The Long March Home

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"The experience was phenomenal," recalls Chapman, who served in Southeast Asia as a door gunner with the Army's 123rd Aviation Battalion, Aeroscout Company. "There were thousands along the parade route who shook our hands and yelled ‘thank you' and ‘welcome home' as we passed in review. People were crying, laughing and hugging. Veterans who had been standing cautiously on the sidelines were climbing over the barriers and joining the parade. No one expected anything like this."

For Santana, who has undergone 15 spinal surgeries due to a combat injury, the celebration was truly a life-changing event. The former Marine served as a machine gunner in the 1st Marine's 5th Battalion Bravo Company.

"When I came home from Vietnam, and they told me I had risked my life for nothing, it was very disheartening. A lot of survivors wished we hadn't survived because of the way we were treated. A lot of veterans out there still need healing and support," he said. "This celebration gave me back my sense of pride. It made me feel the way I did when I graduated from the Marines Corps."

Both men returned home to California knowing each needed to share the healing each experienced in Las Vegas by developing a celebration in their own state. Supported by their wives, Linda Santana, a journalist, and Ingrid Chapman, a public relations executive, the two veterans did exactly what Mike Jackson had been dreaming of – they took the vision and ran with it.

Now an author and Executive Director Emeritus of the National Aviation HOF, Mike Jackson here as a US Air Force combat pilot in Vietnam.

On November 11, 2006 the Antelope Valley will be the location of what could be the biggest Vietnam welcome home yet. The organizers are working with state and local officials to develop a huge parade honoring Vietnam veterans from across the country, in addition to all those who serve America. A web site has been created to promote the event and update the rapidly expanding list of sponsors and participants, www.AVWelcomeHome.com. It's a time-consuming job but Chapman is quick to say, "if we can help one veteran find peace, all of our efforts will be worth it."

On the other side of the country, in the quiet mid-western town of Tipp City, Ohio, Mike Jackson is helping to promote the celebration and is looking forward to his Nov. 8 flight to California, where he will finally offer a heartfelt "welcome home" to the two men who are keeping his dream alive.

"They are doing everything right, from spotlighting the veterans and their sacrifice to making certain that any profits from the event will go to support the local veterans home," the disabled vet reflected. "This is what we envisioned. This is what I wasn't sure could ever happen. Las Vegas gave Operation Welcome Home its legs – but Gary and Ray are giving it heart!"

For Jackson, the seminal moment in last year's Las Vegas event was when a grateful veteran from Oklahoma shoved a note into his hand that read simply "thank you for bringing me home." Ray Santana echoed that sentiment recently when he said, "I completed my Marine duties in Vietnam on June 11, 1969, but I didn't begin the long march home until Nov. 11, 2005."