Vietnam Vets given tribute as new memorial opens at The Museum of Flight

SEATTLE -- The Vietnam Veteran's Return Home was the focus of a Saturday dedication at Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park.

The new memorial featured a restored Cold War-era B-52 bomber.

"It’s fun to see, thank you,” said Tim Adderson, a Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient. “That means something. That's special."

"It means a lot, most of us didn't have this moment when we thought it would have happened,"
said Ron Deady, a Vietnam veteran and former B-52 pilot. "We tried hard to win that war. We did our best."

"That's why we call it Welcome Home,” Jim Farmer explained. “Welcome home, because we were never thanked."

For Farmer, a Vietnam veteran and chair of the project, this moment is 26 years in the making.
That's how long the B-52 bomber sat at Everett's Paine Field before he helped launch the effort to restore it and find it a permanent home.

"It's been a magnificent day,” he said. “Positive energy, it's just thrilling."

Farmer flew B-52's in the Vietnam War. His last mission in December of 1972 led to the release of 591 American POWs, including Joe Crecca of North Bend.

And from those more removed from the worst of the Vietnam War experience, a special salute was presented for all the effort it took to open this very important memorial.