We all died over there.

I happen to be reading "Snow Falling on Cedars" and just this afternoon I read the chapter where the main character fights the Battle of Tarawa in WWII. This is such a good writer, he gives us so much detail and minute by minute action that I've felt shaken and drained ever since reading it. Just reading about it. I'm sure you did die to some extent while you were in Vietnam and I'm so sorry.
 
Be strong......keep fighting the demons brother.
It's tough. Plus my mom is not well (finally had to move her to assisted living) and my brother just found his wife has pancreatic cancer and has not long to go, and 2 more of my army pals have passed on. All in all, not a fun time.
 
It's tough. Plus my mom is not well (finally had to move her to assisted living) and my brother just found his wife has pancreatic cancer and has not long to go, and 2 more of my army pals have passed on. All in all, not a fun time.
I am so sorry you are going through all this. If it helps, there are people here who love you. Hugs. Also, even if we are not all American, your service and sacrifice are honoured.🥰
 
@squatting dog we'll never fully understood what you experienced in Vietnam. I'm so sorry that you and all of your fellow soldiers had to see and endure what you did. My Dad was in WWII, went in as a healthy 20 year old and came out 100% disabled 22 year old. He never spoke of what he saw or what happened but the memories never faded for him.

Our generation will never forget the Vietnam war and the classmates, siblings, cousins, neighbors, and friends we lost. As has been said over and again about war "All gave some, some gave all".

I pray for peace for you.
 
It's tough. Plus my mom is not well (finally had to move her to assisted living) and my brother just found his wife has pancreatic cancer and has not long to go, and 2 more of my army pals have passed on. All in all, not a fun time.
Yeah, you’re into the shit up to your neck, brother. If you ever need to talk, just pm me. You will find that although I may not have the answers you are looking for, nonetheless, I am a great listener
 
Grass --- Carl Sandburg

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work—
I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?

I am the grass.
Let me work.
 
Yeah, you’re into the shit up to your neck, brother. If you ever need to talk, just pm me. You will find that although I may not have the answers you are looking for, nonetheless, I am a great listener
Thanks brother... this shall pass. Trying to concentrate on the good.
 
When I graduated from HS, in 1960, I was all set to go to college. Then, I could feel the draft board breathing down my neck, and watching the news, I was Not interested in being cannon fodder in the Army or Marines. I went the USAF recruiter, and maxed all their tests. They sent me to a year of intense electronics training, then I was sent to Germany, where I was having such a good time that I took an early discharge, and re-upped for 4 more years. I met my wife over there, and we got married 57 years ago. After 4 years in Europe, I was sent back to the States for a few months, then finished my last year in Thailand, before taking my discharge. During that year in Thailand, I saw several planes and pilots that didn't make it back to base.

A few years ago, I went to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, and found the names of 4 old HS friends that didn't make it back. I was lucky, in that I got the start for a nice lifetime career from the USAF, and didn't have to endure the Hell that so many my age went through.

The most stressful part of my military career was probably the Cuban Missile Crisis, in late 1962. Few people realize just how close we came to total global nuclear war. We had all written what might have been our last letters home, and hoped there would be someone there to read them. Every available aircraft was loaded with a Nuke, and the pilots were in the cockpits waiting for the word to launch. Had Kennedy and Khrushchev not "blinked", none of us would likely be here today.
 


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