By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – As the wind gently blew across the Cherokee Veterans Park, in Cherokee, N.C., on the overcast morning of Saturday, March 29, Warren Dupree’s voice rang out, “There are no noble wars. There are only noble warriors.”
Dupree, an elder of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a Vietnam War veteran, was speaking at a National Vietnam War Veterans Day event hosted by the Steve Youngdeer American Legion Post 143 of which he is commander.
Warren Dupree, an elder of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a veteran of the Vietnam War, speaks during a National Vietnam War Veterans Day event hosted by the Steve Youngdeer Post 143 at the Cherokee Veterans Park in Cherokee, N.C. on the morning of Saturday, March 29. Dupree serves as Post 143 commander. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photos)
“For most Americans who read this or hear this, they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. And to those of us who survived that war, and to the families of those who did not, we still see the faces. We feel that pain that these numbers created. And we are, until we, too, pass away, will be haunted by these numbers because they were our friends, our fathers, husbands, wives, sons, and daughters.”
According to the U.S. Army, as of March 26, 2025, “About 5.4 million Vietnam veterans are alive today. About 500 Vietnam veterans die every day; many reside in hospices and long-term care facilities.”
According to the National Park Service, of which the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC is a unit, there are 58,318 names inscribed of men and women who died during the Vietnam War.
Two of those were members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians including: PFC John Edward Oocomma, U.S. Army, who was killed in action on Feb. 16, 1967 in the Kontum Province; and Sgt. John Decatur Burgess, U.S. Army, who was killed in action on April 18, 1969 in the Quang Tri Province.
Dupree said, “The Vietnam War lasted 12 years plus and caused tremendous suffering all because of political ideology. That is madness.”
He added, “We, as young men and women, were either drafted or voluntarily joined the military at 18 and 19 years old. We were raised by World War II veterans, and we were taught patriotism. We were taught love of this great nation. But, in Vietnam it all came apart for so many people. And those who survived, ladies and gentlemen, we bear the scar tissue. Each and every one of us relive the horrors and the nightmares.”
Dupree gave some statistics of names inscribed on the Wall including:
- The first known American casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon who was killed in action on June 8, 1956. His son, Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, is also on the Wall as he was killed in action on Sept. 7, 1965.
- There are three sets of fathers and sons inscribed on the Wall.
- Of those on the Wall, 33,996 were 22-years-old or younger with 8,283 being 19; 33,103 being 18, 12 being 17, 5 being 16, and 1 being 15.
- A total of 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam and 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day.
- There are a total of 51 names on the Wall from western North Carolina (Qualla Boundary and Swain, Jackson, Macon, Cherokee, Haywood, and Clay counties)
Dupree went on to say, “We, as brothers and sisters in arms, we know what service is and we know sacrifice and we know hardship…we’re here to serve our community – our veterans. When we came home from Vietnam, we were treated worse than an animal. Why? We were young men and women. We volunteered to serve. We volunteered to do our duty, to be treated so badly by our nation. And, it still hurts.”
He concluded by saying, “We served our country in strength and honor, always, in everything that we do. And now we serve our community, our people.”
President Barack Obama issued a proclamation on March 29, 2012 proclaiming the day as Vietnam Veterans Day. The proclamation states in part, “On Jan. 12, 1962, United States Army pilots lifted more than 1,000 South Vietnamese service members over jungle and underbrush to capture a National Liberation Front stronghold near Saigon. Operation Chopper marked America’s first combat mission against the Viet Cong, and the beginning of one of our longest and most challenging wars. Through more than a decade of conflict that tested the fabric of our Nation, the service of our men and women in uniform stood true.”
It continued, “Our veterans answered our country’s call and served with honor, and on March 29, 1973, the last of our troops left Vietnam. Yet, in one of the war’s most profound tragedies, many of these men and women cam home to be shunned or neglected – to face treatment unbefitting their courage and a welcome unworthy of their example. We must never let this happen again.”
Five years later, President Donald Trump signed into law the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 that officially established March 29 annually as National Vietnam War Veterans Day.
