PATRICK'S PEOPLE: Rick Fulton was in good company

Life is full of surprises. That’s how Richard “Rick” Fulton, Pittsburg, and his family found themselves with very good seats at the Vietnam War Commemoration National Announcement and Proclamation Ceremony May 28 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.

“We were about 50 feet from President Obama,” Fulton said.

He was there as a Vietnam veteran, but also played a role in the observance as a volunteer speechwriter for Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Claude Kicklighter, director of commemorations for the Department of Defense Vietnam 50th Anniversary Commemoration.

Fulton was a little surprised about how that came about, too.

He was an enlisted journalist in the U.S. Air Force from October 1967 until September 1969. During that period he belonged to the 7th Air Force Directorate of Information Combat News Branch. Stationed at Tan Son Nhut, he covered Air Force support from the perspective of ground forces in I Corps and in III Corps, and did combat missions on various types of aircraft all over Vietnam.

He said that he and his fellow journalists saw the Vietnam War as few others did, from the Mekong Delta to the DMZ.

“We were in places where many were wounded or killed in action, including Hue and Khe Sanh,” Fulton said. “It was our honor to report the service, valor and sacrifice of all who stood fast against the enemy.”

Some of his colleagues were among those who lost their lives.

“I lost two good friends, Rick Ramsey and John Kopfer, both listed on Panel 48 at the Vietnam Wall,” Fulton said.

He explained that Ramsey was killed in mid-February, 1968, when a rocket hit the combat news building.

“I was in a building up the street at the time,” Fulton said. “Kopfer was in the same building I was and he got hit by a rocket. He was mortally wounded and died three days later.”

After serving 23 months, Fulton got out of the military a month early so he could attend college, specifically Pittsburg State University.

“Two days after I was discharged from the Air Force, I was living in Bowen Hall,” he said. “Pittsburg did a lot to help me de-compress.”

Fulton was employed at the Pittsburg Morning Sun and also met Lorella Spickert, his future wife, while in Pittsburg.

He later spent time in South Korea as a military speech writer, and his boss was a good friend of Lt. Gen. Claude M. “Mick” Kicklighter.

When Fulton learned that Kicklighter had been placed in charge of the Vietnam War 50th Anniversary Commemoration, he wrote a letter.

“I shook his hand back in the 1980s, so I just wrote a letter and re-introduced myself,” he said. “I did not expect a reply, but 10 days later the phone rang and it was Lt. Gen. Kicklighter. We haven’t stop talking since. He asked me to do some writing for him as a volunteer. We’ve had a lot of conversations and some disagreements.”

President Obama was scheduled to speak at the May 28 ceremony, and Kicklighter asked Fulton to do the first draft of his speech.

“It went through a lot of eyes and writers in the Pentagon, as it should, and then through the president’s personal speech writers,” Fulton said. “The president himself is the final pair of eyes. All I did was give a starting point. I felt very proud and honored to be part of this team project.”

He added that his wife served as his editor.

“I really appreciate it that she let me spend time that I could be doing something else pounding on a keyboard,” Fulton said.

He stressed that the commemoration is not intended to re-open old wounds.

“Lt. Gen. Kicklighter wanted a program that honors the warrior, not a re-fight of whether you were for or against the war,” Fulton said.

There’s also the issue that 2012 is an election year, but Fulton was pleased that President Obama kept politics out of his remarks.

“You will not find a political message, you will find an American message, and the president obviously believed in the message he was delivering,” Fulton said.

The ceremony included the reading of the presidential proclamation by Brian M. Thacker, a Vietnam veteran and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. Actor Tom Selleck served as master of ceremonies.

The ceremony was also a starting point. Through the Department of Defense Vietnam War 50th Anniversary Commemoration Program, the Pentagon will with other federal agencies; veterans’ groups; and state, local, government, and non-government organizations on a wide array of commemoration activities.

Fulton hopes that Pittsburg State University, with the PSU Veterans Memorial and its half-size replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall, will choose to become involved in the commemoration.

“There are a lot of Vietnam veterans in this area,” he noted. “I’m still part of the team. We’re looking forward to what comes next. We don’t have any idea what that will be.”