The stories that stick with us: Sharing a walk with a Vietnam vet

Veterans marching to public cheers and salutes is a frequent occurrence these days.

Not so when Air Force Staff Sgt. Robert Craycroft returned home to Wheaton from his service in Vietnam in February 1970, at 21 years old, "feeling like 71."

There was no public welcome by a country torn apart by the U.S. role in the Vietnam War, with My Lai having just been brought to light and Kent State soon to come.

"People looked at you strangely. Some would turn away. I rarely told anyone I was a Vietnam veteran. Because we lost the war. We blew it. We were drug-crazed freaks. We killed women and children," Craycroft said, recalling the epithets he felt were directed his way.

He carried that weight for at least 16½ years, then spoke those bitter words and wept in relief and joy as he walked in the Chicago Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home Parade in 1986.

I marched alongside him, to capture as well as I could the view through his eyes of a city's long delayed thank you for military service in a war that ended in 1975 with more than 58,000 American deaths.

Many people occupy the corners of my memories of 40 years as a reporter and editor - the heroes, the famous, the gangsters, the brave. Mostly I remember ordinary, good people who shared with me part of their stories.

Even Craycroft's posture is vivid in my mind: quietly unobtrusive in the middle of a group as the parade began, then striding out - still with an expression of disbelief - to acknowledge the accolades and marvel at the enormity of the celebration that included an estimated 100,000 Vietnam veterans and crowds on city sidewalks and in the windows.

Some watching along the route were in tears. Craycroft was in tears. I was in tears. The story ran on Page 1, under a big headline, "Chicago to Viet vets: Thanks!"

"I never thought I'd live to see this. The long walk's over," he said.

Craycroft and I stayed loosely in touch for awhile. He left the area, and died in 2011, shortly before his 63rd birthday. I hope the catharsis of that day stayed with him throughout his life.

• Senior Deputy Managing Editor Diane Dungey has worked for the Daily Herald since 1981.