Dearborn Remembers Fallen Vietnam Soldiers with Upcoming Parade

Sixty-nine Dearborn men gave their lives in the Vietnam War, which began 50 years ago and ended in April 1975.  Their deaths, and the service of many other veterans in Dearborn, will be paid special tribute during the city's honoring Vietnam veterans Monday, May 30.

"This whole thing is more like a welcoming home," said Craig Tillman of the Dearborn Allied War Veterans Council Commander and head of the parade committee. "Even if we have to welcome ourselves home. That's what we've done over the years. 

"Whenever a Vietnam veteran greets another Vietnam veteran, he always says welcome home."

Due to the unpopularity of the war, many soldiers were denied a proper welcome back home. Many faced angry crowds of protesters and were yelled at or spit upon.

"They hated us," Tillman said of the protestors, who ranged from college students and hippies, to Hollywood celebrities, like Jane Fonda. "They were just going on hearsay from other people. 

"Before we left Vietnam we heard the stories of what was going on when the guys came home. They were telling us to get out of your uniform as fast as possible and put civilian clothes on," he said. 

In planning the parade, Tillman was searching for a grand marshal that had ties to Vietnam, and was delighted to have a figure as iconic as Adrian Cronauer accept the duties. Cronauer, an Air Force sergeant, served as a DJ for Armed Forces Radio and was the inspiration for the movie “Good Morning, Vietnam.”

Tillman enlisted in the Army after receiving his draft notice, in the hopes that he could find assignment somewhere other than Vietnam. For a while it worked, and he found himself stationed in Germany for a year and half repairing field radios, before his luck ran out in 1970.

He was 22 when he arrived in Vietnam, an old man in comparison to the younger soldiers that were dying in combat, he said.

"For some reason, I thought I wasn't going to make it home, so I thought I'm not going to sit back in the rear echelon area and I volunteered. I got stupid and volunteered for a major unit," he said.

His service in Vietnam is something he cannot speak about in great detail, as the work of his unit remains classified. 

Despite his intuition, he made it home when he was 23. He credits his survival with "paying attention to the guys that had been there for a while and taking my cue off of them, and my faith in God, and just wanting to go back home and see my family again. But mainly just listening to the men I was serving with, that had been in combat and knew what to look for. 

"Most of them had been there for a year, and a couple that had extended just to stay there for another six months. Everybody there pretty much knew what they were doing. Of course we lost a few men, but even the best training will never keep you totally safe. You have to have that little element of luck on your side."

When Saigon fell in 1975, Tillman said, "It was kind of a sigh of relief that the most unpopular war in United States history was over and it's a crying shame that over 58,000 young men and women had to lose their lives, and for what? The country became one country under Communist rule, and we tried to prevent that and our politicians wouldn't let us.

"We did our best, but the politicians, in their infinite wisdom, lost the whole war for us. We never lost a battle over there."

A sea change of sorts followed in the wake of 9/11, which saw a reawakening of patriotic fervor and renewed appreciation for the men and women of America's armed forces, past and present.

"Over the past few years, I've had people come up to me and say thank you, now that they're kind of getting on the bandwagon and getting behind the troops that are over in Iraq and Afghanistan," Tillman said. 

"A number of times, I just don't know what to say, and kind of mumble out thank you. Why couldn't they have done this back then? I guess it's just the way society was back then." 

Now, 50 years later, Dearborn’s Vietnam veterans are being welcomed home once more by fellow veterans, and the city in which they live. The DAWVC will be hosting a “Veteran’s Family Day” at Ford Field on Sunday, which is open to all veterans but will also serve as a welcome home party for those who served in Vietnam.

The Memorial Day Parade will begin Monday morning at 9:30 on Michigan Avenue and Greenfield, with a caisson to escort the cremated remains of three servicemen to their final resting place at the Great Lakes National Cemetery. 

A float adorned with 69 pairs of boots in honor of those Dearborn men who died during the war will be accompanied by 90 military and community groups, while overhead a Vietnam-era Huey will fly along the parade route before being displayed to the public at Ford World Headquarters.

Dearborn’s Memorial Day Parade is the oldest continuous Memorial Day Parade in Michigan, having run for 87 years, and is one of the largest in the nation.