MESA, AZ — The Veterans Day Parade along 1st Street in Mesa is a million miles and a lifetime away from the fire support base where then-20-year-old artillery gunner Daniel Maciel was stationed during the Vietnam war.
"I mean I had to go. But if I would have known the way we were going to be treated and the way we're still treated, I would have went to jail. I would have never gone," Maciel said.
Maciel was one of the veterans sprinkled into the crowd who came to watch the East Valley Veterans Parade Friday. Vietnam tested the soul of America.
Every day on the evening news, pictures of war appeared alongside the anti-war riots in U.S. cities. Caught in the middle, the GIs who were sent to fight.
Though we are not a nation at war, the fractious political climate of today is familiar.
"People are so divided now it's probably worse now than it was back in the days of Vietnam," said Al Forgacz, another veteran of the Vietnam war.
Veterans like Forgacz say they would do it again. Hank Woodrum wasn't in Vietnam but served in the U.S. Army in Germany. The son of an Air Force bomber pilot, his sense of duty was engrained early. "There is no question that's the way I was raised. You served, did what was asked of you and did the best you could. So yeah, I'd do it again."
Ronald Saum served in the Army as well during those times. "Looking back on it, it was difficult times but I'm glad I did. I would do it today again," Saum said.
Along the parade route, children, their parents and the vets look on with a sense of pride as military hardware made its way down the street with vintage aircraft flying above. The flags are waving, the marching bands playing. It adds up to a portrait of one people, one nation.
