Congressman honors Vietnam era veterans in Yankton

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) - South Dakota Congressman Dusty Johnson says service members from the Vietnam era didn’t always get the homecoming they deserved.

And so, he wanted a “do-over”. In Yankton, on Thursday, Johnson presented service members with commemorative challenge coins and thanked them for their service.

“Well, this is incredibly important for me because our country did not do a good job of welcoming these men home. And so for me to be able to look them in the eye and tell them that ‘a grateful nation thanks and honors you for your service’, I can tell it means a lot to them. But, it also means a lot to me,” said Rep. Johnson.

Wayne and Gary Diede both served during the Vietnam era. The brothers were on-hand at the VFW post in Yankton to receive their challenge coins.

Wayne made a career out of the Army and National Guard, but never deployed to Vietnam. Gary followed in his brother’s footsteps and was deployed to the country.

“But, I’ve heard some horror stories from other veterans coming back, even when they couldn’t even get it, anything to eat in a restaurant,” said Gary Diede.

“I had a lot of good friends in the National Guard, that were former Vietnam, people that were in some tough times over there. I feel for them, because I know what affected them a lot of mentally,” said Wayne Diede.

Johnson’s stop was part of what he says is a nationwide effort between the U.S. House of Representatives and the Department of Defense to honor Vietnam era veterans.