US Army Proud Daughter Of A Vietnam Veteran Patch

Every year on March 29 the country sets aside a day for Vietnam veterans, the date in 1973 when Military Assistance Command, Vietnam was disbanded and the last U.S. combat troops left the Republic of Vietnam. Families keep that date too. This patch is for the daughters, the women who grew up with a parent who served in Vietnam with the U.S. Army. Some heard the stories at the kitchen table, and some heard almost none. Either way, the patch says it in three plain lines: UNITED STATES ARMY, DAUGHTER OF A VIETNAM VETERAN, PROUD.

MACV was the joint command over the American effort in Vietnam, and its colors came down on 29 March 1973. On that same date in 2012 a presidential proclamation named it Vietnam Veterans Day and called for marking the war's 50th anniversary. The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 made it permanent, recognizing March 29 as National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The same law added it to the days when the American flag should especially be displayed. For the daughter of an Army Vietnam veteran, it is one more day a year when her father's or mother's service is named out loud.

This is a 4.5 by 3.25 inch patch with straight sides and a gentle arch top and bottom, finished with a black merrowed edge. UNITED STATES ARMY runs across the top band in white block letters. The center is a green panel outlined in white, with DAUGHTER OF A VIETNAM VETERAN stitched in two lines of white. PROUD sits alone across the bottom band. The backing is iron-on, and it can also be sewn on.

A Vietnam veteran's family carried part of that service, before and after the tour. Daughters were the ones who later drove a father to the VA, sat beside him at The Wall or asked the questions nobody else in the family would. Many of them are now the keepers of the medals, the photos and the letters home. This patch gives a daughter a way to say where she comes from without making a speech about it. One word at the bottom does the work: PROUD.

Sew it on a denim jacket or a vest for the next Vietnam veterans event, or mount it in a shadow box beside your father's ribbons and his photo from Vietnam. It also makes a good gift from a veteran to his daughter, or from one sister to another. Iron it on for display, or add a few stitches for anything that gets washed. United States Army, a Vietnam veteran, and the daughter who is proud of both.