It has been five decades since the 1st Infantry Division received orders to deploy to Vietnam, and while the Soldiers who served with the 16th Infantry Regiment during the conflict will never forget it, the regiment's association has ensured that future generations will always remember those who fought.
On May 1, the 16th Infantry Regiment Association dedicated the 16th Infantry Vietnam Monument on the grounds of Fort Riley's U.S. Cavalry Museum. Veterans from across the country attended the ceremony, part of the Department of Defense's Vietnam War 50th Anniversary Commemoration program.
"Today we remember the heroic efforts of over 8,000 Soldiers of the 16th Infantry Regiment who served in the Republic of Vietnam," retired Lt. Col. John Schatzel, adjutant of the association, said, "and especially the 565 who perished there between 1965 and 1970 in an effort to bring freedom, peace and stability to that war-torn area."
In 1965, the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment -- then part of 2nd Brigade, 1st Inf. Div. -- became the first element of the regiment to deploy to South Vietnam.
"We have installed a number of monuments, bronze plaques and stone tablets in various locations literally around the world commemorating the efforts and sacrifices of 16th Infantry Soldiers who answered their nation's call," said retired Lt. Col. Steven Clay, president of the 16th Infantry Regiment Association. "This year, it was a foregone conclusion for the board to decide to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the regiment's participation in the Vietnam conflict."
Soldiers of the 16th Regiment earned two Medals of Honor, 10 Distinguished Service Crosses and 11 campaign streamers during the conflict.
"Fifty years ago, you all know that our nation was in some turmoil -- there was a contentious war, there was political and cultural upheaval and there was unrest in the streets," said Brig. Gen. Eric J. Wesley, 1st Infantry Division senior mission commander. "Soldiers became a lightning rod for blame and criticism by the way they were treated, and in some ways, by the way they were not treated."
Wesley said that while today in the United States there are contentious views on two wars and some political and cultural discord, Soldiers are the hope in this era.
"Fourteen years of war, and you walk into any airport in this uniform, someone is going to walk up to you and say 'thank you for your service,'" the senior mission commander said. "After Vietnam, our nation went through a national catharsis and then learned some massive lessons from that era.
"It's as if our very culture, the national culture, learned this: that whatever the policy, that whatever the conflict, that whatever the war, it is not the Soldier to whom we hold account."
Wesley said active-duty Soldiers directly benefited from the efforts of Vietnam-era veterans.
"If someone thanks you in an airport for your service, it's the veterans in this audience who own the pathway of endurance that produced it," he said. "We had to go through a period like that to become the Army we are today."
Wesley joined members of the 16th Infantry Regiment Association in unveiling the black granite memorial in its permanent spot near Cavalry Parade Field.
"I am the luckiest guy that ever walked," said retired Brig. Gen. David C. Martin, last commander of the 1st Bn., 16th Inf. Regt., in Vietnam. "Every Soldier I saw was there to fight. Everyone understood the rules of the game. And everyone understood that we're second to nobody."
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