A veteran of the Vietnam War took the podium at Fort Snelling National Cemetery on Monday to offer his reflection 50 years after the fall of Saigon marked America’s defeat.

Everett Doolittle fought in the infantry in Vietnam and now arbitrates disputes at the National Guard and Army Reserve. He didn’t know, in hindsight, what the United States was fighting for in that conflict.

“I’m not proud of the Vietnam War,” he said. But still, “I’m proud I served my country.”

Doolittle spent much of his Memorial Day address at the cemetery discussing the mental health struggles he and other service members suffered after that war. He recalled watching the movie “Platoon”, he said, and left the theater before the film ended, shaking.

Admitting a mental illness at the time could lead to deep shame, or even make it hard to find a job, he added. Now, while a stigma still exists, Doolittle said many more services were available to veterans to help them process trauma after their service.

“It’s a very, very hard for somebody to say, ‘I need help,’ and they really do need to say it before it’s too late,” Doolittle said.

Under a clear blue sky at the cemetery, with a small American flag placed at every bright white headstone, a packed crowd of veterans and their families also heard Sen. Amy Klobuchar tell the story of Max Beilke, who graduated from high school in Alexandria, Minn. An Army Master Sergeant, he had already been serving for 20 years by the time he was dispatched to Vietnam.

There he ended up as the last U.S. combat soldier to leave Vietnam. His departure was captured on TV, on March 29, 1973.