Lakeville resident Juan Vazquez traveled to Oxford’s Christ the King Church Saturday to see somebody he knew from the old neighborhood.
Unfortunately, Vazquez was unable to reminisce or share a few laughs because all that remains of his schoolmate Refugio Thomas Teran is a name etched on a memorial and a one-page biography stored in a binder.
Teran, who attended Detroit’s St. Anthony Catholic school with Vazquez, was one of the 2,654 Michigan residents killed in the Vietnam War.
‘He was missing in action. They found his body about 10 years ago,? explained Vazquez, who spent 1970 in Vietnam as a tank driver in the U.S. Army.
Teran has been immortalized as part of the Michigan Vietnam Veterans Traveling Memorial, which visited the church over the weekend as part of the Fourth Annual Veterans Recognition BBQ/Picnic (for photos see Page 16).
The memorial, which belongs to the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 154 in Clinton Township, came to Oxford to commemorate the official 50th anniversary of the start of America’s ground war in Vietnam.
Although U.S. President Harry S. Truman sent the first American military advisors and aid to Vietnam in the 1950s, it wasn’t until March 8, 1965 that the first U.S. combat forces arrived in Danang. The first wave consisted of two battalions of U.S. Marines, a total of 3,500 troops.
By the time the war ended on April 30, 1975, nearly 3 million Americans had served in Vietnam and more than 58,000 were either killed in action or classified as missing in action.
Looking at all the names on the traveling memorial, Vietnam veteran Toby Dill, of Davisburg, said, ‘Some of them died when I was there. Some of them died before, some died after. It just means a whole lot to pay tribute to them.?
‘I think the young people need to figure that out,? Dill added. ‘They have to know what we went through, how many people died there, why they died. Don’t forget us. We were forgotten when we came home. We’re not now and neither are the troops that are coming home (today) because of Vietnam vets.?
Vietnam veterans are treated much differently these days than they were decades ago.
When servicemen returned from the controversial war in the 1960s and 1970s, there was no fanfare, no ‘welcome home? banners and certainly no parades or picnics. They were largely either ignored or targets of anti-war sentiment.
Protesters spit at them, called them baby-killers and harassed them to the point where they didn’t want to be seen wearing their uniforms in public.
Now, they go to events like the one at Christ the King where people salute them, shake their hands and thank them for their service to the nation.
‘Things have changed,? Vazquez said. ‘I like that. It’s a whole lot different than I was used to.?