Vietnam War Veterans Day 2022
On March 29, Americans will come together to commemorate the service and sacrifices made by the nearly 3 million service members who served in Vietnam. This year, In Honor of the 40th Anniversary of The Wall, VVA and Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will gather on the East Knoll of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
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Welcome & Introduction — Jim Knotts, President and CEO, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
Master of Ceremonies — Dennis Howland, National Board of Directors, Vietnam Veterans of America
Invocation — Brigadier General George Price (USA, Ret.)
Presentation of Colors — Honor Guard of Baltimore Chapter 451 & Honor Guard of Baltimore Ravens
National Anthem — Dr. Laura Kafka-Price, Educator, Musicologist, and Performing Artist
Remarks — Jack McManus, National President, Vietnam Veterans of America
Deeper Family — John Flynn, Songwriter, Musician, Recording Artist
Keynote Address — Mary Stout, Former National President, Vietnam Veterans of America
Benediction — John Flynn
Procession to The Wall for Wreath-laying
Taps — Jari Villanueva and Richard Pasciuto, Buglers
https://vimeo.com/693096629
Participant Bios
Jim Knotts
Jim Knotts is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), the nonprofit organization that built The Wall in 1982. He is an Air Force veteran of the Persian Gulf War and a graduate of the Air Force Academy.
He now leads the effort at VVMF to honor the service and sacrifices of Vietnam veterans – those who sacrificed all, those who served, and those who waited for the service members to return – as well as those who serve today. Preserving the legacy of service from generation to generation – from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf War, to Iraq and Afghanistan – is Jim’s personal commitment and a part of the ongoing education efforts of VVMF.
Prior to his leadership role at VVMF, Jim served five years as the CEO of Operation Homefront, a national nonprofit that provides emergency financial and other assistance to the families of service members and wounded warriors. During his tenure, the organization grew dramatically in number of people assisted, diversity of programs, and financial support. The organization was chosen to advise the Secretary of Defense on a nonprofit roundtable.
Jim previously worked in industry at Lockheed Martin headquarters, where he was Director of Corporate Citizenship, including philanthropy and community outreach, and Director of Web Communications.
During his almost ten years in the Air Force, his career spanned service in the Persian Gulf War, at the headquarters of U.S. Southern Command, and in the Pentagon on the Office of the Secretary of Defense Staff.
Dennis Howland
Dennis Howland, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, served in Vietnam from 1966-1967 in Aviation Operations with MACS-7, MASS-3, and MAG 36. Following service in country, Howland attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, and the School of Computer Sciences at MCB Quantico, VA. After serving close to eight years with the U.S.M.C., Howland was honorably discharge as Sergeant (E-5). His military decorations include the Air Medal with “V” device and Combat Action Ribbon.
A member of Vietnam Veterans of America’s National Board of Directors since 2017, Howland is currently serving his third term as chair of VVA’s National Public Affairs Committee. He is founding president of the Utah VVA State Council, a position that he continues in today.
In Utah, Howland has led point on introducing and championing legislation benefitting Utah’s veterans. Most recently, Howland served as project chair with VVA Chapter 1079, Layton City, UT, spearheading the design, development, and construction of an 80 percent-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, as well as coordinating the Veterans Day parade and other events to honor the service and sacrifices of those who serve our nation in uniform and their families. He serves on Utah’s Veterans and Military Affairs Commission and on the Utah Governor’s World War II Monument Commission.
Howland’s post-service recognition includes the VVA Achievement Medal; the Utah Governor’s Veterans Service Award; Utah Elks Association Citizen of the Year; the DAR’s state, region, and national veteran volunteer; the England Corporation Honored Veteran; and Utah’s Veterans Home Distinguished Veteran Award. He and his wife, Sherry, live in Ogden, Utah.
Brigadier General George B. Price
Brigadier General George B. Price, USA Ret., was born in Laurel, Mississippi. He graduated from South Carolina State College with a BA in physical Education and was commissioned an Infantry Second Lieutenant. He completed Army Command and General Staff College and earned a Master-Degree from Shippensburg State College.
