Posted on 08/29/2004 4:44:09 AM PDT by stockpirate
Thanks for your comments. They're trying to be quiet. Surprise. Shhh. Spread the word. Mum's the word.
And stockpirate
"It will take time, but I think we are watching the hand of God healing our nation of our self inflected wounds.
They've never stopped to think of the people they've hurt.
They've never stopped to consider what it must have been like to have been a soldier in Vietnam, so young, working so hard, only to have your youth and your idealism stolen from you."
People who do not want to hear anymore from the Swift Boat Vets for Truth - do not understand the deep wounds that were inflicted by the war protesters and especially Kerry. They may want to bury the whole topic of the Vietnam War - but that is why our nation has never healed.
For instance:
If you have a sliver in you hand and pretend it is not there - it will go in deeper and begin to get infected. Then it will get sore and pus up unless you attempt to treat it. You cannot just ignore it - wash it - and leave it in there in order to heal. You must directly address it - take it out or lance it.
That is why the Vietnam War has bothered our nation's consciousness - we have never addressed the feelings of hurt and pain that those who served in the war went through. We pretended that everything was over and we needed to move on.
I am so very grateful for the Swift Boat Vets for bringing all this out into the open. To me it is not about the medals Kerry is claiming - or it's authenticity - it is about the hurt he brought the MIAs and the POWs as well as the other soldiers that were still in the war.
I hope that those who were involved in the protest and Kerry will be honest enough - and as it has been said here - "are mature enough" to admit they did not know how grievous their actions were to soldiers still involved.
And I hope that those protesters that are currently protesting - really ask themselves are they truly pacifists? If they would use any means to protect their loved ones in an assault - then they cannot validly protest against any war - because it would be hypocritical. They would just have to watch their loved one be assaulted by someone and not do anything to protect them because true pacifists do not believe in Any kind of violence.
I pray that these unresolved issues will be addressed during this time that we have been given an opportunity to begin the healing - And that we will not continue to run from it.
I know it matters to me very deeply. I had two brothers and a cousin who served in Vietnam. My cousin became an alcoholic - he lost use of one of his legs due to injuries in Vietnam. The protests deeply bothered him. One of my brothers committed suicide years later - the protests always bothered him.
Yes -
"It will take time, but I think we are watching the hand of God healing our nation of our self inflected wounds."
Not me either, unc bob. Agreed.
I was a child during the 60's. Ten when Woodstock occurred. By the time I got to highschool, both the protesting and the Viet Nam war had come to an end. None of my peers or those a few years older, had been involved in any of the protests or were even thinking about them. A few had gotten caught up in drugs from hanging out with their older brothers and sisters.
To me the events of the 60's, the sometimes violent protests and the hippies, were all demonstrative acts disrespectful to the good things our parents and teachers were attempting to teach us. I saw the protesters (with few exceptions), contrary to the way the media characterized them, as spoiled, selfish, ungrateful kids who were motivated by their unwillingness to fight for their country and who were attempting to destroy all that was right and good in our nation.
After my mother died when I was four, I went to live with my aunt. She had three children all teenagers, the youngest of which went off to serve in Viet Nam, a year and a half later. My aunt, a good person, was stoic and stern and thus it was a difficult adjusting to my new environment. Joe, was a great comfort during this time. He let my brother and myself eat ice cream in the living room, to the chagrin of his mother; He snuck us candy, played with us, and bought us little toys. Thus, his leaving and extended abscence were quite painful.
I well remember when we drove him to Kennedy airport in New York to see him off to bootcamp. He was dressed in his army uniform and stood so handsome and tall. We were all so proud. We headed out with him to the runway, kissing and hugging him, none of us wanting to let go. I even remember what I was wearing that day. We waved good bye, and went back into the airport to watch his plane take off. I pressed my face against the window the way children do, with the horrible sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach, that we would never see him again. Having lost my mother, I understood the consequences of death and knew in this case, it was a real possibility. We watched that plane until we couldn't see it anymore. Our eyes swelling with tears we turned away. The trip back to Philadelphia, no matter how we tried to make it otherwise, was a somber one.
In our home, as in so many homes across America, Walter Kronkite became a nightly fixture. And so did scenes of the war. We were not ones to voice our fears, at least at that time, but each evening I watched the evening news petrified that we would see Joe killed or learn that he was a casualty or worse....
