The Voice for Kitsap County’s Veterans, Active-Duty Personnel,
and their Families
Veterans Life
KitsapVeteransLife.com
IN THIS EDITION
March 2015
Finally, welcome home When they returned from Vietnam, most veterans were vilified. On March 30, they get a long-delayed embrace By RICHARD WALKER
M Honor your Vietnam vet page 3
On March 28, it’s all about you page 6-7
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any of them were 18 or 19 when they enlisted or were drafted. They were trained to fight in a far-off land, to stop communism from spreading into Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, all that is ugly about war — in this case, the Vietnam War — was broadcast into American living rooms for the first time. As the human and financial costs of the war grew, opinions collided — sometimes violently, in the U.S. capital, on college campuses and on city streets. When U.S. military personnel came home, many with injuries and memories that would still haunt them decades later, there was no welcome. “They were not treated like heroes as those who returned from Korea and World War II,” said State Rep. Norm Johnson, R-Toppenish. “Instead, they were portrayed as baby killers, warmongers and other things.… That had a traumatic effect on these soldiers that is still painful to these days as many of them refuse to talk about their experiences.” On March 30, nearly 40 years after the fall of Saigon and the end of the war, Washington state’s Vietnam War veterans are finally being welcomed home. State House Bill 1319, approved by the Legislature in spring 2014,
Flags and yellow roses were placed in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the Capitol campus in Olympia during a ceremony marking the signing of legislation establishing Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day. The observance is March 30. Washington State Republicans established March 30 of every year as “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” in Washington state. The bill, introduced by Johnson and co-sponsored by 38 state House members, was unanimously approved by the House and Senate in 2014 and was signed into law by
Gov. Jay Inslee in March that year. March 30 is not a public holiday but, rather, a day of public remembrance. “It is a day to think of these men and women who served and didn’t get the warmest welcome in the years that they came back,” Inslee
said at the signing ceremony. “Now, we want to double the warmth of welcoming them and thinking of their contribution to American democracy and freedom across the world.”’ See WELCOME, Page 2
At 97 years, Pearl Harbor veteran’s golf swing is still smooth By CAPT. TOM DANAHER, USN (ret.)
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Veterans Life
Frank Mattausch
BREMERTON — Bremerton resident Frank Mattausch, a Pearl Harbor survivor and local golf luminary, celebrated his 97th birthday Jan. 30 with a round of golf at Kitsap Golf and
Country Club. Mattausch (pronounced Ma-tosh) is one of the longesttenured active members of the club and spends a couple of days a week practicing his game there. Born in 1918, Mattausch’s actual birthday was Jan. 29, and he has been a member at Kitsap for more than 63 years. He was out on
the course playing on Jan. 30. “Frank is here nearly every day chipping and putting”, said Al Patterson, Kitsap’s club professional. “He is still pretty spry and is proud of his lifespan. He also has lots of interesting stories and a keen memory.” Mattausch was a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps at
Wheeler Army Base in central Oahu when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He recalls that U.S. forces were on alert a few weeks before the disaster, but a visit to Hawaii by a highranking Japanese dignitary eased tensions and the alert was cancelled. “We were in the barracks See GOLFER, Page 3