General Price’s military career spans 27 years of dedicated service. His assignments have included tours in Korea, Germany, Panama Canal Zone and several state-side duty stations. Following his assignment in Korea, he served in Vietnam from 1963-64 as an adviser to the regiment commander of the Third Regiment, First Infantry Division. He was in the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam. After various military assignments around the globe, he was promoted to brigadier general, where he was assigned as the assistant division commander, 1st Armored Division, and concurrently as community commander, Nurnberg Military Community. Fort Meade in Maryland was his last active-duty assignment, where he served as chief of staff, First U.S. Army. This was the end of a career that included serving at every level of command and staff, from platoon leader to assistant commander and battalion staff.
General Price’s decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and the Purple Heart. He also has been awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge with star, and the Parachutist Badge and the Ranger Tab. Price received a Purple Heart for his service in Korea. When asked to describe his wounds and the recovery process, Price simply said, “I have nothing but praise for it. It was first class in every respect.” but he says he is no hero. “We had a lot of good people killed in Korea,” explains the General. “They are the ones who deserve high praise.”
Gen. Price has worked in the telecommunications industry, technical engineering services and consulting services. He also later served as the personal manager of his sister, opera diva Leontyne Price. He and his wife Laura reside in Columbia, Md.
Dr. Laura Kafka-Price
Dr. Laura Kafka-Price is an American soprano of Polish Heritage with a multi-dimensional career as a singer, musicologist, and educator. Her many public and private engagements in the United States and abroad include recitals, lecture-recitals, concerts with orchestra, oratorio, opera, operetta, and musicals. She has performed at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland and at public and private venues since 1993. These performances have received high praise and were presented in a variety of languages including Polish. Dr. Kafka-Price is an instructor of French at the Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University, and she maintains a maintains a private voice studio. She is also the originator and director of the Children’s Rhymes Project. Dr. Kafka-Price and her husband Brigadier General (US Army Retired) George B. Price live in Columbia, Maryland.
Jack McManus
Jack McManus was elected to serve as VVA National President at VVA’s 20th National convention, held in November 2021 in Greensboro, North Carolina. First elected VVA national treasurer in 1995, he was reelected to the position in 1997 and again in 2019. He previously served as the VVA Michigan State Council President for six and one-half years from 1989 to 1996, overseeing the largest state program in VVA. In 1997, he was awarded VVA’s highest honor, the VVA Commendation Medal, for his extraordinary service to the organization, to all veterans, and to the community at large. He has also been recognized by the VVA New York State Council with its Commendation Medal.
During his career as a private businessman, McManus’s company employed approximately 3,500 in two service-sector businesses, with $150 million annually in sales. In 1978, his company was recognized as the first drug-free workplace in the building service contracting industry. The company also emphasizes special hiring programs for handicapped individuals, ex-offenders, and rehabilitated substance abusers for its internal rehabilitation programs. From 1978 to 1985, McManus was the program manager for his company’s contract with the Kennedy Space Center space shuttle program in Florida.
Originally from New York City, Jack McManus joined the Air Force in 1965, where he served until 1969. Between 1967 and 1968, he was assigned to Operation Ranch Hand in Vietnam.
Jack received his B.A. in Business Management from New York University in 1973. He resides in North Carolina with his wife Jackie. He is a recipient of numerous business and community awards.
John Flynn
John Flynn, an American singer-songwriter, and activist is best known for his powerful music and tireless efforts on behalf of those in need of a voice—”the lost and the lonely, the shackled and scarred.”
As a student at Temple University, Flynn played in folk and country bar bands, where he was able to introduce his original songs. Flynn’s post-graduate plans to attend law school were abandoned when Billy Swan’s recording of his song, “Rainbows and Butterflies,” went Top 40 on the country charts. Flynn then took a staff songwriting position at Combine Music in Nashville.
