Veterans finally get their homecoming
Veterans finally get their homecoming
By Jerry W. Kram
The Vietnam War opened rifts in the United States that in some way still divide people today. Unfairly caught in the middle of the political debate were the men and women who fought that war. They were denied the homecoming and community support that veterans of previous wars had to help them recover from their experiences overseas.
One group of sailors found that support and homecoming in a unlikely place this week, as they visited the Fort Berthold Reservation to meet the people their ship, the USS Arikara, was named for.
In the Arikara Room of the Four Bears Casino, the sailors were greeted by tribal members, members of the area American Legion and Legion Auxiliary, displays about the Arikara people and their history of military service plus a number of large signs welcoming the veterans of the Arikara to their “homecoming.”
