Vietnamese American Cadet Association Visits DC

Over Veterans Day Weekend, the Vietnamese American Cadet Association traveled to Washington D.C. to read names at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall, attend a reception in honor of Maya Lin, the architect for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, visit Arlington National Cemetery, and experience Vietnamese culture. During the Friday night reception for Maya Lin, the cadets met not only the architect, but also former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, former Second Lady Jill Biden, and a number of West Point Graduates who served in the Vietnam War. Three representatives of the Naval Academy Vietnamese Association joined them. After the reception, both the Cadets and Midshipmen traveled to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial where they participated in reading the names of Soldiers who had been killed during the Vietnam War in honor of Veterans Day. They were assigned seven blocks containing 30 names each, or 210 casualties over all, covering a period from March 15, 1971 to March 29, 1971. On Saturday, the Vietnamese American Cadet Association visited Arlington National Cemetery, stopping at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, President Kennedy’s grave, and attending a wreath laying ceremony at General Pershing’s grave. Finally, the Cadets received several historically focused briefings. LTC Siry provided some background on the importance of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and discussed some of the casualties whose names the cadets would recite at the Wall. Professor Hinnershitz, an immigration specialist, discussed Vietnamese immigration, and CPT Clason, who previously served with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (currently the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) mission in Vietnam, provided a briefing on the normalization of relations between Vietnam and the United States.