Veterans Day USA 2019

[mikewint]

Today Nov 11th is Veterans Day in the USA. To all Veterans in all countries I salute you and honor your sacrifice. However my particular slice of Gehenna was Vietnam so:

To the Vietnam Veteran:
To those who returned home with no one to greet them
To those who have been told that PTSD would go away in time.
To those who have never been told thank you or welcomed home.
To those who have returned physically but still are haunted by the nightmares of war.
To those who still react to a backfire and break a sweat at the sound of a chopper.
To those who have traveled endlessly never letting roots take hold or settled down.
To those who hear a familiar song that takes you back to a place you'd rather forget.
To those who can count the friends they have on one hand for fear of losing another.
To those who suffer from Agent Orange exposure and are still fighting the last battle.
To those who fought battles in the steaming jungles of Vietnam and also here at home.
To those who have more friends on the Vietnam Memorial Wall than they do in this life
THANK YOU AND WELCOME HOME MY BROTHERS

 

[rochie]

Mike

 

[at6]

Mike, Thank you and all of the others who have served and those who are still serving.

 

[Gnomey]

 

[mikewint]

 

[ODonovan]

Hear hear! So VERY well said, mikewint .

A special shoutout to Howard Smith, older brother of my best friend Gary. He was a UH-1 Huey gunship pilot. He was shot down a couple times but never stopped flying at treetop level, lighting up the enemy whenever and wherever. And yes, he had some stories to tell. No elephant was safe.



-Irish

 

[mikewint]

Generally speaking because we operated mostly in Cambodia and Laos we had our own helos (old H-34 Choctaws) flown by Vietnamese pilots but we also operated with regular Army HUEYS many times.
On the beach "inventing" Air Assult