The keynote speaker was Ron Sebastian who served in the Navy. He says their service didn't end when they returned home.
"Our generation is one who not only raised our hand to serve in Vietnam and elsewhere, we continued to raise our hands to serve our families, our communities, organizations, and beyond."
Sebastian was seriously wounded three months after he arrived in Vietnam in 1968. And says just those three months shaped and changed his life.
Matt Tomes, Director of the National Cemetery on Arsenal Island, says more than 50,000 service members were killed during the war, with an average age of just 23. And more than 1,600 are still considered missing in action.
"These facts provide us some context and understanding of the true cost of war, it is not measured in dollars and cents but in lives. Lives of our neighbors, friends, and family who come home with seen and unseen scars that need mending and extensive care, or did not come home at all."
The ceremony was organized by local members of the Vietnam Veterans of America, who also provided the color guard and rifle salute.