Posted on 08/29/2004 4:44:09 AM PDT by stockpirate
To: stockpirate I am not sure this is the proper place to put this...but here goes... To All The Vets of Viet Nam,
I was born in 1955, a baby boomer...into an alcoholic and abusive family. I was 14 years old when Woodstock rocked this nation. I remember standing in front of a 12" black and white set watching it unfold on the 6 o'clock news. I also remember my father using the term..".long haired hippie pukes" and being totally disgusted with the whole mess. Being 14 with a father who like to use his fists..I naturally rejected anything he said as any kind of truth. He had lost my affection and my trust many years ago. My father also told the story of being wounded in the Korean war...he even had a scar to prove it. I later found out when I got older, that he had spent the entire war in England..so much for his credibilty.
My mother thought it would be good to alert me at that tender age of 14 about the drug scene that was waiting to prey upon me. She handed me a bunch of Life magazines with an expose of the underground culture of drugs. Living in a small town in Central NY..this was definitely a foreign concept. I was mesmerized by the pictures of hippies and the freedom they appeared to have. Oh how I longed to have a place in this world where I could breathe without fear of being hit. I was ripe for the picking.Within 6 months I found myself hobknobbing with drug dealers and the like.
The next couple of years I was entrenched in the drug scene..my friends were of like thinking..we had all bought into the Love, Peace, Free Sex and drugs doctrine being perpetuated on the youth of this nation. I became a sympathizer of the likes of Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Their books became gospel for me....I devoured the book.."Soul on Ice" by Eldredge Cleaver. I hated the Viet Nam war...not because of it's political significance...but the idea of war and chaos in general. I had seen too much of that as I was growing up...I longed for peace in my soul. I drank and drugged to relieve some of the inner pain.
I bought into anything that my father hated....and hated anything he bought into. My father was a veteran and stood by the President..even though he was a democrat.....He stood by his brothers in arms. So it was natural for me to take the opposing view. I hated war. Our little town had 3 casualties in the Viet Nam war..two of whom rode on my school bus....they were older than me but each had made a distinct impression on me as I rode the bus....I remember Joe who used to make the sound of a cricket as he ran his fingers along the roof of the bus...he was so tall!!..and Ron was the cute older brther of my sister's friend. Both gone, both dead and for what purpose? My teenaged brain couldn't comprehend the whole idea of death and war.
In 1975, I was 20 years old...a survivor of years of self abuse through my reckless lifestyle..and now a mother of two children. I sat in front of another TV and watched as they were airlifting people out of Saigon. A plane full of refugees were taking off when the plane, carrying children, crashed on takeoff. I sat in front of the TV set and cried...sobs coming from somewhere so deep inside of me....I realised as I was sitting there...that this was the first time I had ever cried for anyone else but myself. My heart was starting to unthaw from years of guarding it.
When the war ended I didn't abuse the vets who had served bravely for my country, no my attitude was worse than any abuse bestowed on them...mine was one of indifference, one of apathy, a "so what and who cares attitude." I never spoke a word that brought shame to a vet, but my heart was full of hatred for anyone who would willingly go and make war.
On Memorial Day, my father would put on his legion uniform and march in the parade and shoot his gun off at the village green in remembrance of those fallen. I watched with a mocking spirit within me. It was a big deal to him (dad) when he became post commander..all I could see was another opportunity for him to drink. I saw him as a hypocrit..a man who espoused peace and freedom ...who oppressed his family with violence and bondage.
But something happened to me over the years...an ideological change, a paradigm shift of thought. I woke up in the mid 1990's and I found myself with the same ideals my father had about his country. I fell in love with where I live and what it stands for. Maybe it was watching my children growing up and wanting better for them or Maybe it was watching CNN during the first Gulf war knowing my brother was in a tank somewhere inside Iraq... or maybe it was the day I sent my youngest son off to the Marines for safe keeping. Maybe it was coming to have faith in Christ. But something definitely changed within me. Maybe it was turning off the TV for a moment and allowing God to speak to me without all the static.
I joined Free Republic over a year ago at the request of a friend. And today I watched a video clip of the VVAW throwing their medals. I must have watched it 6 times. It was this clip that prompted me to write this piece. After so many years I wonder if it would really make any difference to the men and women who served our country by going to Viet nam, if I were to say.. from the bottom of my heart...that I AM SO SORRY for not giving you the Honor you so richly deserve. I am sorry for the indifference I showed you when you returned...of turning my eyes and closing my ears.. when I heard a derogatory remark aimed at you. Would it make a difference if I told you that I am proud of the service you gave to us on behalf of our freedom..that I appreciate your sacrifices and the blood shed for the freedom we all share today. It is 30 years late but I couldn't let another day pass with writing these thoughts down.Please Forgive Me.....
With LBJ's landslide election in 1964 the Mainstream Media were in the commanding heights. Anyone who joined the military in 1965 would have taken for granted that veterans who served the wonderful Kennedy/Johnson Administration had a guarantee of WWII-style PR support.Who betrayed the Vietnam vets? Big Journalism.
