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Vietnam Vets To Be Honored At Service In Moreno Valley

MORENO VALLEY (CBS) — Vietnam Veterans are expected to be honored Sunday during a remembrance service at the March Field Air Museum in Moreno Valley.

The 2nd annual "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day" will include presentations by representatives from each branch of the U.S. armed forces, as well as a talk by U.S. Army Lt. Col. Gene T. Boyer, author of "Inside the President's Helicopter."

Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Beaumont, will host the event, which gets under way at 1 p.m.

Cook, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel and Vietnam veteran, sponsored legislation in 2009 to set aside one day in March to pay homage to Vietnam Vets. The legislation was signed into law by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Grade schools around the state are encouraged to spend time teaching lessons about the Vietnam war, which claimed 58,000 American service members' lives -- including 5,822 Californians -- and left 300,000 wounded.

Cook described his bill as "a monumental step in the struggle to help Vietnam veterans heal some of the mental wounds that were inflicted when they returned home and found their country politically divided."

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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