By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – As a nation, we may not have fully made peace with ourselves on Vietnam, even a half century after those who served came home.

“I think there is an acknowledgement and an understanding of the behavior that, although people for the most part exercising their First Amendment right,” says State Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez (R-Leland Grove), it did go beyond that in some cases, as in the accounts where people were spit on or threatened and these other things.”

Inspired by a constituent in his nineties, Jimenez is trying to establish either a one-time or annual salute to the Vietnam veterans.

Jimenez says even with the services and benefits currently available to veterans, it’s not enough, as the problems of PTSD, up to and including suicide, are a crisis.

Jimenez did not seek re-election and says she believes her successor will finish the work of bringing the resolution home in 2019, if it is not complete by the end of the current session.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]