Yes, Jane Fonda, and yes, John Kerry - but without the support of Big Journalism those were just a couple of pretty faces. It took the collusion of Big Journalism to produce the PR catastrophe which afflicted the veterans of Vietnam.
Great Post "stockpirate". Pass on my thanks to "Freeper". It and the many "replies" brought tears to this old guy.
You were liberal when you were young, but then you grew up! You matured. God Bless you, and Your family, and God Bless your Son who is Serving his country!
Being from the same generation, I remember what hard times those were. "BIG HUG"!
The “nobility” of our Viet Nam war was borne out by the results of our withdrawal. I believe Mr. Kerry testified in 1971 that about 3,000 Vietnamese were at risk if Communists prevailed.
Well, the Cambodian communists limed their land with the bones of millions slaughtered. The Vietnamese re-education camps held hundreds of thousands and the exodus of “boat people” who took to shark and pirate infested waters in leaky rafts numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The numbers that died in this mass exodus will never be known with certainty, but they were staggering.
To provide a comparison: when the Nazis took over the Netherlands very few of the people fled.
It’s amazing to me that, objectively, the Communists in Asia were worse than the Nazis in Europe.
You've written a beautiful piece. Thanks.
And there was great rejoicing when the Prodigal Patriot returned home. :=)
That was a great post. I was asked last night by a friend (in his early 20s and in the AF) why I felt so strongly about Kerry and Vietnam. I explained to him what it was like living through Vietnam; my dad retired from the AF in 1971 - he spent one tour in SEAsia, my brother is an AF vet and spent two tours in SEAsia. In addition, I lost two very close friends over there - one in 1968, shortly after we graduated from HS; one in 1969. Dickie's funeral was the first (and certainly not the last) military funeral I went to and I will remember it forever. I will also remember working in the Pentagon and having to push my way through demonstrators in the early 80s as they had something else to demonstrate against. The heroes of Vietnam are the "greatest generation" for the people my age (ok, as much as I hate to admit it - early 50s) and I will be appreciative of them forever. It's great that there are people like the poster who are now realizing just what these guys sacrificed for us. And like you, by the time I finished reading it, I too was in tears. OK, I'm off my soapbox and headed to the airport to fly to NYC for the week!
I was in my 20s - married, raising a young family, going to school.
I NEVER believed the anti-war crap - BUT I wasn't proactive enough in favor of our guys - I am sorry for that. Although I was always respectful of our guys in uniform - lived near a major military post - so saw them all the time - I never bad mouthed them behind their backs and I was disgusted by the whole hippie scene.
My thinking was "oh, nobody believes this stuff" - forgetting that a bunch of young people would. Also didn't know that this cancer was about to take over the elementary and high schools to indoctrinate my children etc. (It took on one but not the other).
Where can I see the footage of Kerry and klan tossing their medals?
That was quite a journey to finally see the light. I'm glad that FReeper has joined us.
Borrowing a line from the British band, The Who,it's safe to say....
"We Won't Be Fooled Again".
.
JOHN KERRY = Enemy of Vietnam Vets
http://www.TheAlamoFILM.com/forum/viewtopic.php?=1320
Signed:."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer / Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965
(Photos then)
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set1.htm
(Photos now)
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm
http://www.lzxray.com/Ronnie3.jpg
.
I thank God that you had eyes to see. Your wounds healed nicely.
Stockpirate,
Better late than never. It's about time. You've got a lot to make up for, so get busy. Re-electing the President is one way to start. Do your duty NOW.
I know we live in an Oprah society. People love repentance and apologies. I know many will offer the consoling hug. However, saying you're sorry isn't enough...although it's a good start.
I wasn't in Vietnam (I became eligible for the draft at the end of the war, and my number never got called). But I'm on the front today: New York City. You are on the front, too--wherever you are.
We are in a war now, and there's plenty every citizen can and must do to help us win it. We MUST win it because our way of life, our survival, the future of Western values and civilization depend on it.
John Kerry is unfit for command and a threat to the Republic. You can help defeat him.
Welcome to the fight.
-OhMike
Media bias bump.
Stockpirate,
In reading my note above, I realize I didn't mean to direct my comments to you, but to whoever wrote the letter apologizing to the vets.
I am extremely grateful to ALL the veterans who have served. -OhMike
Pass through the dark, face into the light and enjoy the blessings of freedom you have so rightly earned.
Very well written!! Thanks for having the courage and grace to offer an apology.........
All I can say is it's about time...
I too grew up in the time of Woodstock, mind-destroying drugs and free-sex-with-anyone-at-any-time-or-place...My dad too, was a combat veteran...I watched the news broadcasts as well as everyone else...
However, I stuck with the opposite position of your friend that wrote this piece...Can't really say why...Just seemed right...Still does...
I beleived in 1971 that I would never forgive these people. Letters like these make me think that I'm wrong, but I still can't. It's not right, it's a sin but I just can't. I try.
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