Pieces of Kings Mountain History

Monday, January 23, marked the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s speech to the nation announcing the agreement to end the war in Vietnam. At that time, I was just 12 years old and had watched accounts of the war through the lens of CBS News, with commentary from Walter Cronkite.

LORETTA COZART

Looking back, it was such sad news for one of such a tender age. I vividly remember watching live reports from the battlefield of correspondent Dan Rather, who often shared his stories while crouched in a ditch near the fighting.

The night of President Nixon’s speech, my husband’s father came to him crying, and told him he would not have to serve in Vietnam. That conversation made an indelible mark upon my husband and is a conversation that he will never forget.

Before the cease fire, daily we heard of the increasing war casualty numbers from the safety of our living rooms. It was a scary time and I remember worrying for my brothers, too. Our nation was at war, and both were approaching draft age.

Here are a few excerpts from President Nixon’s speech that day: “At 12:30 Paris time today, January 23, 1973, the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam was initialed by Dr. Henry Kissinger on behalf of the

United States, and Special Adviser Le Duc Tho on behalf of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam [North Vietnam]. . . . [T]he United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam [South Vietnam] express the hope that this agreement will ensure stable peace in Vietnam and contribute to the preservation of lasting peace in Indochina and Southeast Asia.”

President Nixon continued his speech, but America had heard what it needed to hear: the fighting in Vietnam had ended.

I cannot imagine what the families of the sons and daughters serving in Vietnam might have felt at this news.

Moreover, I cannot imagine what the families of those who were lost during the war were going through. The thought of that is utterly heartbreaking.

In 1982, when the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. was dedicated, 57,939 members of U.S. armed forces were listed as having died or were missing because of the war. Over the following years, additions to that list brought the total past 58,200.

Closer to home, Kings Mountain lost ten men who died during the Vietnam War. Let us not forget them and the heartache their families felt. We call being killed in action (KIA) the “ultimate sacrifice.” I suppose that is accurate, but everyone in a family who loses a family member to war feels that loss personally. It is real, and they are reminded daily of it …. at dinner, at birthdays, at