of the war, PTSD
and Agent Orange.
Pesce has also advocat
ed for efforts to get
homeless veterans off the
streets, a problem he
called a “national shame.”
“We need to do some
thing about that, because
they don’t deserve to die
ragged and poor on the
streets,” he said.
He ended with a
prayer. As part of those
words, he gave thanks
for “those today serving
our country, wherever
they are.”
After Pesce’s speech,
Brown, an Army veteran,
Dawson County Humane Society
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