Veterans Day

Take a moment today to thank a vet. News today said there were more than 20 million vets in the country.

Couple I have seen mentioned here are Bear and Bill. Probably others.

Sincere thank you.

 

George is also a vet.

 

This is a good place for this:

Thank you all veterans; all you noble men and women. Thank you for my right to vote, to speak my mind no matter how much it pisses-off the powers that be and to stand up for what I believe in without the fear of imprisonment or reprisal. Thank you to all; from the green at Lexington to the mountains of Afghanistan.

And a special thank you to our veterans of the Vietnam War. You served nobly and were never repaid with even so much as a proper welcome home. Let me explain: We wanted to be there. We wanted to stand at the gates cheering, holding banners and screaming welcome to our boys and girls. The government at that time wouldn't let us. We were told not to make any displays of welcome-weren't even told when and where you would arrive. They put up so many barriers, we couldn't find you. All this was done out of fear of the anti-war crowd: fear some one would show up and create a scene. Many of us at home didn't much care for the war, but most of us cared very much for you and would have been there at your arrival whether you were our family or not.

So let me take this day to say a special thank you to the Viet Vets; the boys and girls of my generation. Welcome home. Well done.

Sue

 

Thank you for the "thank you" Sue. I'm a Vietnam Vet who appreciates your words.

Dave

 

Sue,

As a VietNam Vet I thank you for the kind words and thoughts. As I started writing I started rambling, so I edited it all down to this...

Thank You for Remembering.

AJ

 

Viet Vets-

I'm just sorry I couldn't give you all a big hug when you came home......So it you come to the next camp inn/camp out, be warned.

Sue

 

Thank you Sue and Gary for starting the thread...
I dunno why, but I get all weepy when I read stuff like that...

At least we were able to focus:
"NEVER AGAIN
Will one generation
of Veterans
Abandon Another"
from the VVA

Vietnam, SEA 67-69...

 

I too want to thank all the vets. We are free only becase men and women have paid the price and a great price it has been. I spent a while at the Vets hospital in Huston Tx in the 60's. My first day there I was sent to a ward of 40 young men all Vietnam vets in various conditions. My patient was a man who could not speak and was not able to walk and had use of only 1 arm. I was overwhelmed. I was given the task to help him with his lunch. It was baby food as they were afraid he would choke. I did not know if he could understand me but I said "I bet you hate this stuff". He made all kinds of motions - I knew he agreed. I said what is your favorite food. But he could not answer. I got an idea and took a big paper bag and wrote the alphabet out on it and in the next days worked with him to help him spell out by pointing to the letters - what his favorite food was. It was a laborious task but we both had a goal and keep working at it. I finally knew: PEACH PIE! Well I searched all over Huston and finally found a peach pie. Then I had to get a doctors order to be able to give it to him because they were afraid of giving him solid food. Well I got the order and he got his peach pie. And as a result we found he could communicate via pointing, I will never forget the pain and joy of that experience.

 

My husband Bob is a vet...served in Viet Nam.

 

As a graduate of the Tet Class of 68 I thank all of you for your kind words of appreciation. For those of us who fought there, I am very thankful that we paved the way by showing the country how not to treat returning soldiers who served their time in hell. Our brave men and women who now return from Iraq and Afghanistan are the beneficiaries, and for that I am very grateful.
Leo

 

Amen!

 

Pat,

Brilliant move with the alphabet paper! Being with the boys in the hospital is a moving experience. I was there, too.

My older sister was a candy-striper and I tagged along as an unofficial duena. Now Rae was 17...so that would make me...13, yeah. We volunteered at the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California that summer of 1967. I was too young to do the candy stripe thing and far too young to be on the boy's "hit list", so I became their official mascot and baby sister at large. I would read letters and books to the guys who lost their vision, referee all the wheel chair races and poker games and help return the lost guys from the 7th floor (Shell-shock ward. They hadn't coined the phrase "delayed stress syndrome" yet.) Rae said it helped the boys to have a little sister around...I hope so.

I don't know if my presence did anything more than curb their swearing, but I do know being there had a huge impact on me. The war in Vietnam is the one constant thread running throughout my entire childhood and teen years. I saw it every night on the evening news, I felt it when my older brother got his draft notice and sent mother into a panic, I smelt and tasted it with the returned wounded in the hospital and finally I was myself wounded by it when school friends and neighbor's sons went off to war....and never returned. Heck, I even tried to join the Navy when I was 18, but I caught the recruiter in a lie and never signed the final paper.

I have to admit another reason for not enlisting...when I told my parents I was about to join, mother nearly fainted and dad almost had a heart attack. It was 1972 and the war was in a particularly nasty phase. I couldn't do that to my folks; they were so scared. Yet I still regret.... Maybe that's why I ended up with a carrier in Law Enforcement. Service, somehow.

My, that is a bit off the beaten track. Maybe I'm saying I have a bit of an idea what it is to enlist and serve. Just the faint taste I've had makes me appreciate all you true service men and women all the more. So once more I say: Thank You For Your Service.

Sue