Vietnam Vets honored at Kissimmee Veterans Day event

  • The Daughters of the American Revolution presented a “Missing Man” table at a Veteran’s Day event Saturday, honoring the soldiers who didn’t return home from Vietnam. See more Veterans Day photos on Page 16. PHOTO/TERRY LLOYD
    The Daughters of the American Revolution presented a “Missing Man” table at a Veteran’s Day event Saturday, honoring the soldiers who didn’t return home from Vietnam. See more Veterans Day photos on Page 16. PHOTO/TERRY LLOYD

Amidst Saturday’s traditional Veterans Day parade, held in downtown Kissimmee this year, a special ceremony was held to recognize and “welcome home “ some Osceola County Vietnam Veterans.

The Joshua Stevens Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) held a Vietnam Veteran pinning ceremony at Diane’s Tea Room. Sixteen Vietnam veterans were honored at the ceremony. A pin was presented to each of the veterans by past DAR Chapter Regent Leslie Beltz, a Vietnam veteran herself.

Scout Troop 175 of Orlando, FL posted the Colors (flags) to open the ceremony. DAR Service For Veterans Chair and Veteran, Lisa Heard, made a presentation on a Missing Man Table set up at the Tea Room for the ceremony. The display consisted of a small table with a single chair and one place setting that honors fallen, missing, or imprisoned military service members. The custom started out of concern for prisoners of war/missing in action (POW/MIA) during the Vietnam War years. Most of the POWS and missing from that war were military aviators, and the “missing man” formation refers to a special four-aircraft flyover during aviator funerals where one of the four aircraft pulls up rapidly out of formation, representing the fallen aviator, and continues skyward as the formation flies over the grave site.

Members of the DAR have traced an ancestor who was a patriot during the American Revolutionary War, and the organization is dedicated to honoring their revolutionary ancestors and promoting historic preservation, education, and patriotism in their communities. For more information on the DAR see https://bit.ly/49u9L1s Several Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) units from area high schools marched in Saturday’s parade, competing for drill honors. Tohopekaliga High School’s National Navy Defense Cadet Corps took top honors, while St. Cloud High School's Army JROTC unit came in second, and Harmony High School’s Army JROTC unit scored third.

For more photos of Veteran's Day events in Osceola County, click here.