I
attended a ceremony yesterday to honor three Viet Nam War veterans for their
service to their country. Fifty years it has taken us to recognize and say
‘thank you’ for what they endured. At their discharge, these three men had simply
been handed an envelope, containing at least six medals for service and valor.
One veteran recalled that when they got off the plane they were warned to keep
a low profile because people might spit on them.
There was a Purple Heart, which brought a lump
to my throat, because I had never seen one and the recipient is profoundly
disabled with PTSD and has two service dogs with him at all times. It has only
taken fifty years for us to honor their service.
As I
sat in that small room in a shopping center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, among
some fifty friends who had shown up to honor these men, I listened to their
stories and the history of these wars. I’m old enough to remember the Second
World War and the ensuing conflicts and, as I listened, I recalled the monstrous
acts of brutality perpetrated on our soldiers by the Japanese, the Germans, the
Koreans, and the Vietnamese. How could we have forgotten this? The Bataan Death
March? The tortures the VC perpetrated? These men haven’t forgotten. The rage
is still there.
Why do
we react with such outrage to interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo,
which are part of the militant Muslim’s culture and expected by them? Indeed,
our disgust is, to them, an example of our weakness.
I think
it’s time, on this Veteran’s Day, to take another look at what I feel is one of
the finest films on the Viet Nam War—Born On The Fourth of July. Tom Cruise
earned his acting chops on this one. It is told from the disabled veteran’s
point of view and is the story of a young man who bought the whole myth of men
proving their courage by fighting for their country, an attitude championed by
his parents. He joined up, came home in a wheelchair, and had to deal with the
scorn of his fellow countrymen. His scream of rage at the end when he demands
to know, “What was it all for?” says it all.
You can
rent this film for $2.99 from Amazon Film Library and play it on your Kindle or
computer. Let’s give real homage to these veterans of all these thankless wars
including Iraq and Afghanistan by remembering. Watch the film.
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