BERRYVILLE — Members of the American Legion Post 41 who served in the Vietnam War were honored Saturday evening at the organization’s awards and appreciation dinner.
About 200 people attended the event, which was held at the John H. Enders Fire Company in Berryville.
The longstanding local veterans organization — named in honor of U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Lloyd W. Williams, the first Clarke County man to be killed in World War I — has 88 members who served during the Vietnam War.
While not all could attend Saturday’s ceremony, each veteran was awarded a commemorative lapel pin for their service.
Among them was Post 41 Commander Robert Ferrebee, who served with the famed 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970.
Ferrebee said when he returned home from the war, he was met by protesters bearing signs calling him a baby killer.
The icy welcome, however, has not caused him to bear any grudges. And it certainly did not evoke a sense of shame.
“I’m proud of my military service,” Ferrebee said. “And I’m proud to be a Vietnam veteran.”
Ferrebee on Saturday also chose to highlight three Clarke County men who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War.
Sgt. Ronald Lee Holtzman, of White Post, died Aug. 25, 1967, when the UH-1 Huey helicopter he was flying in crashed into a river. At 20 years old, Holtzman was a machine gunner and crew chief with the 119th Aviation Company, 52nd Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group based out of Pleiku Airfield in South Vietnam.
Pfc. Lewis Franklin Jenkins, of Berryville, had only arrived in Vietnam with the 1st Infantry Division less than two months earlier when, on July 11, 1967, he was killed in a rocket and mortar attack. He was just 19.
With only two days to go before his tour of duty in Vietnam was set to end, Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Morris Woodward, 24, was a passenger aboard an armored personnel carrier that struck a 500-pound land mine on Feb. 28, 1970. The blast killed the Berryville resident, along with the rest of the men on board.
“No event in American history was more misunderstood than the Vietnam War,” Post 41 Adjutant and Vietnam veteran Charles Renner said, quoting former President Richard Nixon on Saturday during his presentation at the event.
“It was misreported then and it is mis-remembered now,” Renner continued. “Never before have so many people been so wrong about so much, and never have the consequences been so tragic.”
— Contact Christopher Earley at cearley@winchesterstar.com
