By Cindy GladdenRecord Staff WriterWhen Roger Mauzy returned home from Vietnam in 1973, no accolades were waiting for him. There were no welcome home banners or cheering crowds.Divisive politics and an antiwar climate made readjustment difficult for returning veterans. They returned to a country that had become disillusioned over the war and where resentment and even open hostility toward veterans was commonplace.“I was literally spit on,” he said. “I was called a baby killer. I was always proud of what I did, but I didn’t like to talk about it. I suppressed my Vietnam experiences for probably well over 40 years.”Mauzy, Warren County coroner and paramedic, grew up in San Jose, Calif. When it came time to enroll in college he found the university life wasn’t for him.At the age of 19, and feeling he would be drafted sooner or later, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. “As hot as Vietnam was at that time, I felt maybe I could make it there,” he said.Mauzy said he was a boy when he enlisted, but became a man very quickly. He had no idea what role he would play, but he wanted to do his part. He knew he stood on the patriot side of the politically charged fence of the “police action” in Vietnam.“The country was definitely divided at that time,” said Mauzy. “I wanted to serve my country. The military made me grow up. I had to become a man and I had to become an adult very quickly. Otherwise it was going to cost me heavily.”His Air Force experience gave him an opportunity to work as a military policeman and later as a radar operator. He eventually worked in command and control where he would assign missions to fighters and determine where bombs should be dropped.After returning to California, he and his wife, Denise, decided they wanted to have children and felt their home state was not the safest place to raise a family. A coworker’s wife in California was from Warrenton and the friend suggested the Mauzys move to Missouri. The Mauzys visited Warren County for three days and decided to pack up their things and move.“We have never regretted the move,” he said. “We love it here.”Mauzy worked for the Warrenton Police Department, then later was trained as a paramedic. He has served Warren County as a paramedic for more than 30 years. That experience led him to run for county coroner. He was elected on his third attempt in 1997.In the past, Mauzy was often conflicted on Veterans Day. He has always been fiercely proud of what American military men have accomplished around the world. But he had mixed emotions regarding his own service. He kept his own military experience to himself until just recently.Mauzy has changed his viewpoint on becoming a visible veteran. He admits when he saw Desert Storm veterans being welcomed home he was a bit jealous.A few years ago he and his wife were vacationing on Veterans Day. He saw men wearing T-shirts and hats proclaiming them to be veterans. He told his wife he thought they were crazy.Then Mauzy saw people giving them “high-fives” and thanking them. This was not something he had seen or had experienced himself.“I saw people thanking other veterans for their service. Strangers were welcoming them home,” he said.Mauzy decided to buy a vest and some Vietnam patches. His wife bought him a T-shirt and hat with “Vietnam Veteran” emblazoned on them.“We went out to dinner one night and there was a little girl probably about 10 or 11 years old who came up and thanked me for my service,” he said. “That was awesome.”When Mauzy describes what Veterans Day means to him today, he looks at World War II veterans and conversely at veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and sees commonality between them all.“The bullets are all the same, the artillery is all the same — the scenarios are different. The guys today probably don’t even know what a rice paddy is or a jungle. I don’t know what the sand dunes are. But it all boils down to the same thing,” he said.Mauzy said his dad maybe said it best: “I wouldn’t take a million dollars for my experiences but I wouldn’t give a nickel to do it again.”Patriotism stems from what you learn at home, according to Mauzy. He would like to see a resurgence in patriotism again — where the pledge is spoken in our schools every day and the National Anthem is respected.“I’m just one of thousands who served,” said Mauzy. “Fifty thousand didn’t come back.”In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as Armistice Day, celebrating the end of World War I. It wasn’t until 1938 that the 11th of November became a legal holiday.After World War II, President Dwight Eisenhower issued a proclamation that Nov. 11 should honor veterans of all war s. In 1954, Congress replaced “Armistice” with “Veterans” and has been known as Veterans Day since.

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