Vietnam Vets Day at Patriots Point

Event Details

Vietnam veterans will be welcomed home, thanked for their service and offered free admission along with their immediate families at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum on March 29, the 44th anniversary of the day United States troops left Vietnam.

On nationally-observed Vietnam Veterans Day, the museum will also host representatives from Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center who can answer questions about various programs offered to veterans and their families. Each Vietnam veteran who visits the museum will be pinned with an official Department of Defense Vietnam Veteran lapel pin.

"We want to be a place Vietnam veterans feel comfortable visiting, especially on Vietnam Veterans Day- a day that is mean to thank them for their service and sacrifice," said Patriots Point Executive Director Mac Burdette. "These service members risked their lives to protect and serve our country. When these men and women returned, they were often treated terribly. We can't go back and change that, but we can do everything in our power to welcome them home now."

At 1:30 p.m. Patriots Point will host a short memorial ceremony for the 896 South Carolinians who died as a result of the war. Medal of Honor Recipient Maj. Gen. James E. Livingston will be the guest speaker. Afterward, a ribbon cutting will officially open a new theater inside the Vietnam Experience Exhibit. The exterior of the theater is designed to look like downtown Saigon, Vietnam. Once inside, guests will hear first-hand accounts of the Vietnam War. Wrap-around projection technology will surround the audience by casting the video on three walls simultaneously.

The Vietnam War, which lasted longer than a decade, resulted in the death of more than 58,000 U.S. troops. Of those, 896 were from South Carolina. A memorial inside the Patriots Point Vietnam Experience Exhibit recognizes the ultimate sacrifice of each one of those men and women. Museum volunteers who served in the war will conduct tours of the exhibit throughout the day on March 29.