There are many to choose from, but here are a few of our picks. Vietnam Veterans’ Day is March 29th in Wisconsin and a dozen other states. More at tsio.org
Check out a few books
Women Who Served During the War in Vietnam
Help Honor Our Black American Vietnam Veterans, Vietnam Veterans’ Day is March 29th
Vietnam Veterans’ Day is March 29th in Wisconsin and about a dozen other states. There is a national push taking place right now. Learn more at TSIO.org
There are many to choose from. We remember and honor them all. Here are a few examples.
First African American Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War
Milton Lee Olive, III (November 7, 1946 – October 22, 1965) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of America’s highest military decoration — the Medal of Honor — for his actions in the Vietnam War. At the age of 18, Olive sacrificed his life to save others by smothering a live grenade. He was the first African American Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War.
March 25th is also Medal of Honor Day.
In 1993, Congress ordered a study to determine whether racism explained why no black soldier had received the Medal of Honor in World War II. “It was a pretty persuasive document that said yes, in all likelihood, or without doubt, racial discrimination in the Army, in all of the services, ended up creating this imbalance,” Richard Kohn, a former Pentagon executive and one of the researchers, told America Tonight. The study paved the way for other reviews of different groups of minority soldiers overlooked for the military’s highest honor because of politics or prejudice. In 2002, the National Defense Authorization Act ordered the Army to review all of the Jewish and Hispanic soldiers who had received the Distinguished Service Cross from World War II onward, to see if any had deserved the nation’s highest honor. VIA:OriginalPeople.org
A Dream of Heaven
Mike Muller is on the Advisory Board for Thuy Smith International Outreach. He is a Vietnam Veteran and has been a Psychologist counseling veterans for many years. He writes novels under the pen name of Michael FitzGordon.
When I was about eighteen I realized I had to choose a career. I asked myself what I liked to do best. That was reading novels. Of course I didn’t think I could earn a living at that. When I was younger and slaving away in my father’s boat factory, I would sneak into his office when he was away and write stories on a manual typewriter. So I decided I would be a writer. However, I did not want to be irresponsible like my father. Depending on which description you might be comfortable with, my father and his father were gangsters, hustlers, gamblers, or sharp operators. The boat factory was my father’s brief effort to get out of the bar business. The bar business can be a front for all sorts of activities. Our family income was highly variable. I did not want to be like my father. I did not want to be irresponsible, and I figured that being a writer was very unreliable and irresponsible when it came to taking care of a family. So I decided to get a doctorate in English, which would enable me to have a job. The Vietnam war intervened. I could have avoided Vietnam by joining a seminary or going to medical school, but I had already decided to get a doctorate in English. After my tour in Vietnam I began working on my doctorate. I hated it. Reading literary criticism all day, day after day, was boring for me. I switched to working on a doctorate in counseling psychology, and used my graduate courses in English for a masters degree in creative writing. My masters thesis was a series of short stories about Vietnam.
My first job after earning my doctorate was at a Vet Center in 1981. I had not learned anything about PTSD in graduate school—the diagnosis had just been recognized! But I quickly learned about it at the Vet Center. So many of the veterans were incandescent with rage then, just as many of the veterans freshly returned from war are today. I also soon realized that I myself had some of the symptoms of PTSD, although not enough of them to be diagnosed with PTSD. I told myself that God had let me have just enough symptoms myself so that I would be able to understand and help the veterans who had PTSD. In about 1984 I began writing a novel based on some of my experiences in Vietnam. Writing the novel was very emotional for me.
In Vietnam I had been an advisor, living and working with the Vietnamese. In my novel I wanted to help people to understand PTSD, and I also wanted to depict the war from all sides—South Vietnamese, Viet Cong, North Vietnamese, and Americans. Over the years I revised the novel many times. Toward the end of my career as a psychologist I began to realize I had been around violence all my life. My father was violent and associated with violent people, and others in my family did the same. My childhood response to that was to avoid conflict and retreat into the world of reading novels! In high school I thought the “tough guys” were just children compared to my family. In Vietnam I lived on a Vietnamese compound where one never knew for sure who was the enemy, because the compound was of course infiltrated by enemy agents and sympathizers. Would my throat be cut at night? And of course all of the military operations were with the Vietnamese, not Americans. After graduate school I began to work for the VA. I enjoyed and liked veterans, but at the same time I was also around many enraged and violent people on a regular basis, and the hypervigilance I had learned at an early age became well engrained into my character. There were many times that I could have been killed if I had said or done the wrong thing. My peers tended to refer dangerous patients to me because I was big and seemed calm under pressure. Thanks a lot! Eventually I had to admit that after a lifetime of being around violence I had PTSD myself. I had my own episodes of incandescent rage.
