FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Nearly 50 years ago, the last remaining US troops withdrew from Vietnam.
Tuesday, those who served and died were remembered in Frankfort.
The ceremony is part of the national day of remembrance for Vietnam veterans celebrating the 125,000 Kentuckians who were deployed for the war. Of those more than 1,100 died.
Their names are now memorialized in granite as a sundial that points to each name.
“When they came home, there was a bad image of the Vietnam Veterans,” says veteran Larry Arnett. “As we talked about here today, they came back and joined the world just like everyone else."
The Kentucky Vietnam veterans memorial is one of the largest granite memorials in the nation.
"I've never been ashamed of what I did,” says veteran Randall McCombs. “But this makes it a whole lot easier. It makes it a whole lot better. It makes you realize people do understand a little bit about what you did."
The memorial was built back in 1988 and overlooks the state capitol.
