(COLORADO SPRINGS)– It’s been 50 years since the fall of Saigon signaled the end of the Vietnam War, one of the deadliest wars in world history. Almost 60,000 Americans lost their lives fighting in Vietnam.

The fall of Saigon was a day of celebration throughout the foreign nation, with millions taking to the streets to mark what they called a war for independence. In Colorado Springs, veterans gathered on Wednesday, April 30 to honor their time in service and remember those who did not make it back home.

“We have what we call a brotherhood, and we help each other,” said Thomas Dowell, a Vietnam veteran.

50 years later, the memories are still as clear as ever for thousands of veterans.

“I never forgot the day when I got my letter saying that your neighbor selected you to go into the military, and I was kind of upset with my neighbors, why would they do that to me? But basically, you just go and serve your time,” said Jerry Bryant, a Vietnam veteran.

Photo by: Jack Young

Nearly 60,000 Americans made the ultimate sacrifice during the war.

“I was lucky I got back, but now it was my job to go to funerals,” said Lyle Hagelberg, a Vietnam veteran.

Hagelberg spent Wednesday remembering when he lost his boss during the war.

“They never found his body, and so I always felt bad because he was a good guy,” he said.

George Miriam spent the afternoon reflecting on when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001 from Agent Orange.

“I wish I had known about the things that we were exposed to a long time before we found out,” said Miriam.

Many veterans say the pain of how they were treated after returning home still lingers.

“People were being, just verbally attacked or spit on and stuff like that and called them baby killers and other things,” said Miriam.

Photo by: Jack Young

That is why this group of veterans spent the day together reflecting.

“It really energizes me to be around people that know what I did and know what your experiences were, and they had similar ones, and you can relate to them because, you know, like being there wasn’t fun,” said Miriam.

Their motto–“Never again will one generation of veterans abandon one another.”

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“We just don’t want sympathy from the public, we want them to recognize us as being soldiers and airmen and sailors and Marines who served this country with honor,” said Dowell.