THIS MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED TO THE VIETNAM VETERAN, HIS COMPASSION AND HIS HUMANITY. THROUGHOUT THE VIETNAM WAR AMERICAN SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN CAME IN CONTACT WITH THE PEOPLE OF VIETNAM AND, DESPITE THE PICTURE PAINTED BY THE MEDIA AT THAT TIME, THE VAST MAJORITY OF THEM RECOGNIZED THE SUFFERING BEING ENDURED BY THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY THE CHILDREN OF THAT COUNTRY.
THESE MEN AND WOMEN, WHO, THE YEAR BEFORE WERE ATTENDING HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE EVENTS, WERE NOW ENGAGED IN COMBAT WITH AN ELUSIVE BUT TENACIOUS ENEMY. THEIR EXPOSURE WAS TRAUMATIC TO SAY THE LEAST, YET NO MATTER HOW HARD THEIR EXTERIOR, NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY CONTROLLED THEIR FEARS IN ORDER TO BE THE FIGHTERS THEY MUST BE, THIS SHARD OF OUTER TOUGHNESS WAS ALWAYS CHALLENGED BY THE CHILDREN SUFFERING AND BEING DESTROYED BY THE WAR. THIS WAS PROBABLY ONE OF THE MAJOR LINKS TO THEIR SANITY. MEN WHO BECAME TOUGH JUNGLE FIGHTERS AT THE SAME TIME GAVE OF THEMSELVES TO HELP THE PEOPLE. THEIR DEFIANCE OF THE ENEMY AT ALL LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT WAS CONTRASTED BY THEIR WILLINGNESS TO BE HUMAN BEINGS, IF IT WAS POSSIBLE IN THAT MADNESS. THEY HELPED ADMINISTER MEDICAL TREATMENT, SHARED THEIR FOOD WITH VIETNAMESE CHILDREN, AND GAVE OF THEMSELVES TO ORPHANAGES TO EASE THE PAIN OF THE ORPHAN.
THIS IS THE VIETNAM VETERAN WHO WAS OVERLOOKED. HE DISPLAYED THE SAME COURAGE AS HIS FATHER AND GRANDFATHER IN OTHER LESS CONTROVERSIAL WARS, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, HE DISPLAYED THE COMPASSION WHICH HAS ALWAYS BE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
If you find any mispellings, omissions, or other errors, please contact Jim Mangi at jim.mangi@earthling.net