Vietnam Veteran Eagle and Tiger Patch

The Vietnam Service Medal was created by Executive Order 11231 on July 8, 1965, and its ribbon of yellow, red and green became the most recognized ribbon of a generation. That ribbon is the backdrop at the center of this patch, behind a bald eagle and a tiger with their mouths open, roaring at each other. The American eagle on one side and the big cat of the Southeast Asian jungle on the other say in one image where these men went and what they faced. Under them sits the U.S. flag, and around them the words "Vietnam Veteran." It is a patch for everyone who earned that ribbon, in any branch and any year of the war.

The medal went to service members who served in Vietnam and its waters and airspace, or in Thailand, Laos or Cambodia in direct support of the war, between July 4, 1965 and March 28, 1973. About 2.7 million Americans served in Vietnam. More than 58,000 were killed and more than 300,000 were wounded. Soldiers humped the Central Highlands and the Delta, Marines held I Corps from Da Nang to the DMZ, sailors ran the brown-water rivers and the carriers on Yankee Station, and airmen flew from bases across South Vietnam and Thailand. In 2017 the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act made March 29 National Vietnam War Veterans Day, the day after the last eligibility date on the medal.

The patch is 4 inches round with a gold merrowed edge and an iron-on backing. A green outer ring carries "VIETNAM" across the top and "VETERAN" across the bottom in white serif letters, with a white M16 rifle on the left side and an AK-pattern rifle on the right, the two weapons that defined the war's firefights. Inside a gold border, the upper half shows the eagle and the tiger against the yellow ribbon field with its three red stripes. The lower half is the American flag, stars on the left and stripes on the right. The colors are full and bright, and the eagle's feathers and the tiger's stripes are stitched in fine detail.

Vietnam veterans came home one at a time, on rotation dates, with no parades for most of them. It took decades for the country to catch up, and much of that change came because the veterans themselves built the memorials, ran the chapters and looked after each other. Today the words on this patch get a handshake and a "welcome home" from strangers. The men who wear it know what it took to get there. The eagle and the tiger on the front are a reminder that it was a hard fight, fought in a hard place.

Sew it on a vest for the chapter meeting or the next reunion, or mount it in a shadow box with a Vietnam Service Medal, a unit patch and a photo from in country. It also makes a meaningful gift for a father or grandfather who served, especially around March 29. Welcome home.