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Chicago Vietnam Veterans' Welcome Home Parade

By Mike Woloshin

Chicago's Vietnam Veterans' Welcome Home Parade, held 11 years after the end of the war, on June 13, 1986, was the largest of its kind in US history and served as a long-delayed, overdue emotional and therapeutic healing event for Vietnam Veterans. The estimated turnout was 176,000 to 250,000 veterans and family members. The five-hour route ran from Navy Pier to Michigan Ave., to Wacker Dr., to LaSalle St., then south on LaSalle and east to Grant Park.

The VVAW Chicago and Milwaukee Chapters, along with some lapsed members and members of other Chapters, turned out in force, with an estimated 120 marchers. As we passed the reviewing stand on LaSalle St., where Mayor Harold Washington and General William Westmoreland reviewed the marching vets, we chanted, "Since we're here, we'd like to say, thanks for giving us this day," to avoid embarrassing Mayor Washington and saying what we really thought of Westmoreland.

Like the rest of the VVAW contingent, I began marching from Navy Pier, then split off at LaSalle and Randolph to help staff the VVAW Hospitality Suite in the Allegro (formerly Bismarck) Hotel, which Bill Davis set up and staffed. After a couple of hours, I joined the Navy contingent as they marched by, then returned to the Allegro an hour or so later. I never made it to Grant Park for the final event.

The significance of the Parade was that unlike World War II vets, Vietnam vets faced political and social neglect and lack of acknowledgment of their service. Like veterans of earlier eras, the VA had yet to recognize the issues of PTSD, TBI, Agent Orange, or Moral Injury.

VVAW Chicago took part in the early planning of the Welcome Home Parade, but internal debate arose over political undertones. Tensions arose as leadership veered to the right to invite General Westmoreland, Commander of US forces in Vietnam, despite heavy criticism of his military leadership, to lead the marchers. VVAW made the crucial decision that an anti-war veteran perspective had to be represented, rather than just boycotting the Parade. Ultimately, VVAW Chicago voted to set aside political differences to march in the Parade and invite other Chapters to join in.

About 20 years later, there was a poorly organized, poorly attended commemoration in Grant Park, where I ran into Ray Parrish but no other VVAW members or other vets.

For a detailed examination of those issues, see Welcome Home Parade - Honor the Warrior-Not the War, by Barry Romo, The Veteran, volume 16, number 2, Fall 1986.

Mike Woloshin, AMH-2, USN, ATKRON 86, onbd USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), Vietnam (Yankee Station) 1969-1970. Mike is a retired Assistant Cook County Public Defender, and active in VVAW since joining in 1971.