Tales of Viet Nam
- Quick Steel
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Re: Tales of Viet Nam
zoogirl, your comments are very kind. Thank you.
Re: Tales of Viet Nam
You are most welcome.
See, here’s the thing. I recently watched ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’, the WW1 documentary. I was very aware of how lucky we are to have those first hand experiences recorded while the veterans could still recall them clearly.
I’m always shocked by the ages of veterans. To my mind, WW2 was my parents generation. My grandmother was a teenager during the Great War. Vietnam seems very recent. Then I look around and realize that the fellows are ten years older than me - seventy or better.
Record! Film interviews! Above all, write!
This is history and you played a part in it that deserves to be preserved.
See, here’s the thing. I recently watched ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’, the WW1 documentary. I was very aware of how lucky we are to have those first hand experiences recorded while the veterans could still recall them clearly.
I’m always shocked by the ages of veterans. To my mind, WW2 was my parents generation. My grandmother was a teenager during the Great War. Vietnam seems very recent. Then I look around and realize that the fellows are ten years older than me - seventy or better.
Record! Film interviews! Above all, write!
This is history and you played a part in it that deserves to be preserved.
I’m too young to be this old!
“Hey Ann, gotchyer knife?!”
“Hey Ann, gotchyer knife?!”
- Quick Steel
- Bronze Tier
- Posts: 16953
- Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:39 pm
- Location: Lebanon, KY
Re: Tales of Viet Nam
zoogirl, I plan to do some more sketches. Funny thing, veterans have the reputation of not talking about their experiences. But I have noticed that many, including myself, as they get closer to their final trumpet start talking and sharing. I saw many of these on the History channel over the years. A psychologist could probably explain why all the verbalizing begins after decades of silence.
Re: Tales of Viet Nam
QS,
I’m certainly no psychologist, but perhaps you have answered your own question earlier in the thread. Your story needs to be passed on so it doesn’t pass with you.
My grandfather was a veteran of both WWII and Korea. He never talked about anything until diagnosed with cancer. He started to open up and discuss some of the darker places. It was as though he had stored up the fears and unknowns of war in the bottle of manhood. My cousins and I saw him as a giant among men. We never lost respect even when he was frail with disease. His frailty exposed, he no longer needed to keep the lid tight. He would open up and pour out his humanity to our eager ears.
Please, please pass it on. We are more than eager to hear.
Thanks for your service to our country, to the oppressed of the foreign land, and to your fellow brother soldiers.
I’m certainly no psychologist, but perhaps you have answered your own question earlier in the thread. Your story needs to be passed on so it doesn’t pass with you.
My grandfather was a veteran of both WWII and Korea. He never talked about anything until diagnosed with cancer. He started to open up and discuss some of the darker places. It was as though he had stored up the fears and unknowns of war in the bottle of manhood. My cousins and I saw him as a giant among men. We never lost respect even when he was frail with disease. His frailty exposed, he no longer needed to keep the lid tight. He would open up and pour out his humanity to our eager ears.
Please, please pass it on. We are more than eager to hear.
Thanks for your service to our country, to the oppressed of the foreign land, and to your fellow brother soldiers.
- Quick Steel
- Bronze Tier
- Posts: 16953
- Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:39 pm
- Location: Lebanon, KY
Re: Tales of Viet Nam
That is a lovely comment Tony.