MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — On Veterans Day in Milledgeville, people gathered to celebrate service at the Georgia War Veterans Home in Baldwin County.
The home is a shelter for more than 300 veterans, with many of them being elderly or disabled.
There was a vast array red, white and blue in the room, to go along with plenty of gratitude and appreciate.
Vietnam veteran Willie Duncan says being able to speak and be celebrated was a gift to him, and to many of the other veterans in attendance.
He says he served ten years with the army, including a tour in Vietnam. Duncan, among others, spoke at the program. He was smiling at the ceremony, but he's seen some tough times in his years of service.
Right now, he says he's focused on trying to get his legs stronger. He says they were weakened by of Agent Orange - a chemical herbicide used frequently in the Vietnam War.
“Every G.I. that went to Vietnam had some bad things happen," Duncan said.
The ones that were in the field, we got sprayed with Agent Orange, but it wasn't just one type of chemical. It was like five or six different type of chemicals."
He says he believes that Agent Orange also caused his diabetes
According to him, the chemicals caught up to him seven years ago, when his legs gave up on him twice in the shower.
He says his treatment today was a stark contrast from the way he was treated when he returned from Vietnam.
“We weren't treated like you see the parades now that was far, far, far from us," Duncan said. "People filled up paper bags with feces and threw it at the guys."
Duncan said he is still haunted by some of the things that happened during the Vietnam War.
“It did eat me alive. I had PTSD when I came back," Duncan said. "When I got out the military, I would have vivid dreams. I could see things that I had done."
He says the help he got after his military career changed his life, but he still remembers the good times in service with his brothers.
Now, he is still fighting - this time in physical therapy, to regain the use of his legs. He says he is determined to walk again one day, once he gets his strength back.