Recently, after twenty-seven years since I wrote the first draft, I published my novel on Kindle. It is A Dream of Heaven, written under my pen name, Michael FitzGordon. I hope that people will read it and enjoy it. Bob Kerrey read an earlier draft and wrote that it was “a compelling portrait of the destructive force of hatred, the ravaged psyches of those who have experienced war, and the enduring power of faith and love.” I hope that people will gain a greater understanding of how one can develop PTSD. The main characters are both American and Vietnamese, and I hope that readers will see war from both sides, see the folly of war, and work harder to avoid war.
Mike Muller
*MACV CORDS operations advisor, Binh Chanh District, 1970. Briefing officer for DEPCORDS Ambassador Funkhouser to CG & staff, III Corps Vietnam, 1971. In addition to briefing the staff I briefed visiting officials such as the Secretary of the Army. I was in Vietnam for one tour.
Disclaimer: If you are needing more extensive assistance or counseling, we can supply you with a list of available agencies to assist you. No blogs are ever meant to substitute a person seeking help through professional counseling.
The Heal of a Walk
The Heal Of A Walk
Vietnam Veteran shares his reflections about visiting the Vietnam Wall Memorial, writing, and healing.
We walked with a purpose, my friend and I beneath the clouded Washington sky.
The earth seemed to open as we approached from the east. We entered a world of tranquility, a world of peace.
At first it was hard to grasp the feeling. There was no indication of instant healing.The names were all there on the blackened surface. They were waiting for us to fulfill our purpose.
We made ourselves busy at tracing and such. A name to remember…. A soul to touch. Without knowing, as we made our way, our hearts were swelling with pride that day.
Tear did not fall as one might expect. It was a scene of resolve, love, and respect. The wall was black and all too complete. The wall was a reminder of what not to repeat.
Most names were unfamiliar, but not unknown. The seeds of war so long ago sown, has made us as one in another life. As one in good times and one in strife.
We moved on to the statue of three young men. They looked as we did, way back when. They were real in all ways but one….Frozen in time, a job well done.
The power of feeling is hard to express. Soldiers of combat, faces of distress. They looked to the wall in a peculiar way. Is it surprise or danger their eyes display?
I am a young man of 20 once again. If I touch them they will come alive, as if to say, “I also can survive”.
They move from the trees, and enter the clear. They move with caution, not hiding their fear. They have returned from a duty known only to them. They look to the wall, these three young men.
We return at night to share the peace. Our memories of this visit will never cease. The calm of the darkness brings a lump to the throat. Thoughts of another time are no longer remote.
There is a time we need to heal. There is a time we need to feel. Those names on The Wall and those three young men, Renewed my conviction to survive again.
Galen Gregerson (June 13, 1986)
Reflections
“Reflections are important when one is trying to ascertain solutions to challenges. Where have I been and how did I get here? What do I need to make a decision? Who do I seek out for input? How many options do I have? Which options are most reasonable for me?What are my liabilities? What are my assets?
As a Nam Vet, do I revert to survival tactics for this challenge, this treating it like a mission? Or, do I incorporate feelings into my decision process? Perhaps I do need survival tactics initially, gaining strength through anger. However, that will not prevail over the long-haul. To remain “living life” rather than simply “surviving life” requires more thought, feeling, and determination.
Survival is automatic for the well-practiced Vietnam Veteran. Living life to its fullest with a sense for feelings is more difficult. The choice is mine, as is the reward. I choose to live my life. To survive life is too incomplete and too unforgiving”.
(excerpts) Galen Gregerson
October 25, 1994
*No blog is meant to substitute anyone seeking professional assistance or other support if needed. Each post are by individuals merely sharing their experiences, reflections, and hope.
Veterans, War, and Peace 