Friday was celebrated as National Vietnam Veterans Day, and in Winthrop, there's a man who says that for the last 50 years, there's not a day that goes by that he doesn't think about his service overseas.
Richard Honan of Winthrop sends Christmas care packages to troops serving around the world, and is also an accomplished artist whose drawings and photos capture the emotion and isolation of war.
"Not a day goes by that I don't think of that place and the lasting effect it left on me and those that served in Vietnam," Honan wrote. "Eleven years of combat left their imprint on a generation. Thousands returned home bearing shrapnel and scars; still more were burdened by the invisible wounds of post-traumatic stress, of Agent Orange, of memories that would never fade."
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On March 29, 1973, the last of the United States' troops left Vietnam, with 2019 marking 46 years since the troops left.
"Yet, in one of the war's most profound tragedies, many of these men and women came home to be shunned or neglected -- to face treatment unbefitting their courage and a welcome unworthy of their example," Honan said. "We must never let this happen again.”