During last Saturday’s Vietnam veterans’ commemoration ceremony, various community members spoke about people close to them who’d served in that war. Below are the speeches of a few of them.

Linda Thompson with the DAR said her ex-husband, Roger Stollings, served as a Marine corporal in Vietnam and still suffers from multiple health problems because of his exposure there to Agent Orange. She then talked about her brother, Walter Duncan, who was drafted at age 18. 

“He had a good job and was engaged to be married,” said Thompson. “But he was sent to Vietnam, where he was a sharpshooter. His platoon was trapped by a nest of Viet Cong shooters. He left his group and lobbed a hand grenade at them, wiping them out and saving his entire platoon.

“But he was then mortally wounded and died in action. He was awarded the Bronze Star with V for valor. He left a grieving fiancé who still – every Memorial Day – leaves a red rose on his grave.”

Fairfax resident Mary Claire Hess thanked everyone for attending and thanked the hosts for “giving us the opportunity to celebrate all these great lives. My father loved the Marine Corps. He had a four-year scholarship to Princeton and, instead, he joined the Marines at 17 to fight.

“He died after serving in Vietnam. He and his men were forward observers with the 3rd Marine Division, just north of the Demilitarized Zone. Before he went there, he swore me into the Air Force, and I’m proud of that. But he came home a different person. He died after serving as a battalion commander at Parris Island, S.C. They found a tumor in his brain from Agent Orange in Vietnam. My mom is now 100; but every day, she remembers my father, and so do my siblings and I.”

DAR member Corinne Keyes of Fairfax honored her dad, Maj. Jerome Keyes. “He served three tours in Vietnam,” she said. “He came back but never spoke about it, and we regret that we never heard his stories. So I’d encourage all veterans, please, talk about your experiences. Let people know what you went through over there. My father also died of a malignant brain tumor related to Agent Orange. He was 48.”

Fairfax Mayor Catherine Read remembered D.R. Butler, a Rotary Club district governor who served multiple tours in Vietnam. “He also taught at the honors college at GMU, well into his 80s,” she said. “He’s emblematic of the sacrifices made by people called to service.”

She also acknowledged her former husband, Ron Read, who served in Vietnam with the Royal Australian Navy. He’s now in Melbourne, lecturing and writing books about military history. “It’s important to know, over a dozen countries were in Vietnam with our American soldiers,” she said. “In fact, our allies have been with us in every war where Americans served – including the American Revolution – where Gen. Lafayette was instrumental in us achieving independence from Britain. To all those who stood with our American soldiers, I give gratitude to them, as well.”

After the ceremony, Thompson said it was important to have it. “Our Vietnam veterans are still suffering and feeling unappreciated,” she said. “They’re in pain – they just hide it. You saw tears in people’s eyes today. They were hugging and comforting each other, so this was good.”