Vietnam: So We Remember

When you walk in the front door at my parents' house, you immediately sense a homey, comfortable feel. It’s in the Hoosier cabinet that once belonged to my mamaw. It's in dad's old, Naugahyde recliner. It's in the fireplace mantel that proudly holds the pictures of their 4 children at various ages. But, if you look to the left, you will be greeted by a sense of loyalty and patriotism.

Mom has dedicated a wall to the U.S. Navy. There, hangs the memorabilia gathered in honor of a family tradition of military service. Among the medals, citations and awards earned are the Boot Camp graduation pictures of each member of the family that served in the Navy.

Both of my grandfather’s photos -- hung side by side -- start the tree, but it doesn’t stop there. My father joined the Navy straight out of high school in 1957. If that wasn’t enough, continue down the wall to see my mother proudly donning her WAVE uniform in her graduation picture. Below my parents, hangs my brothers’ Boot Camp photo. In three generations, my family has had 5 members join the ranks of the U.S. Navy.

Today, while searching for lenses to bless on my last day as a Squidoo Angel, I ran across a lens titled Vietnam War Photos - So We Remember by lensmaster capriliz (aka Carmen). As I read and looked at the photos, I was reminded of my dad. He served as a Corpsman (medical personnel) for a Marine Battalion close to the front. He jumped from fox hole to fox hole patching the men as best he could, hoping they would make it back to the mobile hospital, a safe distance from the front.

The pictures in Carmen’s lens are real, scary and illuminating. They arouse many emotions - anger, regret, empathy and sympathy -- to name a few. She gives the stories behind the pictures and the facts, as we know them, about the war. The timeline is especially helpful for those that don’t remember or weren’t around for the war. It is obvious that she conducted extensive research and I was impressed by the photos that she chose -- they tell a story without words.

With Veteran’s Day approaching (Thursday, November 11th), I was pleased to find a reminder of our military men and women. They do a job and they do it for the love of their country. As Carmen states in the section about protest songs, “Please note, the music was anti-war, not anti-soldier.”

I was 4 when daddy walked in the door of Mamaw’s trailer, home after a year in Vietnam and Okinawa. He says I looked up at him and burst our bawling while my 5 year old brother ran to mamaw and papaw shouting “My daddy’s home, my daddy’s home”. I can’t help but think about the families that didn’t have such happy reunions. Take a minute to visit Carmen’s lens and remember… or learn about some of America's most forgotten veterans.

Image Credit: Vietnam memorial statue by SteeveO69