PARIS — Forty-three years after he came home from Vietnam, Dane Tripp welcomed home his fellow veterans.

“To Vietnam veterans, welcome home,” said Tripp, who served in Vietnam with the Marines from 1966 to 1969.

Tripp, who recently retired as chief deputy at the Oxford County Sheriffs Office, was a guest speaker at this year’s ceremony.

Several hundred people turned out for the joint Norway-Paris ceremony hosted at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School by American Legion Post 72 of Paris.

The 90-minute program was filled with music, laughter, solemn moments and gratitude for the dozens of service members from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who came with fellow veterans, family and friends to pay their respects and have their service to the country honored.

Carla Beaudoin of Bugles Across America told the audience that she joined the organization in 2002 after attending a funeral for a friend and seeing someone lean over to turn on the boom box to play taps.

“I watched in horror,” she said of that moment in which she wished she had her own bugle with her.

Instead she said she went home thinking, “I have this gift I can share,” and with the help of the widow of Bob Sessions of Norway, she joined the organization that makes sure taps is played live at every veteran’s funeral.

The Lighthouse Jubilee, a musical duo comprising Angela Guillette and Pat McLellan from southern Maine, educated the audience on the proper flag-folding method and what each fold means before Tripp spoke to the assembly.

With his phone ringing the sounds of the Marine Corp hymn for a moment as he spoke, Tripp said, “A lot of you think Marines are conceited. We’re not really. We just know we’re the best.”

Tripp, who signed up for the Marines with two other buddies after tiring of working in the woods with his grandfather, said he just knew he didn’t want to spend his life working in the woods.

“Grampa said ‘You have one problem. You know too much for one, but not enough for two,’” recalled Tripp of his decision to enter the military. “I never grasped what that meant until I returned (from Vietnam) at the age of 23.”

And when he did get home, he said there was no welcome. “We didn’t get treated with respect, but a lot of veterans didn’t,” Tripp said.

Of the millions of Vietnam veterans who say they served “in country” during that conflict but did not, Tripp said simply and softly, “To thine own self be true.”

Of the veterans who still remain missing in action, he chastised the government saying, “Our government kind of threw them away.”

And of the actress and political activist Jane Fonda who drew much anger from Vietnam veterans and others for her actions in North Vietnam during a 1972 visit, he had even harsher words.

Tripp concluded his speech by reading a poem that ended, “Our country is in mourning. A soldier died today.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud gave the Veterans Day address, saying despite the cost, all veterans deserve help if they need it.

“They deserve the best care we can given. Our veterans earned it and it is the least our country can do,” said Michaud, a longtime supporter of veterans.

Remarks from Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, were offered by their representatives, Diane Jackson and Charlene Tremblay, respectively.

The ceremony continued with a musical selection by the OHCHS band and a rousing salute to the veterans of the individual armed services as each stood while their service song and the Marine’s hymn were played.

The Rev. Don Mayberry gave the benediction with the assistance of the First Congregational Church Choir of Paris.

[email protected]