Veterans recall experiences in Vietnam
By Edna Sailor
This article is part two of a two part series on the 50th year Commemoration of the Vietnam war.
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It certainly wasn’t the first time Vietnam veterans gathered to share stories and mark an anniversary or other benchmark. But there was a sense that it was time to preserve these stories as members of American Legion Post 290 and the Western Dakota Vietnam Veterans Association gathered for the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war.
Tom Roggenbuck was one of the vets who attended.
"The public should appreciate what we had to do back then. We are not the bad people you think we are. They just did not understand what we went through. Bad stories made it very different for us," he said
Kelly Evensen served in the Army infantry from 1970 to 1972.
"This commemoration is important to veterans to re-energize everyone and keep on going as long as you can. People need to understand that we just did what we had to do back then," he said.
Jene Hasby served in the US Navy during the Vietnam war. He first landed in San Diego, then to Midway and finally in Vietnam. He served in Radio Communications during that conflict.
