50th Anniversary of the Viet Nam War

[M-2]

It doesn't seem all that long ago to me

http://www.vietnamwar50th.com/

Thank you VN vets, and all our servicemen and women who have served our nation.

[elkbowhunter]

seems like only yesterday.

[M-2]

Yes, my HS graduation class of 1967 lost many to the war.

RIP, 58,269 good men and women.

[Landrover]

That is crazy! I was just a baby so I don't remember but that does not seem that long ago.

[M-2]

That is crazy! I was just a baby so I don't remember but that does not seem that long ago.

Well, this timeline seems to indicate INITIAL involvement by the US in late 1961, but I guess 62 was when we went in whole hog...

http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index.html

[Landrover]

Well, this timeline seems to indicate INITIAL involvement by the US in late 1961, but I guess 62 was when we went in whole hog...
http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietna...ine/index.html

Heck, i wasn't born until mid 1964! I am praying this current war(s) does not turn into a political quagmire as our military is our backbone as a soverign nation.

[Phillip Fields]

There were 26 guys in my graduating class of '65. 14 of us served somewhere in Southeast Asia. Thank God, we lost no one. I went to Udorn, Thailand in December '66 for a year. I was an aircraft weapons mechanic and wound up on a special dearmament crew. We were the closest base to the North Vietnam strike zones that could land a shot up fighter. My job was to meet them on the flightline and de-arm them so they could safely be worked. Some of them were shot up so badly, I still don't understand how the pilots brought them home.

[M-2]

There were 26 guys in my graduating class of '65. 14 of us served somewhere in Southeast Asia. Thank God, we lost no one. I went to Udorn, Thailand in December '66 for a year. I was an aircraft weapons mechanic and wound up on a special dearmament crew. We were the closest base to the North Vietnam strike zones that could land a shot up fighter. My job was to meet them on the flightline and de-arm them so they could safely be worked. Some of them were shot up so badly, I still don't understand how the pilots brought them home.

Thank you, Phillip, for you service. You saw things up close, for sure.
One of the boys who didn't come back had asked me to marry him the summer after I graduated, and right before he left for Nam. I didn't accept, and we parted as friends. I didn't learn he had died there until my 20th HS reunion. Another steady boyfriend was drafted right after he graduated in 1966 - he broke up with me. He did come back and we had one date - he was much changed and was going back for another tour. He did get his life back on track and runs a successful commercial real estate firm somewhere on the west coast. I wish all of you Nam vets well and hope all who came home are happy now - and that you know that we appreciate your service and sacrifice.

[pickles]

My dad did two tours. Airborne Ranger. Chopper gunner on his last tour. Doing insertions and extractions of Special forces.

Love and Miss ya Dad!!! RIP.

[Cropduster]

I was a high school principal 50 years ago out in New Mexico. Time sure flies when you are having fun. Just wish we would have let the guys do their job and not tie their hand so they were not allowed to complete the mission. We had them whipped, and just pulled out of there. Thanks guys and girls for your commitment and sacrifice. God bless.

[sailor]

seems like only yesterday

[bowhunterhelm]

http://www.virtualwall.org/dh/HelmHP01a.htm

Following the death of their son in 1966, the following letter, written by Tom Howard, was received by the parents of Herschel P. Helm, Jr.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Helm,
I found it hard to start this letter because I couldn't think of what would be appropriate to say. I have thought about how my folks would feel if I didn't come back and I realized how hard it is on the people back home. This is a part of war, I guess. I want to tell you how sorry I am about your son. I know words can't mean very much, especially from somebody you never heard of.

My name is Tom Howard and I knew H.P. since April. We were gunners together. In fact, he was the senior gunner. H.P. and I were hit about the same time that same day and had similar wounds, except that I was lucky or God decided I should live. This has bothered me a lot. Besides H.P., many other people I knew were killed that day. Why them and not me, I will never understand.

H.P. died doing his job. He put his gun up on a knoll in the area where the V.C. had concentrated their fire. He was trying to help the men trapped and pinned down by the V.C. by giving them a heavy column of fire with his gun. He was warned to get out, but he stayed too long. He just started to find some cover when he was hit. He had a Bible in his helmet and the corpsman said he was praying before he died.

I hope this letter has done some good. H.P. was a nice guy. Even out here in Asia, where morals usually aren't too high, he wasn't like the rest of us. He never made a fool of himself. He just wanted to go home like the rest of us and do his job.

[Texpppr]

I still get angry when I think of Nixon and Kissinger saying the peace accords gives us "Peace with Honor". Lying dogs

[stan]

I recall the first time I ever heard of the Country Viet Nam. Some men were talking about it after church, and I was facinated by the talk of the dense jungles and terrible snakes and the never-ending bogs and entanglements. Little did I know that a few short years later, I would actually BE there. I had a good job, and was relatively "safe" compared to many of the hard working "grunts" there. God bless them for their great sacrifices, and their families as well.

[ZZ Pops]

Well, this timeline seems to indicate INITIAL involvement by the US in late 1961, but I guess 62 was when we went in whole hog...
http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietna...ine/index.html

Most consider March of '65 to be the start of the "whole hog" buildup. That was when the U.S. Marines landed in Da Nang, following the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in August of '64.

Regardless of the timeline, it was the arrogance and poor leadership of U.S. politicians that cost this nation so dearly. I sometimes worry that we did not learn much from that conflict.