SCHUYLKILL HAVEN -- President Obama recently nominated an openly gay man to lead the U.S Army. This decision comes just four years after openly gay people were prevented from serving in the military.
Here in Schuylkill County, Vietnam War veterans gathered to remember the 90 soldiers from Pennsylvania still missing from the war.
Each soldier is represented by a candle at the Vietnam Memorial in Schuylkill Haven. The candles stand together, without differentiating themselves from one another.
Unintentionally, the candles solidarity can symbolize a little more. In this case, they can help explain these local veterans' reaction to President Obama's recent nomination of an openly gay man to lead the army.
"It's a big change," said John Russell. "Before, nobody would mention it. There were probably gays in the service when I was in the 50's and on up but it was never an open subject."
"It shows that God knows how many men or women in the Vietnam war fighting that were gay," said Guy Wiederhold. "They fought and served their country and some probably died for their country, at least now they're being recognized."
Both John Russell and Guy Wiederhold agree it's important for the Army to evolve in order to succeed. The nomination of Eric Fanning, an openly gay man and acting Under Secretary of the Army, is just another part of the evolution.
"You get into the combat situation and as long as you can depend on the man that's next to you to do his job, it doesn't make any difference whatsoever," Russell added.
Fanning's nomination will now head to the Senate for confirmation.
