Finally, an effort to give Vietnam veterans the recognition they deserve
Have you ever personally thanked Vietnam veterans for their service and sacrifice? Now is your chance.
Vietnam-era vets still remember the shameful way they were treated when they came home from war. Their fathers who fought in World War II were given parades and lauded as the “Greatest Generation.” The Viet vets were met by brazen radicals who screamed “Baby-killers!” and spat on them. The vast majority of Americans – told by politicians and the press that the war in Southeast Asia was immoral and unwinnable – either did not understand how to honor the troops or were bullied into keeping private their pride in the achievements of our armed forces in that difficult conflict. Even today, the Vietnam veterans shake their heads in stoic sorrow over the treatment they received at the hands of their fellow citizens. All they ever wanted was to hear “Thank you.”
Fifty years after the war began, Americans have an opportunity to help right this wrong. On Memorial Day, Veterans in Defense of Liberty (VIDOL) is launching a yearlong Vietnam Veterans Thank You Card From America campaign. “The purpose of this nationwide effort is to repay that long-overdue debt of gratitude owed by our great nation to these deserving American heroes,” Executive Director W. Scott Magill, a former Marine noncommissioned officer and a Vietnam veteran, explains. “It is not political, accusatory or apologetic. It is solely for the purpose of finally doing the right thing while many Vietnam Veterans are still alive.”
VIDOL seeks to collect signatures on peel-and-stick labels inside small cards, which then will be affixed to the official thank-you card, which will be large enough for millions of signatures. The organization seeks to set a world record for the most such signatures ever collected. The card reads, “To the heroic men and women who served in America’s militaryduring the Vietnam War: Thank you for your service and sacrifices. Thank you for answering when your country called. Thank you for bringing honor to our great nation and its awesome military. We salute you, and will honor your memory for as long as the United States of America exists. God bless you.”
The campaign kicks off May 28 during the Rolling Thunder rally at theVietnam Veterans Memorial. Actress and singer Connie Stevens serves as honorary chairman for the campaign. Vietnam veterans are officially represented by Eddie R. Beesley, an enlisted Marine who lost both his legs in the war and recorded his combat experiences in the memoir “Lucky Enough.” On Memorial Day 2013, the completed card will be escorted from Branson, Mo., to be presented to the nation at theVietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The small greeting cards will be spread on the walk before the Wall as a gesture of gratitude to the war’s fallen. They will then be collected and housed in the memorial’s official archives.
To get involved, visit the Vietnam Veterans Thank You Card from America web site. Don’t miss your chance to give the Vietnam vets the thanks they deserve.
James S. Robbins is a senior editorial writer at The Washington Times and author of “This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive” (Encounter, 2010).
When I was a kid on every Halloween there would be a piece the local news about glass in candy and razor blades in apples. “Be careful children!” One fellow wondered about the people who put the razor blades in apples. They must be strange ducks. When that reporter man sought out an actual case, he found nothing at all. The glass in the candy was sugar that separated out from candy that was heated and cooled, and a cold crisp apple will cause gums to bleed.
So it is with the “spat on” charge and Vietnam vets. There was never an actual case of that.
My understanding is that the United States and Vietnam are friends and that the refugees from Vietnam to the United States are terrific citizens. Let’s not re-litigate the war issue. The left complained of American savagery in the war, but what gets me is General Giap’s use of men like matchsticks and the holocaust-level brutality of the Khmer Rouge.
I was lucky and not called to Vietnam, but I admire and thank all who, like my dad, have served and are serving our country.
“So it is with the “spat on” charge and Vietnam vets. There was never an actual case of that.”
Were there actually big parades welcoming them home and thanking them for their service?
Unfortunately, I do remember incidences such as described. No “Welcome Home” rallies for these returned soldiers who fought a war of such savagery that they have difficulty talking about it to this day.
They were vilified, spat on, ridiculed and insulted.
I am talking from an Australian perspective, so I cannot speak for how America treated her returned soldiers from Vietnam.
The trade union officials in this country organized rallies and mob-like protests when Australia’s soldiers returned. These protests were filled with people full of hatred and viciousness for these remarkable men and women.
To this day I am ashamed of this display and I am sorry that the many people in the union movement and the Labor Party (our equivalent of your Democrats), who were involved in these shameful protests, have not been made to apologize. Their conduct is despicable.
I, too, admire and respect and thank all who served and are serving our countries.