SOUTH OGDEN — It was supposed to be all about love and peace.
That's what the Marines had been hearing about; that's what they were expecting.
But when they stepped off the airplane in San Francisco, they were met, not with daisies and hugs, but with rocks and curses and garbage.
"They called us baby killers," said Dennis Howland, who remembers that day in 1967 when he returned to the
United States after 25 months in Vietnam. "This was the country we thought belonged to us."
American flags were burning in a full-fledged anti-war protest. It could have been then, or after running to an airport bathroom to change to civilian clothes, that Marines began planning to re-enlist.
"(The South Vietnamese) treated us better than our own people," said Howland, who now lives in South Ogden.
So it seemed a better deal to try to survive Vietnam rather than U.S. streets as the despised warriors of an unpopular war.
Something's wrong with that picture.
As long as there has been a Utah, Utahns have given their lives in war.
Most of the time, fortunately, they come back safely. But the way they are received when they return can change the personal meaning of their sacrifices.
When soldiers returned from Vietnam, the nation's longest war, they were reviled. When soldiers return from Iraq, they are hailed.
During Vietnam, Jane Fonda's activism led to her sitting on an enemy anti-aircraft gun and the nickname "Hanoi Jane."
During the recent Academy Awards, director Kathryn Bigelow sang praises of U.S. troops twice after winning best director and best picture awards for "The Hurt Locker."
That's the way most people agree it should be: Support the troops, even if you don't support the war. But it hasn't always been that way. Sometimes, the country you've been fighting for turns its back on you.
Howland knows what that feels like, and as vice commander of the Utah Veterans of Foreign Wars, he's working to make sure troops never feel that again.
At age 18, Howland gave up scholarships for baseball and wrestling to enlist in the Marines to fight in Vietnam.
"I had a feeling that's what I had to do," he said. "I left (as) a na?e kid."
Growing up on a farm in Iowa, the only thing he'd shot was an animal for dinner.
But for 25 months, Howland, like so many others, was constantly faced with the choice to shoot people or be shot.
The contrast
Take Dan Miller, of Kaysville, who landed in Kuwait with the U.S. Army Reserves seven years ago today.
After serving a year in Iraq, his homecoming went like this:
Miller was the first off the 747, which landed in pouring rain at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
There was no jetway, just steps down onto the tarmac.
"I had my head down, watching my step and keeping the rain out of my eyes, and didn't notice the eight to 10 personnel standing there," he said. "I heard a voice saying, 'Welcome to the USA'
"I looked up and saw stars," Miller said.
It was an Air Force major general, a two-star, with his staff, standing in the rain at 3:30 a.m. to welcome Army troops back to the United States.
"It was quite moving for all of us," Miller said.
But the warm welcome didn't stop there. When he arrived home to Kaysville, American flags lined his street, and yellow ribbons were tied throughout the neighborhood.
Miller was invited to a neighborhood picnic, to Davis High School, to R.C. Willey in Syracuse and to various youth groups of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to tell his stories.
"The entire experience was very moving and really helped make me feel welcome and, obviously, very happy to be back in the USA," Miller said.
Miller's experience coming home from Iraq in 2004 shows that things have changed.
"It was probably the big-city, anti-war agitators who would spit on returning soldiers from Vietnam," Miller said. "I did not see that kind of treatment in the small communities. I think the disgusting treatment of returning Vietnam vets in the big cities got the press, while the small-town, more patriotic reception of the vets wasn't publicized."
Howland said he thinks the realities of war were brought home during Vietnam because it was the first time video of war was broadcast into living room televisions.
"People gained a bad taste for war," he said.
And they've learned a lot since.
Though attitudes have changed, it doesn't make war or its realities easier.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, which afflicts many combat veterans, is now seen as a combat wound, Howland said. More programs are available to help veterans transition out of combat mode. And people began to realize that servicemen are just following their commander in chief's orders when it comes to war, especially those servicemen who were drafted.
The first thank you
In May 1991, after the Gulf War, Ogden held a homecoming parade for returning troops and invited Vietnam veterans to participate.
"The entire town cheered us," Howland said. "Every man standing there had tears running down his face. I came home in 1967, and no one had ever said thank you to me. Ever."
Had it not been for the Gulf War, Howland said he doesn't believe Vietnam veterans ever would have been welcomed home.
Currently, more than 750 airmen, Marines and soldiers are deployed to the Middle East. That number is expected to double as Utah National Guard troops receive orders over the next few months.
Some of them may not come home.
Fortunately for those who do, there's a greater appreciation, Howland said, so Iraq war veterans will never be shunned like Vietnam veterans were.
Coming home is no longer a sacrifice.
"It's about time," Howland said.
e-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com
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