Veterans pay tribute to colleagues past, present

Gary Eisenhower is a former Army sergeant with the finest of military pedigree, a relative of a retired general and U.S. president, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

But yesterday, Mr. Eisenhower, a 57-year-old Vietnam veteran, rolled into Washington for Veterans Day ceremonies in an unassuming bus along with 30 other members of the group VietNow. His plans for this week include paying respects to his cousin, Jack, who was killed in the war.

“His name is on the Vietnam Wall,” said Mr. Eisenhower, who had to identify his cousin’s body just 19 days before they were to return to the United States.

Five of the VietNow veterans who accompanied Mr. Eisenhower, including Sam Veer, 54, of Freeport, Ill., walked 820 miles to attend the inauguration of the Vietnam War Memorial on Veterans Day 1991.

Mr. Veer and Mr. Eisenhower’s stories are just two of the many that will be told today as hundreds of thousands of soldiers, former soldiers, proud parents, widows and others are expected to arrive in Washington for Veterans Day ceremonies.

David Wright, a teacher from Sordis, Ohio, brought wife Kelly; 17-year-old daughter, Collyn; and his father, Joseph Wright, to Arlington National Cemetery, especially to see President Bush lay the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Sgt. David Toothmor, 28, a bugler with the drum-and-bugle corps said it was his duty to “honor those who came before us.” And he described yesterday’s wreath-laying ceremony at the Iwo Jima Monument in honor of the U.S. Marine Corps’ 228th birthday as “very solemn and heartwarming.”

Emogene M. Cupp will spend today processing applications for a small but growing national organization that nobody wants to join.

The 83-year-old Mrs. Cupp helps run Gold Star Mothers Inc., a group that requires only that members be a mother who has lost a son or daughter in military service.

Mrs. Cupp lost her son, Robert, in Vietnam.

The D.C.-based group was formed about 80 years ago. More than 20,000 members belonged after World War II, but today there are fewer than 1,000.

However, Mrs. Cupp now finds herself putting in longer hours as new applications arrive from mothers whose sons or daughters were killed in Iraq.

“We never want the organization to get bigger,” she said. “Some mothers join right away. Others take longer. Every once in a while, we still get new ones from Vietnam. The mothers who lost [children] in Iraq seem to join right away.”

Rebecca Lalush joined after she lost her son, Michael, 23, in Iraq eight months ago in a helicopter crash. She is one of 17 members to join in the past few months.

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