Once Joe was able to come home on leave. He didn't tell anyone, he wanted to surprise us. I was in the front of my home playing, looked up to the corner and couldn't believe my eyes. Joe was walking towards me tall, and stong and handsome in his uniform. I realized there was one person, who would be even happier to see Joe than I. I resisted the strong temptation to run to him and instead ran inside yelling to his mother, "JOE IS HOME, JOE IS HOME." My normally well composed aunt, was beside herself.
She threw off her apron and was behind me running. I never saw that woman move so quickly either before or since. She ran down the porchsteps so fast and hard, she tore off the heal on her sandle, immediately thereafter, falling right into the arms of the son she so loved, while bursting into tears. It was then that I realized she was as human as the rest of us, and wondered at the many feelings she had been harboring, hidden, unbeknownst to any of us, with the exception of perhaps her good husband. She was the complete and joyous picture, of a very fortunate woman, whose son had returned home from battle, if only for a short while, unharmed and unscathed. Six months later, Joe returned to us for good.
While Joe was away, we visited Washington D.C. which was my first time. We saw the White House, the empire state building, and Arlington cemetery. The number of graves was to me quite astounding and there was of course discussion about men dying for their nation and freedom. I can recall thinking about my age, then six, and the age of the average soldier who might be killed in battle, and the age of my grandparents. The ultimate sacrifice that many men make was unimaginable and unfathomable to me. I pondered it for quite some time until I could no longer bear the sentiments so sad was I for those men. I have returned to those same thoughts many times since that day, and my reaction is no different.
When Joe returned from Viet Nam, there was a hush, hush feeling in the neighborhood. Despite that we putup "WELCOME HOME, JOE" signs and banners along with ballons and streamers both on the front porch and in the house, where a surprise party awaited him. We were proud of him and his service and ecstatic to have him home. AND we boldly let everyone know it.
My extended family is quite large, and Joe being one of the oldest in our generation, and the only one of us who had fought in a war, was a hero to us. Our Catholic schools, gave much support to returning Nam vets, and at times invited them as guest speakers to talk to school children. My cousins and I fought ferociously over who would have Joe come to their classroom to speak.
We have never forgotten Joe's time in the army. He married, had children and then served his country again for many years as a police officer. When my brother and I found ourselves in trouble several years ago, Joe, who always had a big heart, was the first to call to offer his services. Sadly, he passed away two years ago.
At his wake, which has become the custom, many pictures were posted. My eyes were drawn to one. It was a picutre of Joe, his parents myself and my brother, the day he left to give service to his country. There was my uncle holding Don, Joe, my aunt , and me standing beside her. In the same clothes and exactly the way I remembered it.
Soon a few of my other cousins and his brother joined my brother and I as we carefully studied some of the other pictures from bootcamp and one or two from Viet Nam. In one picture, he looked particularly strident, and I said, "There's Joe out to get Osama." We all laughed. We were never ashamed of his service and always most proud.
Partially because of him and my own observations of that time period, I found myself on a number of occasions, roundly defending the Nam vets and their service and despising men like Kerry who spoke out against them. And I do mean really despising them. We were lucky, Joe came home whole and in one piece. Others were not so lucky. This experience, however, well taught me about the sacrifice service men and women and their families make.
Joe was also lucky to have a family and a church that supported him and not only showed their appreciation but their pride. Not all Viet Nam vets were so lucky.
Many times I thanked the vets for their service. Though there was never a point in time when I stopped defending Viet Nam Vets, particularly to the ignorant and the left, there was a point in time when I regrettably stopped thanking them. Over the years there has been much revisiting of the Viet Nam war. Even though I understood the lack of appreciation, honor and vitriol Viet Nam Vets suffered from their fellow countrymen, and the lies that were told about them (I never believed them) there were times, when I thought, some Nam vets dwelled upon it too much, particulary after 20 or 25 years. THAT I deeply regret and for that I am sorry.
With the reopening of the Nam discussion by Kerry and the swifties, I am once again reminded, previous discussions were not honest. Not because of the men who served in VietNam, but because of men like Kerry who lied about them and his supporters on the left.
The Swift Boat and all Viet Nam Veterans are finally receiving a small piece of Justice they have desperately needed and well deserved after all these years. And THAT'S a good thing.
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