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Last updated on Wednesday, August 13, 2014
(BEDFORD) - Veterans Service Director Brad Bough asked the Lawrence County Commissioners permission to have the Veterans’ Claims van be parked on the courthouse square on Thursday September 25.
The van will be parked on the west side of the square to allow veterans the opportunity to seek assistance with the claims.
Also Baugh is planning some big events for vets and their families. On Veterans Day, Tuesday November 11th Bough asked permission to have the courthouse open so he can plan Veterans Day events. Then in May of 2015 Bough is planning to have a "Welcome Home Day" for veterans of the Vietnam War.
"These soldiers didn't get to have a welcome home celebration like all of the other servicemen and women of other wars," Bough says. "It is about time they did."
May will be the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. That last military action by US troops was the Marines seizing the Mayaguez from Khmer Rouge troops on May 15, 1975.
The nearly 10-year war divided the nation, defined a generation and changed how the U.S. military would operate.
In all, 58,282 American soldiers lost their lives and another 303,644 Americans were wounded.
By 1972, less than 30% of Americans agreed with the Vietnam War. Protests were a common site in Washington, D.C., as well as on college campuses across the country.
The greatest opposition to the Vietnam War was the opposition to the draft. In all, 1,728,344 males, age 20 to 26, were drafted to serve. Twenty-five percent of total forces in Vietnam were draftees.
Baugh is also hoping to celebrate the veterans of World War II with a 70th year anniversary event.
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