On Veterans Day, remember the Vietnam vets who didn’t make it home
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- November
- 11
Happy Veterans Day. Thousands of Vietnam Veterans of America members, including dozens from Chapter 49 of Westchester County, are gathering at the wall memorial in Washington, D.C. for the 25th anniversary dedication today. Here in Vietnam, my father and I are heading to Cu Chi, where he was based with the 25th Infantry Division from March 1967 to March 1968, and the area where his friend and fellow Army Lt. Joe Lingle was killed a month after arriving in country.
Check back for news about our experiences there.
In the meantime, click on the audio link below to hear a memorial poem read by Jim Murphy, a South Nyack, NY man who served in Vietnam with the Air Force in 1968. Murphy wrote this to honor Alexander Roczen, a friend also killed just a few weeks after arriving in country. It was recently published in Post Traumatic Press 2007.
Nicole, thanks for letting me share this memory. Alex’s nickname was Kiki and he is always with me as are several other lost buddies. Timmy O’Brien reminds us that there are ‘things we carry’ that we should always cherish. Veterans Day is that day to honor them… give my best to your dad and keep him close… In Peace, Jim
[...] we went there by ourselves on Veterans Day, my father and I each took a turn. I couldn’t tell if anyone was hitting the targets – [...]
[...] Veterans Day, while my father and I visited Cu Chi, the rest of our group attended a dedication ceremony for the [...]