Rep. Randall’s aide visits Ocean Shores VFW Vietnam War veterans

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Earlier this week, April Messenger, field representative for U.S. Rep. Emily Randall [D, 6th District], stopped by the Ocean Shores VFW hall to deliver and present commemorative pins to Vietnam War veterans.

Several members of North Beach VFW Post 8956 took the opportunity to discuss and ask for the congresswoman’s assistance with issues of concern, most notably an attempt to pass House Bill H.R. 5939, the USMC Helicopter Support in Vietnam Congressional Gold Medal Act. The purpose of the act would be “to award a Congressional Gold Medal to United States Marines who served as part of helicopter support missions in the Vietnam War.”

According to the bill, during Vietnam’s 13 years of war the First Marine Air Wing saw 25 of its helicopter squadrons deployed to Vietnam, and by January 1968 there would be 11 squadrons flying in the country on any given day until mid-1971. … The helicopter aircrews of the First Marine Air Wing who flew in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975 transported more than 3.2 million troops and passengers, flew more than 1.6 million various sorties, delivered more than 338,000 tons of cargo, and medically evacuated approximately 189,000 patients.

There is precedent for such an award as President Joe Biden signed the “Dustoff Crews of the Vietnam War Congressional Gold Medal Act” into law in Sept of 2024, which recognizes the pilots, crew chiefs and medics who “served honorably during the Vietnam War aboard helicopter air ambulances.”

The veterans then turned their attention to the challenges they have obtaining medical care through the Veterans Administration and the difficulties with having to travel great distances to get the treatment they need, make appointments or file claims through their local primary care physicians.