Leeman Able, a member of the Shoshone Paiute tribe, stands at the Washington Vietnam Memorial Friday during a ceremony to welcome home Vietnam veterans.

OLYMPIA -- Saturday is officially "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day" under a bill passed by the Legislature and signed Friday by Gov. Jay Inslee.

To mark the occasion, a ceremony spearheaded by the Yakama Nation and various veterans groups held a ceremony at the state's Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall on the Capitol Campus Friday, with a drum circle, tribal songs and a bugler playing "Taps."

Many veterans who returned from Vietnam were not welcomed home at the time, and some were shunned, speakers said, simply for carrying out the orders of their leaders.

Washington became the eighth state to pass a law making March 30 a day to honor Vietnam veterans.

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