Vietnam War Memories Live On
Today’s news headlines awaken feelings of loss
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All wars are the same
On the ground and at sky level too.
That’s where they’re fought,
Where soldiers, sailors,
Civilians and bystanders die
Praying for life, but for too many.
This time of death can’t be changed.
The war in Vietnam
Was the war for my generation.
That is, it was the undeclared
War that killed more than
58,000 Americans on foreign soil.
It was and still is America’s
Most unpopular war.
Vietnam took our young men
And a few young women as nurses too.
Some returned lifeless,
whole or in pieces
In coffins for burial
In hometown ceremonies
And cemeteries.
Many more returned alive,
Whole or pieced back together
Only to be greeted by uncaring
Or hostile fellow citizens
Who resented their actions
Even to the point of spitting on them
As they passed by.
Returning American soldiers
Who had been betrayed by the decisions
Of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
Were then disrespected by fellow citizens
Who blamed them for fighting
Instead of blaming the powerful old men
Who sent them to war.
Many of these soldiers came home
Physically, mentally, and emotionally
Wounded, with any earlier spirituality
Gone, warped, or pushed away by drugs.
Eventually the majority of Americans
Reevaluated the war and were sickened
By the graphic, grim images of what
Our soldiers endured in battle,
This was the first publicly…
