A Message from the desk of Secretary Charlton Meginley on National Vietnam War Veterans Day

POSTED ON March 28, 2025

A Message from the desk of Secretary Charlton Meginley on National Vietnam War Veterans Day

On Sept. 8, 2007, I returned to the United States after a six-month deployment to Iraq, landing at Baltimore-Washington Airport. I remember this day vividly for two reasons. First, LSU was playing Virginia Tech that night, and I was going to get to watch the game. LSU ended up winning, and I fell asleep in the third quarter. But, I remember that day for something more: coming off the plane at BWI, I was still in uniform—my desert fatigues—unshaven, exhausted after a 16-hour plane ride. When we came out of the tunnel, those of us who were in uniform were greeted with this thunderous applause and people thanking us for our service. I thought it was a kind gesture, but my focus was trying to get home to my wife and kids, and especially my newborn daughter, who was born while I was deployed.

I tell you this story because, at the time, I didn’t realize how much I had taken that moment for granted. I didn’t realize the significance of the reception we received until years later when I watched the Ken Burns series on the Vietnam War, which came out in 2017. Like most of my colleagues, I had studied Vietnam in various military education programs, talked to many Vietnam veterans about their service, including several of my relatives. It wasn’t until watching that documentary that one thing about my own service became apparent: given the appalling way the American public, and politicians, treated Vietnam veterans in the aftermath of their war, and the subsequent societal acknowledgement of that atrocious behavior, future service members like me would not be treated in the same matter.

The nearly nine million men and women who served on active duty during the Vietnam War, and three million veterans who served in the country of Vietnam, knew the realities of what the next generation of veterans would face, and the one after that, and so on, because they served in a deeply unpopular war, a war which shaped and led to a drastic change of American society, a war which caused deep divisions in the nation.

They knew many, if not most, of the next generation of warfighters, would come home from war broken, either physically or mentally, or both. They knew your sons and daughters who would later join, and go to war, could face PTSD symptoms. They knew some would come home and not have the health care they deserved, or that some of us would have a hard time finding a job, getting in school or providing for our families. They knew that some families would be forever changed by war. They knew all of this because they lived it. And when they came home, these brave men and women weren’t looking for parades, or celebrations, or handshakes from a grateful public thanking them for their service. They just wanted basic human support and help integrating back into American society, a society which had turned its back on them.

And so, Vietnam veterans would ensure the next generation of warfighters would have it better. And that goes directly to the founding principle of the Vietnam Veterans of America: “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.” True to their promise, service members like myself, had a better military career because of them. Their advocacy, support and service in their communities ensured that the American service member will never be dismissed again.

On March 29, 2025, 52 years after the end of the Vietnam War, Louisiana finally has a memorial dedicated to the 885 Louisianians who paid the ultimate sacrifice during this war. There are two names I want to specifically highlight on those walls, both of whom were pilots in the United States Air Force: Captain Ralph Wayne “Hawkeye” Magee and First Lieutenant Severo James “Sonny” Primm III, who gave their lives in service during the Vietnam War. Their experiences, though separated by nearly 12 years, frame the profound cost of the Vietnam War and the enduring wounds it left on families and communities.

Captain Magee was from Port Sulphur and became the first Louisianian killed during the Vietnam War on March 23, 1961. Piloting a C-47 Skytrain over Laos’ Plain of Jars, Captain Magee’s aircraft was shot down by enemy fire while his team was conducting aerial reconnaissance. Captain Magee was killed in the crash, but his remains were not recovered at the time. In 1991, American investigators located the C-47’s crash site and seven graves nearby. Subsequent investigations recovered human remains from the grave sites, and Captain Magee was eventually identified among the remains. His body was identified in November 1991, 30 years later, and was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Captain Magee was 30 years old and left behind his wife of three years.

First Lieutenant Primm, from New Orleans, an LSU graduate and member of the Tiger Band, lost his life on Feb. 5, 1973 aboard an EC-47Q named “Baron 52.” His night reconnaissance mission over the Saravane Province of Laos ended in tragedy, mere days after the Paris Peace Accords promised an end to U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Lieutenant Primm was only 25 at his death. His remains, recovered in 1993 and identified in 1995, were buried with his crew in Arlington National Cemetery in 1996, in a shared coffin symbolizing their unbreakable bond forged in Vietnam. Like Captain Magee, Lieutenant Primm also left behind a young wife.

These two men bookend Louisiana’s sacrifice in Vietnam—885 lives lost, 885 families forever altered. In addition to these 885 brave souls, it is also important to recognize that there are still 24 Louisianians unaccounted for. The POW/MIA flag, enshrined in law to fly at federal sites, waves as a quiet vow: we will not forget them nor stop searching for them and the other 1,549 missing service members from the war.

Each name etched on our state’s new memorial to Vietnam veterans is a testament to the steep price of freedom, paid with the blood of ordinary yet extraordinary individuals. Like the wall in Washington, DC, it will forever serve as a reminder that we will never forget the contributions of a group of veterans who all too often faced indifference, hostility or outright blame for their selfless service to our nation. The memorial honors the service of all those who have served during the Vietnam War and will remain as a permanent reminder to all our Vietnam veterans that you should never again feel isolated, unappreciated or abandoned.

In fact, my message to our Vietnam veterans is this: America needs you more than ever. Your country needs the leadership of those who have served, who have faced adversity, who have seen the worst of humanity, who survived the horrors of war. Vietnam veterans, America needs you more than ever to set the example of what real leadership looks like.

To Mayor Nic Hunter, his Armed Forces Commission, Sen. Jeremy Stine and the people of Lake Charles, thank you for your unwavering support of our veteran community. The vision each of you had in erecting this long overdue memorial comes to fruition today and will forever be a permanent reminder of the cost of war. And to our military and veterans communities, may God bless you, your families and these United States of America.

To the Vietnam veterans, welcome home!

Secretary Charlton J. Meginley
Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs