Veterans gathered at the American Legion post in Hinesville on Saturday to thank those who helped bring the The Wall to the community – and to make a plea to remember those fought in the war The Wall recalls.

March 29 is Vietnam Veterans Day and Vietnam vets came to American Legion Post 168 to reflect and remember. That date is chosen is because the Military Assistance Command-Vietnam was shuttered on March 29, 1975, and the last U.S. troops were pulled out of Vietnam, making this year’s Vietnam Veterans Day the 50th anniversary of the end of America’s involvement.

More than 58,000 service members were killed in the Vietnam War, and their names are inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, known as “The Wall.” Another 150,000 service members were wounded.

Dennis Fitzgerald of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 789 praised the families on the home front during the Vietnam War.

“They played a great part because they allowed us to do our job without worrying what was going on back home,” he said. “The families are what gave us the strength to make it through over there.”

On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., Fitzgerald and others came across teenagers during a tour of the city’s memorials, the young people didn’t know anything about the Vietnam War.

“When you see your grandchildren, or your great-grandchildren, don’t let them forget the legacy of what Vietnam veterans have done,” he said. “If we don’t talk about it, it repeats itself.”

Fellow Vietnam vet Luis Carreras, who noted he is a history buff, remarked that Vietnamese Communist leader sought to end France’s dominion over Indochina following the end of World War I but was rebuffed. Communist forces defeated the French in 1954 and the country was split in two, with South Vietnam aligned with the West and North Vietnam ruled by Communists.

North Vietnamese forces overwhelmed the South in spring of 1975, leading to the capture of Saigon and the downfall of the South Vietnamese government.

“We need to keep remembering,” Carreras said.