Recalling Vietnam, Veterans gather for 50th anniversary

A cold, heavy rain couldn’t stop hundreds of veterans and supporters from gathering on April 2 at the Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale to remember the Vietnam War five decades earlier.

Hostilities between the U.S. and North Vietnam erupted in 1965 when the National Liberation Front attacked an American base in South Vietnam, and retaliatory strikes were ordered. The conflict lasted 10 years. More than 58,000 Americans lost their lives, with nearly 41,000 killed in action, according to the National Archives.

The special ceremony celebrated all Vietnam veterans, including those who remain registered as missing in action and prisoners of war.

Pat Yngstrom, of North Merrick, the current North Bellmore Post 1749 commander, was a keynote speaker at Saturday’s ceremony. He addressed the crowd of veterans in uniform and thanked them for their service. He stressed the importance of getting tested for Vietnam era diseases and urged more research into the possible health effects of Agent Orange.

Yngstrom, a sergeant in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, was diagnosed with diabetes after serving in Vietnam from 1970 to 1973. “I’m the only one in my family who has diabetes right now,” Yngstrom said. “It’s the Agent Orange. It was used so much during my time in the war that I’m not surprised that all these veterans are getting diagnosed with diseases that don’t run in their family. I was surprised from my diagnosis, but it makes sense now.”

According to the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. military sprayed millions of gallons of the potentially cancer-causing herbicide to defoliate Vietnamese jungles and keep enemy forces from hiding in the brush. Fifty years later, the department states, concerns about the health effects of Agent Orange are intensifying, with thousands of Vietnam veterans diagnosed with aliments ranging from Hodgkin’s and Parkinson’s disease to diabetes.