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Vietnam-Era Veterans
Longmont Daily Times-Call As if an omen, the marching cadence of "Pomp And Circumstance," which escorted the Longmont High School Class of 1964 into their graduation ceremonies before proud families and friends, had hardly droned to a finish when some of its patriotic young men were enlisting in the service of their country The Vietnam conflict had escalated steadily since 1957 and U.S. involvement was forcing draft boards to increase their quotas. Kenneth Stetson, married two short months to his high school sweetheart, Janet Yeager, was among one to enlist. He had an older brother, Everett, in the Marines and figured the draft would get him anyway, so he enlisted in the Marines in August, 1965. "They (Kenneth and his wife) discussed it and decided they wanted to get his service behind him before starting their family," said his mother, Eleanor Stetson Hendrickson. The family never happened. Kenneth was killed in Vietnam on February 17, 1968, a month after his 22nd birthday. It was three days before his mother was informed of his death because she had just undergone major surgery. When she did learn her son had died for her country, she thought how horrible it was that history kept repeating itself. "My mother lost a son in World War II, and her mother lost a son in World War I," she said as the tears welled in her eyes. Kenneth's father, the late Lester Stetson (who died on his son's birthday five years later) never got over it. "I think it was all very useless," Mrs. Hendrickson said of the Vietnam conflict. "Nothing was ever gained by it: it was a political thing." Instead of a joyous return from the war, the young soldier's family wept as they greeted his Vietnam buddy, Jerry Dodd, who accompanied his friend home for the last time. What remains for Mrs. Hendrickson are cherished memories of a son who "was always so good" and an oft-scanned album of photos of Kenneth in high school, at proms, graduation and finally in his Marine uniform, and snapshots of him with his buddies in Vietnam. The finality of it all hits home as one sees the telegrams informing his mother of her son's death. -------------------------------------------------------------------
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Longmont High Trojans Longmont Colorado Class of 1965 Copyright © 1999 All rights reserved. |
