So Very True!☺️🥲🙏🏼🇺🇸💞So Many Stories~So Many Lives Ending too soon🥺 So Many Living through the Wars & coming home~Changed Forever🥲🇺🇸💓May we who Survived be Forever Grateful for the Many who Fought in many different ways for Freedom😊🙏🏼🇺🇸💞
My high school graduating class, Indian Lake, in Ohio, 1964, recently lost another Vietnam veteran. Johnny Joe, as we called him, suffered from Agent Orange for years. He died about a month ago. Our 60th reunion is September 28th. He won't be there.
We also lost two young men, boys, really, in 1966. Neither was 20.
One posthumously received the Medal of Honor a year or so ago. Herb sat behind me in senior English. He was one of those smart, sexy, bad boys. He barely knew I existed. I knew he existed! At the Medal of Honor ceremony I learned how he died. He died cruelly, as a hero, saving the lives of the others in his platoon.
Lynn was a medic. He was shot to death running into the battle to retrieve a wounded soldier.
A friend's brother died during his 2nd tour of duty. While he was home, his wife got pregnant. When the baby was born, it was clear something wrong. The military doctors were stumped, doncha know. The civilian doctors knew exactly what was wrong. Maybe a decade ago the military finally admitted that Agent Orange could cause birth defects, including cognitive delays.
I don't have any good things to say about that war.
For Herb and Lynn, the grief gets worse each year. Not the sobbing, "I can't believe they're gone," grieving, but the long lived grief of knowing all the things that makes a life. The good and the bad. That first baby. The first home. Getting laid off. Getting a better job. Losing your parents. Getting some awful disease, then getting over it. Or learning to live with. Going to a class reunion and wondering about how old your classmates look! I grieve for them.
Johnny Joe was in a wheelchair for a long time. I don't how else he suffered.
My friend's niece has lived a different life than she would have without Agent Orange. Her mother never remarried. And he never came home.
For me, I always remember our Veterans on Memorial Day. My father had been in the Army, and some of his later illnesses I truly believe stemmed from exposure to chemicals during his service. I’m proud of my father for serving this country. Also, my uncle and cousins had been in the Navy and Marines. My family are patriotic and truly believe in their service. I will always honor and respect my relatives and all the veterans and ongoing military who are ensuring our safety and freedom. However, like you, I also prefer peace, and I pray we can find ways to gain and maintain peace worldwide.
Get a better VSO officer, go back through the process again. Check the PACT act. It takes multiple times to get through the red tape and get help. I'm on my third round with the VA to get recognized for "after the fact" service connection and secondary issues. They count on people giving up. There are several good YouTube channels on how to prepare and what to do (some are better than others - so check carefully). A virtual hug for lost family and lost hopes and dreams from war.
So Very True!☺️🥲🙏🏼🇺🇸💞So Many Stories~So Many Lives Ending too soon🥺 So Many Living through the Wars & coming home~Changed Forever🥲🇺🇸💓May we who Survived be Forever Grateful for the Many who Fought in many different ways for Freedom😊🙏🏼🇺🇸💞
I hope someday we will stop the wars. I know it is a pie-in-the-sky wish but sometimes we need to know what we want.
My high school graduating class, Indian Lake, in Ohio, 1964, recently lost another Vietnam veteran. Johnny Joe, as we called him, suffered from Agent Orange for years. He died about a month ago. Our 60th reunion is September 28th. He won't be there.
We also lost two young men, boys, really, in 1966. Neither was 20.
One posthumously received the Medal of Honor a year or so ago. Herb sat behind me in senior English. He was one of those smart, sexy, bad boys. He barely knew I existed. I knew he existed! At the Medal of Honor ceremony I learned how he died. He died cruelly, as a hero, saving the lives of the others in his platoon.
Lynn was a medic. He was shot to death running into the battle to retrieve a wounded soldier.
A friend's brother died during his 2nd tour of duty. While he was home, his wife got pregnant. When the baby was born, it was clear something wrong. The military doctors were stumped, doncha know. The civilian doctors knew exactly what was wrong. Maybe a decade ago the military finally admitted that Agent Orange could cause birth defects, including cognitive delays.
I don't have any good things to say about that war.
For Herb and Lynn, the grief gets worse each year. Not the sobbing, "I can't believe they're gone," grieving, but the long lived grief of knowing all the things that makes a life. The good and the bad. That first baby. The first home. Getting laid off. Getting a better job. Losing your parents. Getting some awful disease, then getting over it. Or learning to live with. Going to a class reunion and wondering about how old your classmates look! I grieve for them.
Johnny Joe was in a wheelchair for a long time. I don't how else he suffered.
My friend's niece has lived a different life than she would have without Agent Orange. Her mother never remarried. And he never came home.
"It was a dirty little war..."
I don't have any good words for that war.
Very sad Joan.
For me, I always remember our Veterans on Memorial Day. My father had been in the Army, and some of his later illnesses I truly believe stemmed from exposure to chemicals during his service. I’m proud of my father for serving this country. Also, my uncle and cousins had been in the Navy and Marines. My family are patriotic and truly believe in their service. I will always honor and respect my relatives and all the veterans and ongoing military who are ensuring our safety and freedom. However, like you, I also prefer peace, and I pray we can find ways to gain and maintain peace worldwide.
Thank you— yes, a lot of my problems are due to my military service. However I did learn a lot and I met my late hubby there.
Get a better VSO officer, go back through the process again. Check the PACT act. It takes multiple times to get through the red tape and get help. I'm on my third round with the VA to get recognized for "after the fact" service connection and secondary issues. They count on people giving up. There are several good YouTube channels on how to prepare and what to do (some are better than others - so check carefully). A virtual hug for lost family and lost hopes and dreams from war.
Thanks for your information.