By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

IF YOU GO

What: 20th anniversary observance of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. When: 2 p.m. today. Where: The memorial grounds in Eden Park, at Eden Park and St. Paul drives.

EDEN PARK - Amid the beauty of blooming daffodils and flowering treesstands a memorial that, for some, evokes an ugly era in American history: a time when many veterans returned home to face scorn and ridicule.

But the Vietnam Veterans Memorial also stands as "a healing reminder" that veterans deserve respect and thanks even if the war they fought was controversial - a lesson applicable to today's war in the Middle East, said Charlie Doan, a veteran who spoke to about 150 people gathered at the memorial's 20th annual rededication Saturday.

Doan, a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Chapter 10, said the support citizens are showing for troops in Iraq is reassuring.

"You no longer have that nonsense where you take it out on the troops," Doan said.

The VVA organized Saturday's ceremony; another group has set a memorial service for 2 p.m. today.

Saturday's keynote speaker, William Boettcher of Delhi, national senior vice commander of AMVETS, recounted the Vietnam War's gruesome statistics. From 1959-75, 3.4 million Americans were deployed, nearly 60,000 were killed, and 1,900 are still missing.

"When our nation called, they answered - and they did so with a clear indication that they might not have their nation's gratitude," Boettcher said. That attitude has changed today, he said, "thank God."

Honor guards placed wreaths honoring veterans from all eras at the foot of the statue, which is dedicated to members of the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard.

John Mize, 62, came from Florence to see the statue of two soldiers looking for an unseen fallen comrade. "Looking at that, it brings back memories, not pleasant ones," said Mize, who served two tours of duty in Vietnam during 1966-67. "But I'm glad it's here."

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com