Navy Veteran Dave Binder was a young sailor from Allentown when he read a note he received in a box of cookies from a stranger in the United States:

“We know you are there.”

The note, Binder said, marked an emotional moment for him and helped his morale while he was serving on a radar picket ship off the coast of Vietnam.

When not on radar technician duty aboard the USS Hissem, Binder’s duties included searching small Vietnamese ships called sampans and patrolling close in-shore waters and rivers in small, armed craft called Swift Boats on which he was a 50-caliber machine-gunner.

In a solemn ceremony on National Vietnam War Veterans Day, Vietnam War era veterans from the Lehigh Valley gathered in the Commonwealth Room, DeSales University Center, DeSales University, Center Valley, Upper Saucon Township, to be formally recognized.

Each was presented with a bronze-colored medal in the form of a lapel pin featuring the visage of an American Eagle inscribed “Vietnam War Veteran” on a blue field on the circumference. Six stars represented the allies who fought in the Vietnam War.

For some of the veterans, it was the first time they had been publicly recognized for their service during the Vietnam War, which the official commemoration committee defines as lasting from Nov. 1, 1955 - May 15, 1975.

March 29 is National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The ceremony, hosted by DeSales University, marked the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the memorial date.

U.S. military veterans who served anywhere in the world during that period are eligible for the recognition.

More than 80 veterans attended the ceremony, which concluded with the commemorative lapel pins being handed to each Vietnam War era veteran. There were several attendees with Purple Hearts, a medal issued to combat veterans who were injured as a result of enemy action.

At least two were women. My wife, Navy nurse Lieutenant Junior Grade Joanne M. (Lovell) Graves, received a 50th anniversary Vietnam War pin in recognition of her service, 1970 through 1979, as an Intensive Care Charge Nurse, Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Air Force Veteran and former Prisoner Of War Ralph Galati of Delaware County was a featured speaker at the DeSales’ event. As a pilot, he was forced down in North Vietnam and imprisoned.

“I can tell you, it was not heroic. It was far from heroic,” said the former Prisoner Of War. “What it was, however, was performing one’s duty with honor and dignity.”

“In a prison camp in North Vietnam, I experienced the loss of every freedom I had ever had or grown to accept. When you have to beg for scraps of food and water and toilet paper, even time is not yours to enjoy.

“When you have absolutely nothing and you have lost absolutely everything, then you begin to imagine and really fully appreciate what freedom really means,” said Galati.

“It’s no longer something you can be complacent about. It’s no longer an intangible. It is substantial and absolute and totally necessary for survival.

“And we know there’s this precious cost to be paid for our freedom. It’s been paid in blood and sacrifice for almost 250 years. Too often taken for granted, too often forgotten.

“You are not forgotten,” said Galati.

Dr. Thomas Craig (USMCR), DeSales University Assistant Professor of the Edward A. McCabe Chair of Business and Society, officiated at the ceremony.

The ceremony, which was organized by DeSales University Coordinator, Veterans and Military Services Veterans Affairs Certifying Official Wendy Badman, included two color guards of flag escorts.

The Johnny Rivers VFW Post, Quakertown, provided one color guard of Bob Maluro, John Murray, Jerry Sislen and Jim Lezochel.

Another color guard from Bethlehem Detachment 284 of the Marine Corps League was made up of Glenn Rader of Upper Macungie Township and two-time Purple Heart recipient Claude Rone of Catasauqua.

Military Order of the Purple Heart officer Charles “Bud” Dillon and Baron Cabrosky, who are Vietnam War veterans and recipients of the Purple Heart, presented ROTC Cadet William Suter a certificate recognizing his leadership in the DeSales University Steel Battalion ROTC.

Professor Craig and DeSales student Second Lieutenant Keara McMinn performed the presentation ceremony, assisted by DeSales student and former Marine Gregory Seltzer, who played taps.

Master Sergeant Roslyn Schroeder USMCR and her husband Master Gunnery Sergeant Carl Schroeder, of Coopersburg, placed a wreath at a “POW-MIA Chair of Honor” donated by the Johnny Rivers VFW Post 1322 and dedicated to missing service personnel.