Hero’s Welcome in the Works for Returning Troops

In contrast to two decades ago, when returning Vietnam War veterans seldom were accorded anything resembling a public welcome, U.S. troops coming home from the Persian Gulf can expect big, boisterous celebrations to honor them when they arrive.

Thursday, even before the Pentagon was ready to announce a schedule for returning the men and women of Desert Storm, political leaders and military commanders across the country were making plans and in some cases announcing them.

Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, a retired Marine Corps brigadier general, said he hoped the county would join local military bases in sponsoring a celebration.

“I’ve been thinking about what we in the county might want to do,” Riley said. “Bringing that many troops home at once, we ought to have quite a response.”

Officials from Santa Ana, San Clemente and Corona said that they too were contemplating welcome-home parades or other events.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Tom Bradley said that the city and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce would jointly host a parade, to be televised by Channel 5, down Hollywood Boulevard on May 19, to, in Bradley’s words, “offer a rousing welcome to the troops,” complete with movie stars and other celebrities.

“The war in the Persian Gulf has touched all of us,” said Bradley. “I know I join with millions of Los Angeles residents in wanting to provide a fitting tribute for our troops.”

In New York, Mayor David Dinkins appointed an official welcoming committee to organize a ticker-tape parade and asked the Navy if some of the 100 ships assigned to the Gulf hostilities could be routed home through New York Harbor.

Meanwhile, Leona Helmsley, owner of a firm that manages the Empire State Building, said she plans to switch to yellow the red, white and blue lights that have illuminated the building for the duration of the war. The yellow lights will serve as “a beacon of gratitude for the men and women in our armed forces who have served so bravely in the Middle East for the past seven months.”

San Francisco, long closely associated with both Army and Navy bases, was also planning a parade, although a spokesman for Mayor Art Agnos said details are not yet set. San Diego plans a parade down Broadway.

In Washington, a Marine Corps spokesman disclosed that planning began last Friday, one day before the ground campaign was even launched, for a public welcoming ceremony in the nation’s capital.

No details were given, but Lt. Gen. Thomas Kelly, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declared that Gulf veterans “are going to get a greater welcome home than the Vietnam vets got, and, God bless them, they deserve it.”

Such sentiments were greeted with some sarcasm at the Washington offices of Vietnam Veterans of America. Its legislative director, Paul Egan, said he wonders whether the American people in general and Congress in particular will retain their euphoria over the Gulf victory long enough to provide adequate financing for postwar veterans programs.

Troops returning from Vietnam “were regarded with derision,” Egan said. “I think the public confused its distaste with the policy in Vietnam with the men who fought for that policy. . . . There’s no question, the welcoming parades for our Gulf troops will be more appropriate.”

Orange County and city officials had as yet no firm parade plans, but were enthusiastic.

“We’re going to do something, we just have to,” said San Clemente City Council member Candace Haggard, a former mayor of the city that’s home to many Marines from Camp Pendleton.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young said the city is likely to “invite the families and military people who are from out city” to come on down to the City Council chambers for “a special recognition.”

A group of Corona residents say they plan to form a 3-mile human chain through the center of the city in what they have dubbed “Operation Welcome Home.”

“We’ve been working on this since the second day of the war,” said organizer Mary Conklin, a Corona flower and gift shop owner.

Nationwide, many military posts were also beginning Thursday to plan for homecomings. At Camp Pendleton a huge picnic for the first sizable contingent of returning troops reportedly will be held at a beach on the base often used for amphibious training exercises.

At the Long Beach Naval Station, family support groups were talking to Navy officials about joyous welcomes for returning ships, some of which have been gone from the base since last June, much longer than the usual six-month deployment.

At Ft. Riley, Kan., there were plans to exchange yellow ribbons that have been on display for red welcoming carpets for the troops.

Some more somber welcomes that had been planned, meanwhile, apparently will no longer be necessary. Last month, officials at Norton Air Force Base outside San Bernardino showed reporters a gymnasium filled with hospital cots, ready to serve as the main staging area for return of wounded combatants to the Western states. The facility never was used, and now orders are awaited to dismantle it, an Air Force spokesman said Thursday.