Flynn, a father of four, did not tour while his children were young. As they grew in age, he began to widen his performance circles, and in 2005, Arlo Guthrie invited him to join music legends Willie Nelson and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott on the historic “Train to New Orleans” tour –a benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Flynn’s deep concern and respect for those who have served in the military afforded him unique opportunities to share his music. Flynn’s powerful song, “Dover,” about those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and “Semper Fi” about the terrible cost of PTSD, have won him numerous invitations to perform for those in uniform.
Flynn is the recipient of the Phil Ochs Award for Music and Social Activism for Political and Social Justice; the Dominican’s Shining Star Award; Rotary’s Paul Harris Fellow Award; and Pacem in Terris’s Peacemaker Among Us Award. Additionally, the American Library Association has recognized Flynn for his family and kids’ recordings; and in 2012, he was a Grammy honoree for “Two Wolves,” his song on the anti-bullying compilation, All About Bullies Big and Small.
John has honored us and this day by writing a new song for this occasion – the song is titled “Deeper Family.”
Mary Stout
Mary Stout, a relentless advocate and adept leader, changed the landscape in the delivery of care and benefits for Vietnam veterans, a foundation for change that has benefitted veterans of all eras.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Stout served as an Army nurse at the 2nd Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, first in An Khe, then in Chu Lai, Vietnam, in 1966-1967. She was among the eleven thousand women who served in country, of which 90 percent were working as military nurses.
Stout joined Vietnam Veterans of America in 1980, and in 1983, she served as VVA Membership Director. She was elected VVA National Secretary in 1985, and in 1987, she was elected President, succeeding Bobby Muller, who founded the organization in 1978. Stout is the first woman ever to be elected to lead a national veterans’ service organization.
During her four-year tenure as VVA President, Stout challenged the status quo, fighting on Capitol Hill and in the U.S. courts for improvements in the delivery of healthcare, disability benefits, and veterans’ rights, all the while ensuring our nation delivered on its promise to care for those who had served our country in uniform during the unpopular Vietnam War.
Under Stout’s leadership, VVA fought to ensure the Vet Centers remained separate from VA Medical Centers; for parity in the delivery of veteran services and benefits for the 265,000 women who wore the uniform during the Vietnam era; and for the delivery of justice to veterans by fostering the creation of the VA Veterans Court of Appeals to allow for judicial review of VA benefits decisions.
During Stout’s presidency, VVA was successful in achieving legislation to address the health effects of Agent Orange, which ultimately led to the first round of presumptive diagnoses for Vietnam veterans by mandating the National Academy of Sciences perform an independent study on the toxic health effects of exposure to dioxin.
Vietnam Veterans of America
Wishes to express our deep Appreciation to All Who Made this Our Special Day
Our Cohost:
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
https://www.vvmf.org
Jim Knotts, President and Chief Executive Officer
Heidi Zimmerman, Vice President of Programs and Communications at Vietnam Veterans
Associates of Vietnam Veterans of America
https://www.avva.org
Sharon Hobbs, National President
Sons and Daughters In Touch
https://sdit.org
Tony Cordero, President, National President
To our sons and daughters of our heroes on The Wall, We thank you for being there for us, and for helping with our ceremony today.
Our Deeper Family
National League of POW/MIA Families
https://www.pow-miafamilies.org
American Gold Star Mothers, Inc.
https://www.goldstarmoms.com
American Gold Star Wives, Inc.
https://www.goldstarwives.org
50th Commemoration of the Vietnam War
https://www.vietnamwar50th.com/
WIMSA
https://womensmemorial.org/
Capitol Concerts
https://www.capitalconcerts.org/
Department of Veterans Affairs
Court of Veterans Appeals
Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundationwww.vietnammemorial.org/vwmf.php VVA March 29 Committee Dennis Howland, National Board of Directors, Vietnam Veterans of America,National Public Affairs Committee Marsha Four, Past National President,Vietnam Veterans of AmericaSpecial Advisor to VVA President Wes Guidry, Vietnam Veterans of America Director of Meetings Mokie Pratt Porter, Vietnam Veterans of America Director of Communications and everyone who participated to make this day possible.
