EVENT
‘Nobody Else Does’ Retired colonel honors fellow Vietnam veterans BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Sound of Freedom Executive Editor
R
etired Col. Joe Abodeely does not mince words when he speaks about the Vietnam War. He’s tired of the mistreatment of Vietnam veterans. He’s frustrated that these soldiers and airmen are not remembered accurately nor often. “We celebrate all the other veterans,”
At Arizona’s Vietnam Veterans Dinner, retired Col. Joe Abodeely will show a video about the Air Cavalry Division and the Marines at Khe Sanh. (Photo courtesy of Retired Col. Joe Abodeely)
says the Maricopa resident. “We do all this stuff for Memorial Day. We don’t say anything positive about those who served in Vietnam. It infuriates me. I’m a Vietnam veteran and I’m proud of it. I try to honor those guys who served in Vietnam.” For 10 years, the former Maricopa County deputy county attorney has hosted Arizona’s Vietnam Veterans Dinner with the Arizona Military Museum, a Vietnam War Commemoration Partner. Abodeely runs the Arizona Military Museum and heads there on Wednesdays. The $50 tickets are on sale for the Saturday, October 2, dinner at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, 7200 N. Scottsdale Road. It begins with a no-host bar at 5:30 p.m. followed by 6:30 p.m. seating and 7 p.m. program. To purchase tickets, make checks payable to Arizona Military Museum for $50 per person and mail check to Arizona Military Museum, 9014 N. Wealth Road, Maricopa, before September 24. Guests are Retired Col. Joey Strickland, the veterans affairs secreasked to legibly print names, tary for the state of Louisiana, is the keynote speaker. addresses and contact phone (Photo courtesy of the state of Louisiana) numbers of attendees.
24
Sound of Freedom | JULY/AUGUST 2021
Retired Col. Joey Strickland, veterans affairs secretary for the state of Louisiana, is the keynote speaker. “He is a true friend of all veterans,” Abodeely says. Educating the public Abodeely, who turns 78 in July, is a Tucson native, who studied at UA. After he graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, he changed his course of study from law school to business. “In those days, if you changed your course of study, you’re in the Army now. I was sent to the Fort Benning School for Boys,” he says in jest. Eventually, he received his orders to go to Vietnam in January 1968 in the 1st Air Cavalry Division during the Tet Offensive. According to his biography, he was an infantry lieutenant with the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). The 1st Air Cav, as they called themselves, was the only airmobile division and the first full Army Division deployed to Vietnam. “It was a new concept for the Army deployment of light infantry troops, their artillery fire support, supplies and equipment — primarily by helicopter,” he says. “We had mobility and firepower that the other Army units simply did not have.” Upon his return, he earned a juris doc-
