FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Two hundred Vietnam veterans filed along the half-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at a half step until the first one reached the end of the monument. They executed a right face and placed their right hands on the wall. There was silence for the next few moments until the group leader called out, "Keep your hand on the wall until the man next to you welcomes you home."
One by one, starting on the left, each veteran turned to his comrade to the right and either shook his hand or gave him a hug and welcomed him home.
Everyone who witnessed this solemn ceremony at the Moving Wall display outside Gate 1 seemed deeply moved. No one moved or made a sound until the veterans' observance was complete.
Veterans of the National Dusters, Quad 50s and Searchlights Association (NDQSA) capped their reunion tour to Colorado Springs with a visit to Fort Carson June 12, 2015.
"Every time we meet we do a memorial in one matter or another to honor those guys that we lost," said Retired Sgt. Maj. Paul D. Hanson, NDQSA past president. "We do this to honor the guys that we lost, the 58,000 guys that are here on the wall."
NDQSA is a veterans group made up of Air Defense Artillery Soldiers who served in the Republic of Vietnam from 1966-1973.
Most members served in the twin 40 mm "Duster" self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, Quad 50-caliber machine guns and Searchlight units. There are members that served in Hawk medium-range surface-to-air missile and Military Assistance Command-Vietnam units, and the Vulcan Gatling gun test platoon. The Dusters and Quads escorted road sweeps and convoys. They took part in offensive operations and defended combat bases to include Khe Sanh, Hue and many others. The Searchlight teams protected firebases at night with "white light" and infrared illumination. This often made them the number one target of the attacking force.
"We gave our brothers … the guys that were around us, we gave them our lives every day, every night, (and) they handed it back to us. The next day we went on another mission and we handed (our lives) back to them. If they couldn't protect our back, and if I couldn't protect their back, they didn't come home," Hanson said.
The numbers 211 and one are important to members of the NDQSA. The number 211 represents the Soldiers lost in Vietnam and the one honors Sgt. Michael W. Stout, Company C, 1st Battalion, 44th Artillery Regiment. He is the only ADA Soldier to be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Vietnam. Stout's Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously.
The veterans began their visit with lunch at the Elkhorn Conference Center. There Col. Timothy J. Daugherty, deputy commander, 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson, and the 4th Inf. Div. and Fort Carson Command Sgt. Maj. Michael A. Crosby addressed them.
Then the NDQSA veterans traveled to Founders Field to visit with an old friend, the M42 Duster. Founders Field has the installation's largest static display of vehicles used in prior wars by 4th Inf. Div. Soldiers.
The veterans were excited to see the Duster again. For many, this was the first time they saw the vehicle since Vietnam.
"You have a closeness that is unlike any organization I was ever with, and I was in the Army for 22 years," said Hanson. "Combat does something with a group of people that is not something you can get from anything else. They will never have friends like the guys they go to war with. Your training is something, although painful, boring and ugly and sometimes seems stupid. It is the thing you fall back on when someone starts slinging lead in your direction."
Hanson had a few words to share with today's Soldiers.
"The more you can learn about the people next to you, the better. The more you can let them know about you, the better," he said. "You are trying to keep your guys alive that are next to you. If you can do that, our chances of coming home are really, really good."
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