Flags fly in Veterans Memorial Park on Memorial Day during a program in the park. Deirdre Cucinello touches the grave of her husband, Allan Cucinello, a Marine sergeant who served in Vietnam, during a Memorial Day ceremony at Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery near Slidell. As Memorial Day approaches, I remember the nearly 3.
5 million men and women who served honorably under challenging and difficult circumstances in southeast Asia and the 50,000 plus who gave their lives for their country. Vietnam veterans are honored with a symbolic black, granite wall with all the names of the fallen in Washington, D.C.
A separate, traditional memorial was also built as a tribute to our combat nurses. Local Vietnam veterans also are remembered in a beautiful memorial that proudly stands at the Superdome Plaza in honor of the 881 from Louisiana who died. As a combat-wounded Vietnam vet, I know how easy it is for the public to want to forget, move on and put some wars behind them.
But we must always remember our fallen heroes who stepped up since 9/11 when 19 terrorists hijacked four American airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing 2,977 people, including six from Louisiana. Since 9/11, nearly 2 million United States military personnel have been involved over 20 years as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, Operation Inherent Resolve and Operation Freedom’s Sent.