BOSTON—U.S. Senators John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and John S. McCain (R-Ariz.) reflected on their service in Vietnam during an awards ceremony last night, calling for further reconciliation between the U.S. and its former wartime enemy.

Kerry and McCain received the Christian A. Herter Memorial Award last night in the Grand Ballroom of the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, recognizing their efforts to normalize relations betweeen the U.S. and Vietnam over the last decade. The award is presented each year by the World Affairs Council of Boston to “distinguished leaders who have contributed significantly to international understanding.”

“While some losses can never be reconciled, enmity need not be our permanent condition,” McCain said of American attitudes towards Vietnam. “Our nation’s best interests are poorly served by holding onto that dark chapter of our history.”

“For too many [people], for too long, Vietnam was a war that wouldn’t end,” McCain added. “That is over now...We’ve looked back in anger at Vietnam long enough.”

Both McCain and Kerry served in Vietnam, but took different paths during and after the war. McCain enlisted to go to Vietnam, and spent five years in a prisoner of war (POW) camp after his plane was shot down over North Vietnam. Kerry served two tours in Vietnam for the U.S. Navy, receiving a Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for his service. But after the war, he spoke out actively against the direction of U.S. policy in the war, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971.

“I proudly wanted to go to Vietnam, because of the nobility in the notion that we could help a country to be free, to be democratic,” Kerry said of his decision to go to Vietnam.

After returning from Vietnam, both men entered public office in the 1980s, now serving as senior senators for their respective states. They have worked together since 1991 to improve relations with Vietnam by demonstrating that the Vietnamese were indeed cooperating to help find the remains of missing American POWs.

President Clinton normalized relations with Vietnam in 1995, with Kerry and McCain continuing to work to create better economic opportunities for a recovering Vietnam. Last Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a trade agreement wih Vietnam, and the Senate is expected to follow suit.