DESCRIPTION:
Songs of the Wall: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/JBrummer/vietnam-war-veterans-memorial-wall-songs/
Post-war country pop song "They're Still Heroes Today" (River Basin Records # RBR 1014) released by Stu Huggens and The Susquehanna River Band. There is no location on the record - Huggens is from and currently based in Pennsylvania, USA, performing in the Harrisburg, Lancaster and York area. The song is narrated from perspective of a Vietnam veteran, who paid tribute to those who fought in the war. He recalled being 18, just out of school, when he signed up for the US marines, to fight "in the jungles...and paddies of Vietnam". He then recalled the lack of patriotic parades for the soldiers returning home: "no one welcomed us with open arms, no one seemed to care". The song also noted the anti-war movement: "protesters said politicians lied". This very much reflected on the Vietnam Syndrome, typically found in post-war 80s songs in which veterans returned to an unfavorable domestic climate in the US. The song concluded by referencing the memorial wall: "their names on a marble wall, 57,000 in all, never came back".

"Out of school and just eighteen, I signed up for the US marines
I knew I'd go out soon to fight a war, all the young men in their
Prime, headed out to the firing line, in the jungles and mountains
And paddies of Vietnam, we watched with tear filled eyes, when
We saw good friends die, puff the magic dragon flew at night
Back home they said that this war wasn't right, they still sent
Us out to fight in the heat, and the rain, and the mud of Vietnam
I once heard someone say, there's no heroes left today, but I knew
Some back in 1968, all of my brothers in arms, who served over
In Vietnam, they were heroes then, they are still heroes today,
We came home from the war, no one welcomed us with open arms
No one seemed to care what we went through, we thought we
Served our country with pride, protesters said politicians lied
Years ago but not forgotten, Vietnam, their names on a marble wall
57,000 in all, never came back to see their homes again, fathers
Sons, brothers, and friends and all the women who served
With them in the jungles and mountains, and paddies
In the heat, and rain, and the blood of Vietnam"