Veterans of the Vietnam War listen to speeches March 22, 2025, during the final Vietnam War Commemoration ceremony in Ansbach, Germany. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

ANSBACH, Germany — American Vietnam veterans living in Bavaria passed the torch to the next generation over the weekend during an emotional ceremony in southern Germany.

The final Vietnam War Commemoration, one week before National Vietnam War Veterans Day on March 29, was held Saturday in Hangar 2 at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach.

The annual event was designed to be held for 10 years until this year’s 50th anniversary of the end of combat operations in Southeast Asia, with subsequent Memorial Day ceremonies dedicated to veterans from the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The day was bittersweet as veterans remembered fallen comrades and reflected on their poor treatment when they returned home.

Kenneth Aungst, an 88-year-old veteran who completed three tours in Vietnam and organized the event, remembered two soldiers who worked with him, Army staff sergeants Robert Griffith and Melvin Dye. They were killed when their UH-1H Iroquois helicopter was shot down in Laos just a couple of weeks before they were supposed to head home.

“They took [a rocket-propelled grenade] to the left, rear, fuel cell,” he said during the ceremony. “They came home 43 years later.”

He broke down.

“Their pictures are over there on the wall,” he added.

Vietnam War veterans stand and are recognized with a round of applause at the final Vietnam War Commemoration ceremony at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach, Germany, on March 22, 2025. Future veterans’ events will pivot to honor veterans of the Gulf War, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Vietnam veteran Kenneth Aungst, left, uses a saber to cut the cake alongside Army Col. Ryan Kendall, commander of the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach's final Vietnam War Commemoration in Ansbach, Germany, on March 22, 2025. Future veterans' events will pivot to honor veterans of the Gulf War, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Around 200 members of the garrison community gathered in Hangar 2 at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach, Germany, on March 22, 2025, for their final Vietnam War Commemoration ceremony. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Attendees line up for food at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach's final Vietnam War Commemoration ceremony in Ansbach, Germany, on March 22, 2025. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Jazz Symak, a member of Ansbach Middle High School's drill team, tosses her rifle in the air during a rousing performance at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach's final Vietnam War Commemoration, held in Hangar 2 on March 22, 2025, in Ansbach, Germany. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Army Master Sgt. Kenneth Edra, who served two tours in Iraq in 2007 and 2009, said he was humbled to be in the presence of the Vietnam veterans. Edra is non-commissioned officer in charge of the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Soldiers’ Chorus, which offered a vocal tribute to their predecessors.

“When I got deployed to Iraq and came back, I got all the privilege, the honor, of coming home, and our Vietnam veterans didn’t get to do that,” he said. “Now, we are giving back to them.”

U.S. involvement in the conflict in Vietnam began in the early 1950s when American advisors were sent to support the non-communist government of South Vietnam against northern forces supported by China. U.S. combat troops were heavily engaged in action from 1965 to their withdrawal in 1973. The war ended in 1975.

Over the next eight years, more than 3.4 million American service members were deployed to Southeast Asia, according to the VA. There are 58,281 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. to honor those who died in the conflict, as of May 2021.

Approximately 200 people packed into the empty hangar on a cool, sunny Saturday for the ceremony. They were welcomed by Col. Aaron Southard, the garrison commander, who called the conflict “one of the most challenging chapters” in U.S. history.

After food and musical performances, the handful of Vietnam veterans in attendance were asked to stand and be recognized. The applause was amplified throughout the cavernous space.

Dwight Johnson, the Europe department commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars who served two tours with the 101st Airborne, teared up as he tried to put in words what the ceremony meant to him.

“When I came back, they called us ‘baby killers,’” he said. “The only way we can honor our history is to have ceremonies like this, so civilians know what we went through. It means so much.”