The Vietnam Veterans of America, Niagara County Chapter 268, gathered on Monday for the yearly placement of a holiday wreath beside the veterans monument on the Niagara Hospice campus.
Gordie Bellinger led the ceremony, speaking briefly to the gathered veterans,
“We are not only here to honor those who took the time out of their lives to protect our freedoms, but also to remember the family and the friends that prayed for their safe return. Their family and friends may not have served in the military, but they all shared the light of freedom,” Bellinger said.
Some of the veterans who attended shared memories of the war, as well as the treatment they received coming home.
Don Coates, a Vietnam veteran, said he was security police at Bien Hoa, a Vietnamese city, where he was among the servicemen holding the front gate during the Tet Offensive in 1968. About 400 American soldiers faced roughly 2,000 Vietcong. If events had transpired slightly differently, Coates said he wouldn’t be here today.
“There were only four of us to defend the front gate, but they came around on the other side,” Coates said.
Coates, as well as other veterans, also remembered being spit on when they came back. It has only been in recent years that Coates said he’s felt recognized, usually when he wears his Vietnam Veteran hat.
“When I wear this, someone will come up and say ‘thank you’,” he said. “That’s great, but it took 50 years to get there.”
Carlo Figliomeni, the president and CEO of Niagara Hospice, said he was proud to serve the veterans gathered. After the wreath placement, members of the VVA talked and drank coffee inside the facility.
“It’s very special, in the sense they’ve given so much,” he said. “Whether it be Vietnam veterans or just veterans, in general. Their lives, their time with their family members. To serve this country. To serve the community, even beyond their service.”
Figliomeni said that many veterans volunteer at the hospice during its events and that he and the staff at the hospice are “honored” to be the recipients of their time.
“And that goes for this event, too. It went from dropping off the wreath and taking off to staying a while to talk and just meet each other and share with each other. We thank them,” he said.