A Memorial Day Thought - Updated 2018
"I am glad that you were finally able to make contact, and I wish you the very best. It is my wish that you remember David as a young man who did his duty when called. Both you and your children should be proud that David served and answered the call when needed. I hope you can find some solace in these mementoes of David.
God Bless and Best Wishes"
For many this year's Memorial Day will be a day of somber rememberance, but for me it will be a day of celebration for the first time in 50 years. For most of my life, I have not dwelt on the memories of my fallen brothers there has not been a day pass that I did not pass the wall and see their plaques as a reminder that I was living in the "Double Jeopardy Bonus Round" of a wonderful life. This year the remaining Plaques will be taken down and packed away in the Vietnam memory trunk which has patiently been waiting for it's final closure.
Ozzy and Rosey have finally returned to home and now may Rest in Peach with their loved ones.
WAS ALL THIS JUST A COINCIDENCE?
One final thought, there is a philosophy made popular by the book "When God winks" by Squire Rushnell. It covers those little instances when you chalk things up to coincidences but they really may be just a little nudge from God to remind you "I'm am still here watching over you!" My Previous Post.
Update 2020
Not having learned the lesson of past Memorial Days, I made plans to let this Memorial Day (2020) pass without fanfare or overt acknowledgement. Perhaps just a private thought and prayer for those who perished so long ago.
Then one of my comrades who runs the unit Website, announced that he had published a book about his year in Vietnam. I felt duty bound to buy it if for no other reason to help cover the cost of self-publishing his story. While I did not know him during my tour, we participated in several battles and walked in the same foot steps perhaps only a few hundred feet apart. We both lost buddies in the same battle April 4, 1968. I don't plan on reading it (but I am also sure that that plan too will fail to be followed.)
Imagine my surprise when this morning one of my other former comrades posted this picture on his Facebook page with this caption:
The picture instantly shocked me back into 1968 again. I had not seen this picture before, but I instantly recognized two of the guys in this picture. One died in October 1968 and the other was badly wounded. Still young and frozen in time and memory. I knew instantly that this year would be no different than past ones.
Somehow over the years, after the bravado of youth has passed, the memory of fallen comrades rears its head. Sometimes it a bittersweet memory, sometimes a grateful memory of having survived, sometimes a guilty memory for the same reason, and occasionally a happy memory of the good times before a date certain, but always a renewed memory of fifty plus years ago and occasionally a memory as new as last night relived again. Perhaps it is the years of denial that makes a philosopher of all old combat soldiers or maybe just old age that allows the lowering of the walls of self-protection we all built over the years. That is when I realized that duty, honor and common sense dictated that I stop feeling sorry for myself and follow the advice of another Vietnam veteran. After years of searching for closure, I found a quote by General Hal Moore that puts things in perspective. Bobby Tony
“There is no such thing as closure for soldiers who have survived a war. They have an obligation, a sacred duty, to remember those who fell in battle beside them all their days and to bear witness to the insanity that is war.” ― Harold G. Moore, We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam
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Thanks Stan, I probably should have added Eddy as a comment instead of an update but I appreciate your moving it into the new rotation.
I download these as a PDF file for my hard copies and forgot that the update would generate a re-publish request in the queue. |
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My promise to Bobby Tony and all vets who post here: If you pour your heart into a post, as B.T. did here, I will lift it back up to the Latest Post section each Memorial Day for as long as I draw breath.
Don't be mistaken here: These posts are categorized, Searchable and easy to find already, and can be read readily; however, lifting them back to the Latest section does give them a nice bump. This is, once again, the least I can do for these great American patriots. |
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Beautifully written my friend.
You truly have a gift to express the essence of your truth, which, as much as I have a right to claim it, is my truth too. Thank-you for your contributions, as a patriot, and, especially, here on BCN. |
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Thank you for the kind words, Stan. My participation in Vietnam was a duty as you point out. As a child of the fifties, I always taught to obey the laws as they existed. When I received my draft notice, there was no thought of doing anything but showing up and following orders.
A quote from John McCain and Mark Slater’s book “Hard Calls”, sums up the soldiers duty better than any I have ever read. It expresses what I suspect help sustain him during his stay at the Hanoi Hilton. “In the immediacy, chaos, destruction, and shock of war, soldiers are bound by duty and military discipline to endure and overcome. Their strongest loyalty, the bond that cannot break, is to the cause that is theirs alone, the cause for which they all fight: one another. It is through their loyalty to comrades in arms, their exclusive privilege, that they serve the national ideal that begat their personal transformation. When war is over, they might have the largest but not exclusive claim on the success of their nation's cause. But their claim is shorn of all romance, all nostalgia for the crucible in which it was won. From that crucible they have but one prize, one honor, one glory: that they had withstood the savagery and losses of war and were found worthy by the men who stood with them.” Being found worth by your comrades is enough thanks. |
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I thank-you for your service, and if for no other reason, you will always have my respect because of it.
War is Hell, but, sadly, necessary to rid our planet of evil. Was the Vietnam War necessary? It doesn't really matter at this point. What does matter is that we honor those that did their duty as patriots, and, moreover, we honor those that paid the ultimate sacrifice as our greatest patriots, our greatest heroes. |
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A suggestion: When you hear someone mention someone or had a friend or relative who has died in combat, stop and ask him or her “what was their name”? If possible, get a pen and paper and write the name down. You will not remember it later and it will not change the world, but it will take a few moments away from the current hustle and bustle of life. It also will give you a chance to reflect again, when you try to decide what to do with the written name. It makes it a personal tribute and I think they earned and deserve those few moments.
Thanks TD- It never is easy but necessary. |
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Just wanted you to know I read the article that was not easy to write.
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It was my privilege to publish the post.