Vietnam veterans give thanks for survival, peace
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- November
- 22
The story I wrote about the thankful orphanages in Vietnam ran in today’s Journal News; click here to read it.
We got a Thanksgiving e-mail from “Doc” Bernie Duff this morning (afternoon in Vietnam), sharing what he is thankful for on this holiday: his girlfriend, his family, his “garbage pail kids,” the people of Vietnam, the veterans and his friends.
My father and I will celebrate Thanksgiving at West Point with our family today, dining among other veterans and their guests. We’re both thankful for our “Return to Vietnam,” and that the country has been at peace for the last three decades. And, we have a renewed appreciation for his first return from Vietnam, too. There were many close calls during the Vietnam War, and almost all the veterans on our trip still think about people who died in their place – sometimes literally, by saving their lives, or when positions or schedules were randomly switched by a commanding officer.
For my father, the hours we spent at Ton Son Nhat airport waiting for our flight back on Saturday night reminded him to be thankful that he made it out the first time; he had taken this photograph while waiting to fly home on March 1968, showing the gaping hole in the old terminal’s ceiling created by a Katyusha rocket that had recently killed some other soldiers – just as they were about to leave Vietnam.
Dr. Ronald Hanover, a psychologist specializing in PTSD at Manhattan’s VA Hospital, says many of his patients don’t fly, because it brings up the panic they felt when boarding their “Freedom Bird” from Vietnam all those years ago, fearful that it would get attacked just as they were finally heading “back to the world.”
Fortunately, my father doesn’t mind flying, though now I understand that it’s a justifiable feeling. He did urge me to take this photograph on Saturday, however, showing him beneath an intact ceiling this time.
found all of these articles very enjoyable. got the addy from doc. i would love to return and see what the quy hoa leprosy colony looks like today. paul mcgrath/498th dustoff/ 51st medical co. rvn 1970
Nicole, thank you for your reports on the return trip to Viet Nam by the noble veterans. I found the accounts inspiring and food for thought about Americans’s responsibilities in the world. While some would disagree, I believe that we entered Viet Nam in our national interest, but without intent of malice. In the course of military operations against a determined foe, harm was done to the ecology and people of the country. What the story of the returning veterans tells us is that Americans are a compassionate people who try to make amends for the wrong they may have done even when they failed in their nation’s mission. The nobility of these veterans shines through the relief program that they have undertaken. Again, Nicole thanks for telling this story.
[...] communities. Over the past few weeks, my father and I have gotten lots of calls and e-mails from veterans, Rotarians, Rockland County residents, fathers and daughters, educators, journalists, students, war [...]
[...] return from Vietnam 40 years ago. As he explained, it wasn’t the smoothest transition, but several of the veterans we traveled with last month and others we’ve spoken to recently had far more challenging homecomings, including [...]