Worth repeating, Memorial Day

[nailbender]

  I'd like to share this speech given by a friend of mine a couple years back..............as it was reprinted in the newspaper.
            Editors note: Vietnam veteran  Rocky Bunjes spoke at Memorial Day ceremonies at the Plymouth County Courthouse. Here is the text of his remarks.
          Memorial Day is a very meaningful day for all America. One day of the year that our nation honors by remembrance her dead serviceman.
   It is good and right for us to be reminded that the many privileges and freedoms we enjoy here in the United States of America should not be taken lightly. For they come at a great price. A mother and father's son laying dead on a battlefield-the ultimate price. And it's Americans like you, that take the time to attend ceremonies like this, that  ensure that those people lost in war are not forgotten and their blood not shed in vain.  Those lives were given to protect and maintain the American Spirit. We all gave a piece of our souls to that very spirit.
   September 11, 2001. Another day in America's history that will live in infamy. But on that tragic day the American spirit rose and brought together this nation in a manner I have witnessed before in my lifetime. And it instills a pride i the heart and soul of every battlefield survivor to see the American spirit so strong and proud in man, woman and child.
   It's sad to have to say this, but in the 60's and early 70's things were a lot different. Our nation was being torn apart over the Vietnam War. It was labeled as the war nobody wanted, but the war was there, and American forces were there.
   I was in Vietnam during 1971. It's hard to imagine that 32 years have passed since then, so much of it still remains with me. When you first set foot on Vietnam soil you knew only one thing for certain--if you were lucky you would be there for 364 more days, if your luck ran out you might come back early with pieces missing, or in a body bag, or not at all. But those are the cold hard facts of war, and everybody knows that war is hell.
   But only the in country Vietnam vet knows how returning home from a war can be a completely different hell all of it's own. The American public didn't want that war and too much of that weight was wrongly placed upon the conscience of the 'Nam vet.
   A lot of the boys returning home from that war weren't even old enough to vote yet. Fact is, the average age of an American soldier in 'Nam was 19.  When we got back to the world we weren't given even a cheap imitation of a welcome home by a lot of the American public.  Instead we were insulted, called murderers, drug crazed baby killers, and war mongers, even refused entrance into church services.  The more radical peace freaks spit upon us, we were denied jobs, and the cops kept a closer eye on us. In a nutshell, the Vietnam vet were treated as misfits in the country we had just spent a year in service to.
  And in response to that, was the cloak we wore. A lot of American soldiers signed up for two even three tours in that hell hole, because the abuse and hatred we experience fighting a war over there was more easily understood than the abuse and hatred that waited for us back in our homeland. This rejection and confusion led to the suicide death of thousands more of these young boys.
   But the most horrible and unforgivable tragedy of that war is the governments forsaking of American prisoners of war.
When American troops were pulled out of Vietnam why wasn't there a very deliberate task force set up to bring each and every POW back home? The personal and equipment they need for such a task were there already. But our government chose to leave them there. And to hide their guilt and shame, they claimed there were no POW's left in Vietnam. That was then, and remains to be to this day, a straight out government lie.
   President Richard Nixon had the gall to call it peace with honor! That statement leaves a very bitter taste.  Leaving POW's in a hostile land has nothing to do with honor!  I feel it is the most shameful and cowardly act of wartime betrayal a government could commit.  Look at that POW MIA flag flying up there. On the bottom it reads ' You are not forgotten'. A few words could be added to that. 'You are not forgotten by your 'Nam brothers, though you were abandoned by your government'.  America has always dealt harshly with soldiers that desert her, but what is a soldier to do  when America deserts him?  Think about that every time you see one of those flags. The Vietnam vet must deal with it every day.
   God forbid that our nation ever treat her battlefield dead and her battlefield survivors with such disrespect and abandonment again. Even if we don't agree with our governments involvement in a war, any war, the soldiers that fought the fight and died and the ones who wake up from nightmares soaked with sweat years after the fact must be shown the honor and respect they so rightly deserve.  The American spirit demands this much.
  On the 14th of this month, I helped put the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall together at the fairgrounds. Working beside me were two of my sons, Matt and Billy. A day after that, I walked The Wall with my wife Susie. On another day I walked The Wall with my daughter, Beth. I thank God for each and every one of those 58,226 people whose name is forever carved into The Wall for that privilege and fulfillment in my life.
And that brings us back to now. Back to this sacred place, this meaningful day, and this heartfelt ceremony. God loves America, and America has always loved God.  He is here with us now, and pray He will stand with us always. With the Spirit of God standing beside the Spirit of America only goodness could follow and this great nation of ours shall always remain.
  Have a safe and happy Memorial Day.

   Peace!                                                                              Rocky Bunjes

[FinsnFur]

Amen

[coyote101]

Well said!

[Silvertip]

Unfortunately, some of the attitudes have not changed in some circles!

[HaMeR]

Your Friend said it best!! 

[Carolina Coyote]

Very well said, sad but true.  The same thing could happen today if we pulled our troops out of Iraq and Afganistan.cc

[LORDDAL]

Amen very well said indeed and I would like to say thank you to any and all Veterans here on the board you guys are all Heros in my book