Welcome home.

These are two such simple words, but they can mean the world to a veteran who never heard them uttered when he or she returned from war.

Vietnam veterans know this all too well.

That’s why Oxford American Legion Post 108, located at 130 E. Drahner Rd., is hosting a “Welcome Home” event for Vietnam-era veterans and their families on Sunday, Oct. 23 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“I plan to be here to personally greet everybody that comes in,” said Post 108 Commander Rick Moorhead, a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S. Navy.

The event is designed to be part of the U.S. “Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War.” Nationally, the commemoration period began on May 28, 2012 and it will continue until Nov. 11, 2025.

Every Vietnam-era veteran that comes to Post 108 that day will receive the federally-sanctioned lapel pin designed to “recognize, thank and honor” U.S. military veterans who served during the war.

Any U.S. military veteran who served on active duty at any time between Nov. 1, 1955 and May 15, 1975, regardless of location, is eligible to receive one lapel pin. Veterans who served in Vietnam, stateside or in some other theater can all receive one.

Approximately 2.7 million members of the U.S. Armed Forces actually served in Vietnam (or “in country”), according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. More than 58,000 were killed and 153,000 were wounded during the war.

Post 108 has 1,000 lapel pins to hand out.

“We don’t know exactly how many people are going to show up to this,” said Vietnam-era veteran Jim Parkhurst, past commander and curator of the post’s military museum.

“We’re not sure if we’re going to have 500 or 1,000. We may have 2,000. We’re going to give out everything we’ve got. If we need more pins, we’ll order more pins.”

Each veteran will also receive a copy of the 50th Anniversary Commemoration proclamation issued by President Barack Obama.

Veterans will receive these official items not from politicians looking for photo opportunities or seeking votes, but from fellow veterans, who understand what they went through and appreciate their sacrifices.

“I want to thank them,” Moorhead said.

Moorhead explained he was “one of the lucky ones” in Vietnam because, from January to July 1969, he served aboard the USS Enterprise, an aircraft carrier stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin. Planes flying support missions for ground troops were based on the ship.

“I always had a clean, dry bed to sleep in every night,” he said. “I had good meals to eat every day.”

Soldiers fighting in the jungles didn’t enjoy those luxuries. They often endured conditions that were miserable, harsh and dangerous.

That’s why Moorhead believes “those are the real heroes” and he wishes to express his gratitude for everything they went through.

After receiving their pin and proclamation, veterans and their families are invited to stay and enjoy an afternoon of free food, giveaways, live music and old-fashioned camaraderie. Oxford Middle School choir students, led by Director Jan Flynn, will be singing patriotic songs. There will also be bands playing music from the 1960s and early 1970s.

“We want to make them feel at home,” Parkhurst said. “A lot of businesses around Oxford and Orion have donated to this.”

Information regarding services and benefits for veterans will also be available at the event.

“A lot of guys are afraid to ask. This is an opportunity for them to talk to us,” said Parkhurst, who spent his Vietnam-era service with the U.S. Army in Korea, from January 1967 to June 1968. “If we don’t know the answer, we’ll get it for them.”

Both Parkhurst and Moorhead believe this “Welcome Home” event is long overdue.

“They never got the recognition the rest of our service people got when they came home from combat,” Moorhead said.

After World War II ended in 1945, servicemen and women returned home to massive parades and victory celebrations. Today, there’s no shortage of thanks and praise for veterans who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

But the Vietnam-era veterans experienced none of this when they came home because theirs was a long and controversial war that generated protests, social turmoil, violence and bitter divisions on the homefront.

“It was so unpopular, you didn’t tell people you were in the service,” Moorhead said. “You didn’t tell people you were over there because you were ridiculed, spit on, called baby-killers.”

“A lot of them were spit on at airports and cursed (at),” Parkhurst said. “Guys were coming home afraid to wear their uniforms. A lot of them still won’t talk about the war today.”

Moorhead believes people need to remember that “at the time,” the U.S. was doing what it “thought was the right thing” by fighting the communist forces of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army.

“In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t, but you can’t change history,” he said.

Parkhurst said it’s important for Vietnam-era veterans to remember the past is the past and “that struggle (over the war) doesn’t exist today.”

“We’re a community,” he said. “We help one another. We all work together.”