ZOT!!!
Posted on 04/22/2004 9:36:41 AM PDT by Whappen
Good show slugging the smelly little freak.
Hartford Courant
Vietnam Veterans Pledge Iraq Vets Won't Be Scorned
By Stephanie Reitz
March 30, 2003
WILLIMANTIC -- Time hasn't blunted the memories. The years have made them a little more bearable, perhaps, but sharp edges still lie just below the surface.
On the grassy lawn outside VFW Post 1724 in Willimantic on Saturday, local Vietnam veterans tried to put aside recollections of their own painful homecomings as they rallied in support of American troops fighting in Iraq.
To themselves and each other, they made a covenant: The men and women returning from the Middle East will not experience the jeers and humiliation they endured.
Gratitude, not contempt, will greet today's troops. They'll be proud to wear their uniforms, salute their flag and tell their children how they voluntarily suspended their daily lives to answer their country's call.
This, the Vietnam veterans vowed.
"There was no welcome home at all after Vietnam. People were protesting against us as soon as our ship arrived in Oakland, Calif.," recalled Don Aubert of Chaplin, a 21-year Navy veteran who served in Korea and Vietnam.
Bob Cornell, delayed at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on his way home from service in Vietnam, bought civilian clothes in the terminal.
Hours of verbal abuse from other passengers, some of whom spit on his uniform, were just too much to bear.
"We must not let that happen again to these young men and women in uniform. You can hate the war, but you have to love the warrior," said Cornell, now the quarrymaster for the Willimantic VFW post.
Charles Kelly of Mansfield was "one of the older guys" at 25, he said, when he received a draft notice in 1967. He knew his $105-a-month Army salary would never be enough to live on and meet the $75 monthly payment on his gorgeous 1966 Mustang.
By volunteering for a three-year tour of duty, he received extra time before his deployment to pay off his prized red convertible and sell it, rather than have it repossessed.
On Jan. 5, 1968, he went to Vietnam. When his three years were up, he enlisted for another six months. Why? Because of a sense of obligation, of patriotism?
"No," he said softly, struggling to hold back tears, "a sense of not wanting to leave anyone behind."
So today, he goes to the pro-troop rallies. He worries about the troops in Iraq and, like other Vietnam-era veterans, he sends them a message of gratitude and respect.
"Soldiers are put in situations they didn't create, and given orders to carry out," Kelly said. "If you don't have the citizens behind you, it makes what you did seem wrong or unacceptable, which is not the case."
Rob Simmons, who spent 19 months in Vietnam, took his $70 clothing allowance upon his discharge in 1968 and bought civilian duds, heeding warnings from friends about the national mood.
Today, Simmons is eastern Connecticut's representative in the U.S. House, and a member of the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committees. Like many other Vietnam veterans, he is determined to protect today's veterans from experiencing the scorn that was heaped on those of his era.
"We don't send mercenaries to defend our nation, and we do not terrorize our own people into fighting," Simmons said. "We give the very best we have to our military ... our sons and daughters."
In 20 years (or today, take your pick) there will be a generation who believe Kerry was wounded in Vietnam.
As long as people wish to believe that the communists had no desire on instilling their system of governance on other countries, the above statement has some validity. But for those who are willing to extricate their heads from the dark regions that it may now occupy, they may be able to realize that the defeat of Soviet communism can be directly attributed to four things:
1) The willingness of the USA to make them pay and to pay big, to gain ground (Vietnam)
2) The willingness of the USA to make them pay and to pay big, to gain ground (Afghanistan).
3)The willingness of the USA to make them pay and to pay big, to gain ground (Reaganism).
4) The simple fact that Socialism is diametrically opposed to the normal rational thought process of 90% of human beings, that being we all want to be rewarded, even if modestly so, for our hard work and efforts.
You also never seen Anti 2nd Amendment protestors threatened or harm wished upon them. But NC Gov. candidate Barbara Howe was confronted by one of the anti 2nd amendment protestors. The protestor said to Ms. Howe "I hope you are shot with one of those!" As she pointed to a picture of a gun on Barbara's shirt.
Welcome to the door of FR, troll. May it hit you hard enough to knock you a mile.
ZOT!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.