A Community of Vietnam Veterans, Their Families & Friends. Share With Those Who Care.
"Sharing can be a way of healing. Grief and loss can isolate,
anger even alienate. Shared with others, emotions unite
as we see we aren't alone. We realize others weep with us."
~Susan Wittig Albert
Through our writing, we walk out of the darkness into the light together, one small step at a time, recording history, educating America, and we are healing. ~CJ/Todd Dierdorff
"Above and Beyond" - National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum
MANY DON'T EVEN KNOW THIS EXISTS
When visitors first enter the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago, they will hear a sound like wind chimes coming from above them and their attention will be drawn upward twenty-four feet to the ceiling of the two-story high atrium.
Since November 11, 2010, the dog tags of the more than 58,000 service men and women who died in the Vietnam War hang from the ceiling of the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago on Veterans Day. The 10-by-40-foot sculpture, entitled Above & Beyond, was designed by Ned Broderick and Richard Steinbock.
The tens of thousands of metal dog tags are suspended 24 feet in the air, 1 inch apart, from fine lines that allow them to move and chime with shifting air currents. Museum employees using a kiosk and laser pointer help visitors locate the exact dog tag with the imprinted name of their lost friend or relative.
“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale
Memorial Day means different things to different people. For many, it is the start of the summer season, an annual trip to the beach, a 3-day weekend, or a great excuse for a barbeque. In my family, it meant more.
I grew up in a military family. My father and grandfathers served. Every couple of years we would move to a new base and start the process of finding new friends and sometimes finding old ones from earlier postings.
I was 8 years old when my father went to serve in Vietnam. I was too young to understand the politics at the time, but I remember being angry at people I saw on television saying that soldiers in Vietnam were bad people. MY Dad wasn't. I remember being afraid when I saw the green military sedan driving past and we would stop playing and watch to see if it was going to someones house the green sedan stopping meant somebody's father was dead or hurt. I remember not knowing what to say to a friend that had lost his father and feeling guilty because I was so happy it wasn't my Dad.
I have long wanted to do something to honor, not only my father and all those that have served their country in the military, but also the families that stay behind and wait. This video, The Path of the Warrior, is a small token of my respect and gratitude. I hope you will forward this letter, or at least the video link, to all those you know who either serve in the armed forces or wait behind.
What will I do this Memorial Day? I have not been to a parade since my children were little. In truth, I will probably be working on one of the Humanity Healing's projects and it is a good excuse for a barbeque; but at some point during the day, I will send a prayer of protection to those currently serving and their families, I will say a Blessing to those who did not return and a pray of comfort to their families, and I know that the fears of my eight year-old self will well up from the part of my soul they are hidden and I will say a prayer of gratitude that my Dad was one of those who did return.
Much Metta,
Christopher Buck
President
Humanity Healing Foundation
Music 1: Daniel Kobialka, Celtic Medley
Music 2: Enya, Fallen Embers
Images: Life, www.life.com
Images: Google/Photobucket
We honor the unknown artists
“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale
A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill.
To the packed room of people, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up all around the room. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."
He proceeded to tightly crumple up the $20 dollar bill. When he opened his hand, he then asked, "Now, who still wants it?" Hands again went up in the air.
"Well," he replied, "What if I were to do this?" With that, he dropped it on the floor, stomped on it several times, and then began to grind it into the floor with his shoe.
Now, both crumpled and dirty, he held it up for all to see. "Now, who still wants it?" Again, the hands went into the air.
"My friends, I think we have all learned a valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it, because it did not decrease in value. It's still worth $20.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make, or the circumstances that come our way. We may feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, just like this twenty-dollar bill, we will never lose our value.
Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, we are still priceless to those who love us. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do, or who we know, but by who we are.
“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale
Here are a few reminiscences about my experiences in Vietnam, where I was a linguist and cryptographer. Here is one of the tamer stories:
Mile High Jump
I'd just rejoined Detachment 3 of the 3rd Radio Research Unit at Tuy Hoa after coming back from an assignment with a Special Forces unit. Someone got the bright idea that I should go right back out to do some work with a radio relay station (1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division).
I got my gear together, hopped a Huey that was assigned to transport me, got to the site, and was told to jump because the ground was too rocky to land. We were a mile up in the air, all five thousand two hundred eighty feet of it. I was loaded down with equipment, no parachute, but what the heck... I jumped.
Fortunately there was five thousand two hundred and sixty-five feet of mountain underneath me and I actually only fell twelve feet. It was still quite a jolt when I landed, and I did lose two toenails (today I have arthritis behind those two toes).
The assignment was interesting. This mountain just jutted up out of the rice fields to the north and west of North Field. You had a tremendous view of the city of Tuy Hoa, North Air Field, the ocean, the river flowing into the ocean, and, of course, the rice fields.
One night, to our northeast, I watched an attack on one of our ammo dumps. It ignited and there were fireworks galore. It was pretty, but it ripped you up thinking about the seven kinds of hell the guys on the ground were going through.
Contributed by Lee Bishop Columbus, Ohio
**Thank you, Lee, and Welcome Home. ~CJ “I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale
While visiting some cemeteries you may notice that headstones marking certain graves have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave.
These coins have distinct meanings when left on the headstones of those who gave their life while serving in America's military, and these meanings vary depending on the denomination of coin.
A coin left on a headstone or at the grave site is meant as a message to the deceased soldier's family that someone else has visited the grave to pay respect. Leaving a penny at the grave means simply that you visited.
A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp together, while a dime means you served with him in some capacity. By leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the family that you were with the solider when he was killed.
According to tradition, the money left at graves in national cemeteries and state veterans cemeteries is eventually collected, and the funds are put toward maintaining the cemetery or paying burial costs for indigent veterans.
In the US, this practice became common during the Vietnam war, due to the political divide in the country over the war; leaving a coin was seen as a more practical way to communicate that you had visited the grave than contacting the soldier's family, which could devolve into an uncomfortable argument over politics relating to the war.
Some Vietnam veterans would leave coins as a "down payment" to buy their fallen comrades a beer or play a hand of cards when they would finally be reunited.
The tradition of leaving coins on the headstones of military men and women can be traced to as far back as the Roman Empire.
“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale
Anybody that was in the military knew that you were a number and you were always being "volunteered" for anything -- and everything.
One of my job functions was driving convoy runs to base camps throughout the III Corp area. We had comm sites on these camps.
Kurt Knoblock
On one of these runs, we were out in the boonies and the convoy came to a stop because the MP's were mine sweeping the road ahead. Now, when a convoy stops, you become a target for enemy activity.
The other side of things here was that I was positioned in between two semi flat beds carrying artillery rounds. If anything happened, I would be gone.
After about a half hour, the MP's came down the line and informed us that the road was open. Then he made the comment that they could not guarantee that the road was clear of mines. He said they had swept, but there was just too much area to secure, so we were on our own.
The logic of this still baffles me today. There we were, sitting targets, and even when moving, we were still targets. We made it to the destination okay, but there was a lot of white-knuckle driving along the way ...
******** Thank you for your post, Kurt! I'm glad everything turned out okay -- I can't imagine what that did to your nerves! ~CJ “I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale
