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Three U.S. Armed Forces veterans who served during the Vietnam era between 1955 and 1975 received pins from U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, during a delayed Veterans Day event honoring their service.

Like many who fought in Vietnam, Ross Franke of Tower Lake did not receive a warm welcome when he came home. It took several years before the now-retired CTA motorman was no longer ridiculed by the people he encountered.

“It was not very welcoming when I got home,” he said. “They called us ‘baby killers.’ Finally, there was a parade for us in downtown Chicago. I marched it in and (finally) felt welcomed.”

John Gerend of Lake Villa went to college in the early 1970s, graduated, was drafted into the U.S. Army and decided to go to office

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