CHESTERTOWN — With a firm handshake, Emerson Cotton of Rock Hall, left, and Peter Sweetser of Chestertown acknowledge one another’s service to country during the Memorial Day program here on Monday, May 26.
Cotton served in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1967, including a tour in Vietnam, while Sweetser served in the Marine Reserves for six years stateside as a helicopter crew chief during the war.
The two formed a fast friendship four years ago when Kent County began its annual observance of March 29 as Vietnam War Veterans Day.
The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017, signed into law by President Donald Trump in his first term, designates March 29 as National Vietnam War Veterans Day to thank and honor veterans and their families for their service and sacrifices.
This special day joins six other military-centric annual observances: Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, Navy Day and Veterans Day.
The date of March 29 was chosen to be observed in perpetuity because March 29, 1973 was the day the last U.S. troops left South Vietnam.
Around this same day, Hanoi, then the capital of North Vietnam, released the last of its acknowledged prisoners of war.
— Photo by Trish McGee
