Our Harley Days: Welcome Home Vietnam Vets!

Friday, March 30, 2012

Welcome Home Vietnam Vets!

March 30, 2012
Colorado, USA

The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree.
~~ Thomas Campbell ~~

Today is Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day in the USA!

All I can follow that with is: it is about damn time. It should go without being said that taking 50 some odd years to get around to saying Welcome Home Soldier to those who served in the hell known as Vietnam is a shame the people of this country will never live down.

My Dad is a Vietnam Veteran and Tim is a Vietnam Era Veteran as are many of our friends and relatives and biker buds. The Patriot Guard Riders get considerable mention on this blog because we are a group of veterans and patriots whose sole mission is to see all Veterans receive the honor, recognition and respect they deserve for preserving the liberty of this great land. And none of us ever forget so many Veterans passed from this world without having received what should have been their just due.

I was a teenager when my Dad served his tour. I remember well the day he left for Vietnam without even a modicum of good will from any source other than family. We survived the blind terror of his service in that hell with the support of family and friends. I say blind and deaf as well because communication was not instantaneous back then - sometimes it was days or weeks before we heard from Dad after we saw something bad on the news. I remember well the day he returned home from Vietnam with only his family to welcome him home. No flags. No banners. No bands. No grinning-like-an-idiot politicians. No media attention. And thankfully, no protesters. It was a quiet homecoming. Not all Vietnam Veterans can say that was their experience.

So many did not return home to the loving arms of family and friends. So many families endured for decades the loss of a loved one without due appreciation for their sacrifice. So many came home damaged and dysfunctional, struggling to find a place for themselves in a world who cared not or did not understand the horrors they lived through. And so many have yet to come home.

Veterans please know this. Not all were oblivious. Not all have forgotten. You are not alone.

Some chose to serve. Others were compelled to serve. Nevertheless, those brave soldiers served in an unpopular conflict under the direction of bureaucrats, many of whom never served their country at all and most of whom never shouldered the weight of accountability. Vietnam Veterans returned home to a seemingly ungrateful and less than compassionate populace who disrespected their service and sacrifice and who produced no empathy for the horror they endured or for their loss of friends and brothers in arms.

And, for all our belatedly good intentions by designating a day as Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day, it means nothing if we do not trouble ourselves to actually observe the day as a day of recognition.

As for me and mine, we will acknowledge a Veteran whenever we run across one rather than wait for some arbitrary date on a calendar.

Politicians, John Kerry and John McCain are not the veterans of whom I speak nor are they representative of the typical Vietnam Veteran. Most of the V-Vets I know do not seek praise or glory - they just try to get on in this world with a head full of bad memories and the idea that what happened to them as a collective will never happen again as long as they can snap a salute, hold a flag or shake a hand.

What dumbfounds me is the citizenry at large in the USA remains apathetic with regard to our military men and women and I often wonder how one can be so disconnected from the reality of sons and daughters, husbands and wives giving their lives so we can sit and fumble with stupid birds on our cell phones.

Where is the public outcry when Veterans on motorcycles are barred from business establishments, or have to fight to keep a flag in the front yard or a patch on their vest or are heckled by miscreants on a bus? No, in most instances, Vets look after their own.

As recently as last week, a Vietnam Combat Veteran friend was disrespected in a despicable and callous manner by a person (let's call him nincompoop for the sake of kindness) who suffers, albeit inexcusably, from what could only be described as terminal stupidity. The V-Vet wears a purple heart, combat stripes, a bronze star and patches that symbolize his distinctive war-time service... The son of another man who is currently serving in the USAF was disrespected by the same nincompoop... It pains me to admit that I am related through marriage to nincompoop who made his disgraceful rounds among our Veteran friends while they were standing an honor line at a memorial service for our family member. That they [the Vets] did not respond to nincompoop's unforgivable abuse is a sign of the class act I know most Vietnam Veterans of my acquaintance to be.

Of course, we [our family and friends who are more family than family] have a zero-tolerance policy in regards to what could be construed as disrespect to Veterans. Rest assured, nincompoop was discreetly shown the error of his ways (flanked by Dad and Tim and backed by many) without much delay and was given the option to make amends - no other option was tendered. Dad is a Vietnam Veteran who is unwaveringly and determinedly respectful of all other Veterans in particular the one who was accosted by nincompoop. Incidentally, nincom"poop" had the need to clean "poop" out of his pants before all was said and done that day as he was reportedly observed making haste to the men's room after his encounter with the thoroughlly pissed off Vietnam Veteran I know as Dad. Ha!

Vietnam Veterans are among us. They are not hard to see if we bother looking beyond the end of our nose. And if you value at all the freedoms you enjoy today please remember who provides you with them... who protects them for you... who maintains the status quo... who laid their all on the line 50 plus years ago and who is doing that very same thing today. Remember with respect - shake a hand, give a nod, buy a meal or a coffee, and utter these few simple words: Thank you for your service and welcome home!

Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans

A tribute to Vietnam Vets - including Dad and Tim

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