In an ongoing effort to remember the service of Vietnam War veterans, Naval Support Activity Bethesda (NSAB) invited three veterans to share their stories at a ceremony March 11.

Navy veterans Nancy and David Whipple, and Army Sgt. James Boikins shared their experiences about the Vietnam War with the assembled audience at the USO Warrior and Family Center at Bethesda.

"I can't go to the wall," Boikins said, referring to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. "I looked at it; I had to walk away because of so many of my friends that I lost."

He was 19 when he went to Vietnam, recalling it as an unpopular war because of all the protestors shouting names at him when he came back from Vietnam.

"I was proud to serve my country because I was thinking about the guys that I lost, the guys that I served with," he said. "The protesters didn't bother me."

He said he has no regrets about his service and hopes people will remember the service of Vietnam veterans.

"Remember Vietnam, remember Vietnam," he said.

Nancy Whipple said she joined the Navy to get out of her hometown, Circle Pines, Minnesota.

"It was a little too cold for me and I was told, 'Join the Navy and see the world,'" she said. "I saw Bethesda, Maryland."

She said women weren't allowed to serve on ships in the 1970s when she enlisted like they are today. She worked as a corpsman at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC), which is now Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, following the merger of NNMC and the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2011.

Even though she wasn't sent to Vietnam, she said she still faced opposition from her family about her decision to enlist. Her four sisters were protesting the war.

"I did not get mail from them for 10 years because they were so displeased with the war," she said. "War isn't wonderful, but I was very proud to serve my country."

She met David Whipple while stationed at NNMC and the two were married at the base's chapel. David Whipple was drafted after graduating from college in 1972 and he worked as a corpsman and lab technician at the Navy Medical Research Institute.

"There are a number of kids I went to school with, people I knew whose names are on that wall downtown," he said, referring to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The Whipples' daughter, Sara, is serving in the Navy in their footsteps and David said he is proud of her service and that there are more opportunities for women to serve in the military than in the 1970s when he and his wife served.

NSAB Commanding Officer Capt. Marvin L. Jones told the service members there to know the stories of those who served before them.

"It is crucial that we remember our history. Remember the things that these people have done for us," Jones said.

This was the second event NSAB has hosted after becoming a commemorative partner in the U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration program in 2015. The next event is planned for September 2016.

For more news from Naval Support Activity Bethesda, visit www.navy.mil/.