Honor Vietnam War vets now to make up for when Fort Worth forgot | Opinion<\/p>\n
Fort Worth has a debt to repay.<\/p>\n
We still owe our Vietnam War veterans.<\/p>\n
We ignored them when they came home. We even canceled a Veterans Day parade.<\/p>\n
It was one of the most shameful moments in the history of a city built on defending America. After only a few scant onlookers turned out in 1980, the 1981 parade was canceled for \u201clack of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Make it up to the Vietnam veterans this week. Go to the parade<\/a> down Main Street<\/a> at 11 a.m. Nov. 11.<\/p>\n This year ends the 50-year tribute to our heroes from that war.<\/p>\n They were the patriots America forgot.<\/p>\n The 1980 parade had only drawn about 200 people to then-dank and depressing downtown Fort Worth on a chilly, damp Saturday.<\/p>\n Coy French, commander of a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, described the crowd as \u201cwinos sitting on the curb and a few construction people.\u201d<\/p>\n The TCU football team was playing a home game. But the Horned Frogs were 0-8 and only filled half their stadium.<\/p>\n More than 2,000 veterans and 45 units of bands and color guards paraded past two blocks of chain-link fences and barricades for what would become the Worthington Hotel and Sundance Square.<\/p>\n But the rest of Main Street was still lined with rundown hotels and seedy bars.<\/p>\n Parade chairman Doyle Willis Sr., a decorated World War II veteran and former Texas state senator, said sadly that people must be watching \u201ctelevised football games\u201d or out golfing or fishing.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople used to come from all over the county,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just breaks my heart,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The parade crowds and patriotic spirit had been declining since World War II, and moreso in the 1970s. We still had conflicting emotions about Vietnam.<\/p>\n The embarrassment spurred Fort Worth to action. By the next February, a new parade was organized for 1982.<\/p>\n Gov. Mark White led the way, and a crowd of 5,000 lined Main Street.<\/p>\n The parades began in jubilation in 1919, when Fort Worth celebrated the one-year anniversary of the end of the first World War and welcomed back the heroes from U.S. Army Camp Bowie. Until 1954, the holiday was named Armistice Day.<\/p>\n The parade down Main Street Nov. 11 is dedicated to Vietnam veterans.<\/p>\n This year ends the 50-year tribute<\/a> to those who served before 1975.<\/p>\n Fort Worth and Tarrant County are also raising money for a memorial<\/a> to 237 heroes who died in Vietnam.<\/p>\nNov. 11, 2015: Ken Cox, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant, salutes during the National Anthem during a Veterans Day parade in downtown Fort Worth. Rodger Mallison\/Star-Telegram <\/p>\n