Rep. John McCoy addresses a gathering of veterans at the Vietnam War Memorial on the Capitol Campus. (Photo courtesy of Benjamin Helle)

On the 40th anniversary of the U.S. ending its involvement in the Vietnam War, about 100 Vietnam War veterans, several legislators and others gathered  at the Vietnam War Memorial on the Capitol Campus Friday morning after Gov. Inslee signed into law a bill honoring Vietnam veterans.

House Bill 1319, unanimously passed by the House and Senate earlier this session, recognizes March 30 as Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day. It won’t be a legal holiday, but it will require that the National League of Families’ POW/MIA flag be flown by public entities on that date. The new law doesn’t take effect until this summer, so the first Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day will take place next year.

The House and Senate passed separate resolutions Friday honoring Vietnam War veterans.

March 29, 1973, marks the date when the last U.S. troops left Vietnam.