Memorial Day

Remembering veterans is a long and proud tradition in the South. Tennessee isn't called the Volunteer State because we like to bring extra to potluck dinners (though we certainly do that). The military volunteering for us started in the War of 1812. I had ancestors in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. One of my mother's father's brothers drowned shortly after coming back from World War I. My father's father and his brothers were exempt from service in World War II, and mom's dad had a damaged hand that probably kept him out. My dad served in Vietnam. 

I say all that to say that in the Southern US, with its monuments to the wars and the boys we sent there, many of whom never came home, the gratitude we ought to feel is ever before us. For my Dad, his service was difficult, even though he was not in combat (fixing generators on an air base that was shelled daily was not easy on a man from a family full of depression-challenged people). He heard so much from so many that the Vietnam war was useless, that he believes it himself, which means the risk of his life was useless. I do not think so. We had a job to do over there, and we did not let our military do it properly. If we had stayed the course and done what needed to be done for the people of Vietnam, would Pol Pot have dared to torture and kill millions in Cambodia? Probably not. Might our Vietnam veterans have led easier lives if someone had said," You tried to do something noble over there. You tried to bring freedom and light to people. You were not given the right tools to do the job, and some of the tools you were given had evil effects on you and the people you were there to help. We understand, and we are sorry, and we will do what we can to make it right."? Instead they were spat upon, turned into a caricature, and used for decades by the news media to generate anti-war sentiment, no matter how just the cause. 

I respect my Dad and the men of his generation who fought for us and the Vietnamese. They were given horrible tools to fight a horrible war, and they live with deep emotional scars. But the fact that they keep going is the bravest heroism of all.