Dozens of South Dakota's Vietnam veterans honored for combat service decades later

Rep. Dusty Johnson says treatment of Vietnam vets a blemish on nation's past

Dozens of Vietnam-era veterans received challenge coins and lapel pins Monday, Nov. 21, 2022 at the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance. Rep. Dusty Johnson handed out the awards. (Jonathan Ellis / The Dakota Scout)

When he flew home from a tour of duty in Vietnam, Jerry Yeazell said he traded the Viet Cong soldiers he’d fought against for war protesters who spit on him and threw tomatoes on his Marine Corps uniform.

Returning service members had been cautioned not to fight back, and Yeazell didn’t. But when he got home, his father, who had served in the Army Air Corps in World War II, inquired about why his uniform was stained.

“He would have fought back,” Yeazell said. “I didn’t. I kept it inside.”

Yeazell was among more than five dozen Vietnam-era veterans honored Monday by Rep. Dusty Johnson in a pinning ceremony. The veterans were given challenge coins and lapel pins that were engraved, “A grateful nation thanks and honors you for your service.”

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