Several years ago, Debbie
Hall and I began working on a project that became the thing that I am most
proud of all the things I have done relating to history. We invited the
veterans of Vietnam to come in and talk to us. Here are some thoughts from that
project.
They
came in by themselves. For those who died, their older sisters came in for
them. In one case a niece came with her uncle, who lost his arm in the war. One
was a drill sergeant that trained men for the war. One guarded B-52 planes in
Thailand and another ran communications south of the capitol along the river
that led to the sea. Others served on aircraft carriers or destroyers in the U.
S. Navy. Most were Marines or men in the U. S. Army who fought against the
Vietcong or the Army of North Vietnam. Some would not talk at all, but brought
in their photos and many items from their time in Southeast Asia. Others found
the experience a cathartic experience that allowed them to release the pain and
experiences they held inside sometimes for decades. They were the Vietnam
Veterans and they humbled me with their service to this nation even though at
the time their service was not appreciated and in many cases they were abused
and even spit on by their fellow citizens at the time. Today, veterans
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan do not experience treatment such as this,
but for the men who went to Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s we felt the
need to say “It is never too late, welcome home.”
The voices I heard working on this exhibit and book had
many things in common besides their service in Vietnam. Almost all have some
physical health problems due to their service in Vietnam. Many blamed it on the
defoliants used to control the jungle growth in South Vietnam such as “Agent
Orange.” Many had mental health issues relating to their service, but not all.
Some of the men who spoke with me found ways to deal with what they saw. One
Air Force man spent years in therapy and kept a journal that he wrote down his
thoughts and those of others to deal with the pain of his time in Indo-China.
Several took photographs and slides that they shared. These men used these
images as their way of dealing with the things they might not want to talk
about. A few used humor to deal with their time in the service and spoke glowingly
of the time in Vietnam and the people they fought to keep free. A few even
expressed a wish to return to the country they fought to keep free from
communism.
There were men who fought and would go back, but most
felt the war took their friends and their youth when they were as Oliver
Wendell Holmes, himself a Civil War Veteran, spoke of being “Touched by Fire.”
Their bitterness is understandable considering the treatment they received for
doing nothing more than answering the call of their country at a time of war
even though it was never called a war, but a “Conflict” so that Presidents
Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon did not have to answer to the U. S.
Congress except for monies to fund the “Conflict” in far off Vietnam.
One with the nickname of “Hillbilly” brought it home for
me during an interview that he did not want recorded. He asked me if I wanted
to see the cost of freedom and when I answered affirmatively, he pulled up his
shirt to show me the three wounds he received in battle as a part of a “Recon”
team in the jungles of South Vietnam. He experiences health problems due to his
exposure to “Agent Orange” that was used to kill the jungle so that the forces
of the United States could see their enemies easier and clear spaces to operate
within the nation they tried to keep from Communism.
The men who died were represented by their older sisters,
who came in with photos and stories about their younger brother. Time is not
kind to women as these ladies all are in their sixth and seventh decades while
their younger male siblings remain frozen in time in their late teens and early
twenties. Wrinkles and extra weight are not problems for the departed, they are
forever young with bronze skin and fit bodies trained in the art of war by
their nation to as Bruce Springsteen sang in Born in the U. S. A. “going off to
kill the yellow man.”
These women brought in photos of their brothers from the
time they were children and especially spoke eloquently about their mothers and
the relationships with what for many of them was their only sons. Few spoke of
their father’s feelings as I expect they did not know their father’s feelings
as men do not express their emotions the way those who carried these now dead
heroes in their wombs. For the most part all of those who lost their lives did
so early in their tour of service in Vietnam with one exception due to the
pettiness of an officer. In many cases the way these men died was not the story
told their families, but the official government description did not match up
with the tales of the men who witnessed the end of their compatriots.
There was emotion kept in secret in some cases for
decades. It was not just the sisters of the men who gave their lives, but many
of the men who returned and shared their stories became emotional during the
course of our conversations. Often, I found myself acting as a therapist for
these men, but what amazed me was the simple greatness in all of these men and
women who were willing to talk about a time of their lives that many thought
would be forgotten because until we started this project no one has asked them
about their service or the service of those they lost.
Another tragic aspect of this work was the several
children who never knew or could not remember their fathers, who died in
Vietnam without ever laying eyes on them or because they were simply too young
to recall the young men who were their fathers. One thing important to me was
to visit the graves of all the men who lost their lives in Vietnam as a sign of
respect and to make their sacrifice tangible for me personally.
A gratifying aspect of this project was the men and
families of the lost thanking us for doing this project. I never realized that
while the men of World War Two receive thanks in the form of monuments, movies
and documentaries, Korea and Vietnam do not and the simple fact that we wanted
to remember those who passed and those who served meant much to these people
and it came to mean much to those of us involved in the project. These are some
introductory remarks about the interviews we conducted and converted to DVD so
that those visiting the exhibit could hear and see the people and the faces and
voices from Vietnam.
Over twenty hours of video and 2,000 scanned images
resulted from this project and exhibit. It came to feel that we were meant to
do this project at this time due to all sorts of coincidences that some might
see as fate or “God’s Will,” but I know that it seemed that remembering the men
who served in a controversial war and forgotten service was well worth the
effort. At least one day a week or more, we spent interviewing, scanning, and
talking to veterans and their families about their service, memories and how
they feel about the longest war fought by the United States.
Serving your country when it is not the popular thing to
do takes a special kind of courage. The sunshine patriot as Thomas Paine stated
over two hundred years ago will shirk from such service, but the men and women
who went to Vietnam did not. Many expressed their time in the military as “My
country, good or bad.” While not all might go back if the war in Vietnam was
today, they did then and we should honor their service and not the cowards, who
ran off to Canada, and protestors, who get all the air time for taking the popular
view today.
We should never forget that such people make our nation
great and exceptional. Most were the children of World War Two servicemen and
women, who saved the world from the Nazis, their allies, and Imperial Japan.
Several served in two wars that we tend to forget about the 1950s war on the
Korean Peninsula and in Indo-China.
Without exception everyone who came into to talk to us
ended up thanking us for remembering their service to this country. It is a
humbling feeling to have men, who faced the combat and time in Vietnam to thank
you for remembering. These are men who it was my great honor to cross paths in
researching history. They reminded me of something Ernest Hemingway once wrote,
"The world is a fine place and worth fighting
for."
Never Forget: Martinsville, Patrick and Henry Counties In Vietnam is available online at www.freestateofpatrick.com
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