Lebanon Reporter

Local News

November 12, 2009

Boone County ‘welcomes home' Vietnam veterans

The atmosphere in the Boone County Courthouse rotunda was heavy with emotion Tuesday evening as Vietnam veterans, family, friends and supporters crowded together to finally welcome home these veterans properly, perhaps for the first time ever.

The Vietnam War was a 1959-1975 conflict in which more than 58,000 U.S. soldiers died. At the ceremony, Mayor Huck Lewis shared statistics that of the nearly 3 million Americans who served in the war, less than 850,000 are alive today, the youngest at 54 years of age. The average age of those killed was 23.1 years.

Guest speaker Tim Barnes talked about his time serving in the Vietnam War, saying he thought they had dropped him in the “hinges of hell.” He thought he was going to die, hearing tiny tree branches cracking in front of his face from the bullets.

Barnes had heard that people in America were calling the soldiers in Vietnam baby killers, he said, and spitting on them. But when he returned to the states, he didn’t experience any of that. But he also didn’t get one “thank you.”



For more of the story, see Thursday's Lebanon Reporter.

Text Only
Boone County ‘welcomes home' Vietnam veterans
by Anonymous , , Thu Nov 12, 2009, 10:50 AM EST
Local News
  • 09-02-10 shots web.jpg Ounce of prevention

    The health department began giving these free vaccinations last April, and as of the beginning of the clinic Wednesday, McNutt said she had about 105 students left to check off.

    September 2, 2010 1 Photo

  • 09-02-10 wethingon.jpg Unused seat belt leads to foot chase and arrest

    Carroll Wethington may be wishing he’d buckled up.

    September 2, 2010 1 Photo

  • Community leaders join forces to start mentoring program

    The Boone County Mentoring Collaborative, with the help of consultant Tracy Butler of the Indiana Mentoring Partnership, is working to create a high-quality mentoring program to help at-risk children

    September 2, 2010

  • mccraw, joshua 05-13-10.jpg McCraw faces four new charges

    Charges that he had been using marijuana before he drove a car into a home, killing a woman, have been filed against Joshua McCraw, 22, Lebanon.

    September 1, 2010 1 Photo

  • 09-01-10 mugs.jpg Off-duty cop catches burglary suspect

    September 1, 2010 1 Photo

  • 09-01-10 pw block web.jpg Building blocks

    Perry-Worth first-grader Ryan Keith counts his fingers to add a math sum while playing an educational computer game Tuesday afternoon as classmate Scout Langley, right, also intently plays during Perry-Worth Elementary School’s intervention block.

    September 1, 2010 1 Photo

  • 08-31-10 CREP 1.jpg Boone benefits from Indiana’s conservation program expansion

    Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman recently visited Starkey Farms here to announce that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted an expansion of Indiana’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program , a partnership between the USDA and the State of Indiana to address agriculture-related environmental concerns.

    August 31, 2010 1 Photo

  • 08-25-10 Jason Leap.jpg Leap placed on unpaid suspension

    Lebanon Police Patrolman Jason Leap is on unpaid suspension pending the result of an Indiana State Police investigation into allegations he pointed a handgun at a bar patron while off duty.

    August 31, 2010 1 Photo

  • West Nile pops up in Boone

    The West Nile Virus has been detected in adult mosquitoes in Boone County.

    August 31, 2010

  • 08-30-10 biker1 web.jpg A cross-country summer

    Lebanon resident Richard Lyons flew to the Pacific coast in Oregon in June to explore the area on his bicycle. He told his family he was going to ride around for a while and then head back home.

    August 29, 2010 1 Photo

Featured items
Poll
Twitter Updates
Follow us on twitter
Follow me on Twitter
AP Video
Hyperlocal Search
Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide
Popular Searches
Powered by Local.com