"Tried to join the VFW back around 1975 and essentially was told I could join but Vietnam wasn't a real war."
How strange! Vietnam is where I joined the VFW.
My friend who fought in Vietnam was told the same thing.
Now VFW halls are closing left and right. Once the last of the Korean War vets passes they’ll be a memory.
Don’t feel rained on. We Korean vets left to rid So Korea of communism from the north. No one bid us goodbye....we
came back and no one knew we were gone, except our families.
That’s odd, as it is on the list of foreign wars that the VFW officially recognizes for membership.
"Tried to join the VFW back around 1975 and essentially was told I could join but Vietnam wasn't a real war."
How strange! Vietnam is where I joined the VFW.
I heard that some vietnam veteran tried to join my hometown chapter of VFW around 1972 and he was told to come back when “you’ve fought in a real war, sonny”. Needless to say He was mad as hell and when the cops got to the hall he was outside throwing rocks at the place. Broke some windows but I don’t think he was arrested. Ever since then I have thought of the VFW as Veterans with Fat Wives. I am a life long civilian and locally would recommend the American Legion. My father was the chairman of the bar so to speak and those guys had a better attitude.
The vfw really stepped on their unit with that statement to you in 75.Really dumb and not the first time I have heard of that.
One of my closest friends is a Marine vet of Vietnam and had the same experience here in our little town. He feels the same way you do.
I was told essentially the same thing regarding Persian Gulf I. It’s not good enough for them that my DD214 says I served in a war zone or that my Southwest Asia Service Medal has a bronze device for serving in a campaign. It’s all good, it says a lot more about them than it says about me.
Ironically, I recently saw a documentary where a Navy LT pilot was hanging out at the VFW. He got his commission in 2005. By their standards, Iraq should not have been a “real” war, either. VFW can go suck an egg.