“Deeper Family”
by John Flynn
Some blood is deep and shared by birth
Some blood and tears are spilled on earth
By those who serve and come to be
Part of a deeper family
Some of them never made it home
In jungles died to save their own
Their names engraved in memory
Of kin and deeper family
Chorus:
Our country stands on a razors edge
May we now turn to those who pledged
Their lives not to a government
But to a flag and what it meant
To stand and answer duty’s call
Remaining brothers, sisters all
For now and ever they shall see
Themselves as deeper family
Chorus:
Our country stands on a razors edge
May we now learn from those who pledged
Their lives not to a government
But to a flag and what it meant
What would not heal they chose to bear
With strength to feel and heart to share
A love so fierce and pride to be
Part of a deeper family
Their sacred gift lest we forget
Has charged us with a solemn debt
To bind our nation’s wounds that we
May build a deeper family
©2022 Flying Stone Music
About Vietnam War Veterans Day
In 2012, President Barack Obama signed a presidential proclamation, designating March 29 as the annual observance of Vietnam War Veterans Day.
The signing of the proclamation marked the 50th anniversary of the departure of the last American troops from Vietnam — March 29, 1973. Only U.S. embassy personnel and support staff remained in South Vietnam until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.
“The Vietnam War is a story of service members of different backgrounds, colors and creeds who came together to complete a daunting mission,” the proclamation states. “It is a story of Americans from every corner of our nation who left the warmth of family to serve the country they loved. It is a story of patriots who braved the line of fire, who cast themselves into harm’s way to save a friend, who fought hour after hour, day after day to preserve the liberties we hold dear.”
More than 58,000 Americans were killed and many thousands more were wounded and injured or determined to be missing.
The proclamation also states: “In one of the war’s most profound tragedies, many of these men and women came home to be shunned or neglected — to face treatment unbefitting their courage and a welcome unworthy of their example. We must never let this happen again.”
Although U.S. military advisors had been in South Vietnam since 1955, the proclamation states that Jan. 12, 1962, was the starting point of the war. This is the date when America’s first combat mission, Operation Chopper, was launched.
On that day, U.S. Army pilots airlifted more than 1,000 South Vietnamese soldiers to an area about 12 miles west of Saigon to capture a National Liberation Front stronghold. The NLF, also known as the Viet Cong, were communist fighters who were in South Vietnam.
On March 28, 2017, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017, which named March 29 National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The bill amended the U.S. flag code to include National Vietnam War Veterans Day as a day on which the flag should be flown.
Our Allies in Vietnam
Australia – In total, more than 61,000 Australian soldiers also served in the war between 1962 and 1972, although that commitment never exceeded 8,000 troops at one time.
Philippines – The next largest partner in the U.S.-led war was the Philippines. Beginning in 1966, Manila deployed upwards of 10,000 troops to help support the Saigon government, but kept its contribution limited to medical and logistical operations.
New Zealand — Between 1964 and 1972, more than 3,800 New Zealanders served as part of the Allied war effort. In addition to providing artillery batteries, combat engineers and medical personnel, Wellington sent elements of the country’s elite Special Air Service.
Thailand– In 1965 Bangkok committed a small army contingent to South Vietnam, known as the Queen’s Cobra Battalion. It also pledged its national police force’s air assets to monitor several segments of the Ho Chi Minh trail that passed through neighbouring Laos.
Taiwan – One of the earliest foreign contributors to the Saigon government was the the ardently anti-communist Republic of China. In fact, Taiwan provided transport aircraft and secretly offered several hundred of its special forces soldiers to the cause beginning in 1961.
Canada – Although not officially a military contributor to the American war effort, Canadian industry supplied the U.S. with more than $2.5 billion worth of war materiel during the 1960s and early 1970s.