I usually write a piece for Memorial Day. I didn’t write one this year because I had written a memorial piece just this past Veteran’s Day. But, within minutes of last week’s item posting on May 30, three things happened that made me regret my decision. First, I received word that a fellow Vietnam veteran had died a few days before. Then, I received a Memorial Day ecard from another friend. And, third, between May 31 and June 4, emails from regular readers filled my inbox wanting to know why I had not written one.
It is ALWAYS fitting to remember our military personnel that have died in the defense of this nation. I could NEVER forget it. I rarely talk about my own ventures into the world of combat. In fact, most of us older coots go out of our way to avoid it. Many of us didn’t serve in Vietnam because we felt our nation’s survival was at stake. We did it because, unlike now, the military draft was the law of the land and Vietnam was our “war”… our time to step up and serve, even though Congress never formally declared war. Most of us never thought much about the righteousness of it. It was our duty and we did it.
So, a week late though it is, here is my tribute to the nation’s war dead—from all wars, declared or otherwise. But, instead of the usual run-of-the-mill sentiments, I’ve taken a slightly different track. Our troops go whenever called to where ever our government sends them… NO QUESTIONS ASKED… the same as my Vietnam colleagues and I did. But, sometimes, especially since WWII, we civilians SHOULD ask more questions of our political leaders.
Opinions vary regarding this nation’s sending its best and brightest to participate in every stupid pissing contest on the planet. I’m against it. And, whenever I write abou...
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...As long as we live, we don’t forget… EVER!
We possess the most powerful and dedicated military in the world. We’re deeply indebted to all currently serving as well as to all that have had their lives taken from them in the battle to keep us strong and free—I’ve never met anyone eagerly awaiting the chance to “GIVE” their lives. I certainly know that I wasn't.
But, with the same level of fervor, I believe that we need to take more deliberation before we send our nation's best and brightest into God-forsaken crap holes without unambiguous mission goals. If the cause is righteous enough to send our troops, it is righteous enough to use overwhelming force with the dual goals of kicking enemy asses into nonexistence and getting our folks back home.
Joe Walther is a freelance writer and publisher of The True Facts. You may comment on his column by clicking here.
The everyday bystander would not perceive the work of art the same as a veteran or loved ones of a veteran would. In a particular instance a woman, Kathleen Cronan Wyosnick, wrote a very heartfelt letter to Abigail VanBuren [Abby] who was the first honorary member elected to the Korean War Veterans Association and previously a newspaper columnist. On November 11th, 1988 Wyosnick wrote to VanBuren pleading to consider a special group of men and women who fought in the Korean War, which is better known as the “forgotten war”. Wyosnick described in her letter how she was a former Air Force nurse who had lost her husband in the Korean War, she wrote about how the war is described in nothing more than a few paragraphs in text books. She said the only media reminder to the public of the war is a television show “M*A*S*H”. Just eight months after they got married her husband was shot down in North Korea on his first combat mission, and she never had him returned to her. She asked where the reminder of those who gave their lives in Korea was. She also asked what the Korean War Veterans Association will do to ensure that the people who lost their lives are not forgotten. The response by Abby to the letter was a sending of the check and the publishing of Wyosnick’s letter. The American Battle Monuments Commission received more than 27,000 donations totaling
As early as the 1920s, thousands of men and women have been deployed to fight for our country. Many go to war and unfortunately some do not make it out alive. While
"There is one front and one battle where everyone in the United States—every man, woman, and child—is in action, and will be privileged to remain in action throughout this war. That front is right here at home, in our daily lives, and in our daily tasks."
Most people are willing to die for the ones they love. People often will die for their loved ones because they would rather have themselves die than the other person. I would die for my country if I had too. I probably wouldn’t go fight for my country unless they needed me because it’s not what I want to do in life. I think it would only be an illogical idea to serve your country if you knew that it was basically just suicide mission. It would also be illogical if you didn’t want to do it and they didn’t need you
Millions of men were called to serve in the Vietnam War. Sometimes, the men were drafted and did not have a choice. Unlike the gift-wrapped ideals of the war that were displayed to the United States, many soldiers would find that the military life would involve far more than “real man-sized action.” To the general public, soldiers were being drafted to be heroes, but once they were forced into war, less than heroic things occurred, and no one would be able to object. The law...
“A Veteran is someone, who at one point in their life, wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including, their life. Regardless of personal political views, that is an honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer remember that fact.”
As men and women serve this country we often forget the importance of what they did and how we give back to them for what they have experienced. Through student surveys that have been gathered, it has been proven in the course of knowledge that 80% of all thirty students surveyed that say they know of someone who is or was a veteran and only 57% of those Veterans receive help. Richelle E. Goodrich stated, “Have you ever stopped to ponder the amount of blood spilt, the volume of tears shed, the degree of pain and anguish endured, the number of noble men a...
Veterans’ Day is celebrated in honor of the men and women who laid their lives in war to uphold freedom for their nation. It was initially called Armistice Day, which marked the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. The war ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of
"We have to start treating Vietnam as a country and not a war. It'll take the old age and death of all veterans before it stops being our 51st state (Alvarez, 2013)." In the story "The Man I Killed", Tim O'Brien, who served in the U.S military in Vietnam, describes the guilt many American soldiers felt about the atrocities they committed in Vietnam. "Vietnam is not an appendage of America. That sort of thinking got us into the mess in the first place. Were bound together by some painful history, but it’s not our liver or our appendix- it's a country (Alvarez, 2013)."
When the Vietnam War was heating up, he tried his very best to keep his words very straightforward and honest. He used pathos in his speech through the usage of the phrases, “a celebration of freedom,” and, “forge against these enemies.” By using these phrases, instead of making the war a task for the people, he made it out as saving the country for the people and for their kids. It wasn’t just a "go and fight," but more of a "go, win, and when you come back enjoy what you have accomplished. " Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country.”
The speech that I chose to analyze and critique is from John Forbes Kerry “Vietnam Veterans Against the War” to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. In this speech he did not represent himself, he represented the group of 1000 veterans that feels the same way he does about the war.
General Douglas MacArthur uses pathos in his speech. To give gratitude to the soldiers have been fighting beside him and to those who has devoted their life on the battlefield, he told the audience how some of his brothers died uncomplaining with honor and glory in their hearts. Such words have the ability to arise American's appreciation along with sympathy. How some people will devote their life for the love of their country is, indeed, something that is truly affecting.
“We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak of the -- for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours”(King).
I am writing to you so share with you my reasons for not being conscripted to serve in the Vietnam War and why I don’t believe in conscription. I would like to explain my reasons for not wanting to be conscripted, I hope you take these reasons into serious consideration and understand why I am standing by my thoughts.
...though people believe that, those on the home front have it just as a bad as the soldiers, because they have to deal with the responsibilities of their husbands, there is nothing that can compare to what these men have gone through. The war itself consumed them of their ideology of a happy life, and while some might have entered the war with the hope that they would soon return home, most men came to grips with the fact that they might never make it out alive. The biggest tragedy that follows the war is not the number of deaths and the damages done, it is the broken mindset derives from being at war. These men are all prime examples of the hardships of being out at war and the consequences, ideologies, and lifestyles that develop from it.