For dear FRiends, friends and family. 🇺🇸 🙏🏻 ❤️
(h/t sweetiepiezer)
Worth a re-visit!!
Thank you, sweetie, for requesting this thread posting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjzjhl-QztE
Goodnight Saigon
Billy Joel
Track 4 on The Nylon Curtain
Produced by:
Phil Ramone
A Vietnam War-inspired ballad, “Goodnight Saigon” was first released on the 1982 album The Nylon Curtain. The song follows a group of United States Marines beginning their… Read More
Sep. 23, 1982
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Verse 1]
We met as soul mates on Parris Island
We left as inmates from an asylum
And we were sharp, as sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho to lay down our lives
[Verse 2]
We came in spastic like tameless horses
We left in plastic as numbered corpses
And we learned fast to travel light
Our arms were heavy but our bellies were tight
[Verse 3]
We had no home front, we had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy, they gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep and shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ with all of our might
[Verse 4]
We had no cameras to shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe and played our Doors tapes
And it was dark, so dark at night
And we held on to each other like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we’d write
[Chorus]
And we would all go down together
We said we’d all go down together
Yes, we would all go down together
[Verse 5]
Remember Charlie, remember Baker
They left their childhood on every acre
And who was wrong? And who was right?
It didn’t matter in the thick of the fight
[Bridge]
We held the day in the palm of our hands
They ruled the night, and the night
Seemed to last as long as six weeks
On Parris Island
We held the coastline, they held the highlands
And they were sharp, as sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors, they counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive
[Chorus]
And we would all go down together
We said we’d all go down together
Yes, we would all go down together
My next door neighbor when I was a kid. A real big brother to me. 19 years old, 13 days in Vietnam when he was killed in a mortar attack at a LZ.
https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/11029/STEPHEN-E-CRAWFORD/
Personal story not directly related to article.
I do genealogy research for my family. One of the first lessons learned was that names are not unique. What I mean is many people share the same name, you can not go just by name you need additional facts to go with a name to know if the person with the name belongs in your family tree.
A good example is that I found my name on the Vietnam memorial wall! First, middle initial and Last are the same. The age was off by a year and the date he was killed was after I was there but to someone doing casual research could think it was me.
I researched the young man and found we did not share much of anything except a name and having been in Vietnam.
Looking back I was an infantryman and I often wondered just how close I came to being a name on the wall.
Followed closely by why did I live and he died.
This is a great idea!
How long before the butt hurt z’s and millennials insist this is gross and insensitive to some people, like all the NVA that were killed?
Yes, its gonna happen, they will be triggered.
Look for John George Southall, he was my next door neighbor growing up in Wamego, KS. I was three years too young for Vietnam. Johnny was by best friend growing up. June 16th, 1968, Quang Tri Province, Republic of South Vietnam. When I get up there friend we’re going to go for a ride on those old Harley Panheads we had. Say a prayer for me time Johnny.
Thank you Jane for posting.
RN, would be a good site to put on your
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4196085/posts
https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/
So many here at the age of Vietnam War veterans and may know many on our beautiful wall in DC.
Spent last night reading about those we knew who were KIA.
Have a few phone calls to make soon to relatives of those we knew who were KIA.
A great site.
God Bless all these men and women for their service and for giving their all.