The date is significant because March 29, 1973, was the day the last American combat troops left South Vietnam and also the day North Vietnam released its final prisoners of war. According to the Veterans Affair Office of Research and Development and according to federal law, American military involvement began in February 1961 and ended in May 1975.

During this time frame, approximately 2.7 million Americans served their country with more than 58,000 killed and an estimated 300,000 wounded. The names of those killed in action or missing in action appear on a monument in Washington, D.C. dedicated on Veterans Day in 1982.

The U.S. Department of Defense states it is the most visited memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., with more than 5 million people paying their respects. While walking along the wall, visitors may find photos, letters, medals, flowers and other personal effects left as remembrances of those lost to the war. The National Park Service calls these donations and takes them, catalogs them and keeps the donations in storage.

Within the grounds are the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, the In Memory plaque, a flagpole with an etching of the insignia of the five branches of the military at the time and the statue of three servicemen.

Left to carry on after serving in Vietnam are not only the men and women in the United States who served but also the men and women who served from other countries and the people from Vietnam and surrounding countries who also experienced the effects of war.

Because of the dense foliage in South Vietnam, the U.S. military authorized the use of herbicides. The U.S. Government Accountability Office states that from August 1965 to 1971, the Department of Defense used Agent Orange to destroy foliage thus exposing the enemy. According to this government department, DOD sprayed 11.22 million gallons of undiluted Agent Orange in Vietnam. Another 8 million gallons of herbicides were also used.

The most toxic was Agent Orange containing dioxin, named because of the orange band around the barrel. Agent Orange was sprayed on the dense foliage by U.S. Air Force planes, helicopters, trucks or by soldiers carrying tanks of the spray. It was not unusual to be in the area during the spraying or in the aftermath. Millions of veterans were either covered by the herbicides, breathed in the air or slept on the treated ground.

Two agencies expressed concern about the use of defoliants: the Federation of American Scientists and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. But it wasn’t until the Department of Defense in 1968 announced a study to be conducted to determine the effects of the herbicides use that any action was taken to prevent their use.

After their tour of duty, millions of men and women returned to civilian life or continued to serve in the military. Some veterans were spit upon, called names and were generally harassed when they landed stateside.

But no Vietnam veteran can bury the psychological scars of war nor can any veteran.