Please take a moment to remember the men and women who served the U.S. and her allies during what has been called "The 10,000-Day War," "The Indochina War," or, most commonly, "The Vietnam War." They fought hard, and, in so many cases, died hard, and still more came home only to be ridiculed by those who did not see the nobility of their sacrifice or the selfless dedication to their country that carried them off to war.

http://www.wnem.com/story/31588364/nati ... terans-day

As a young boy growing up in the turbulent decade of the 1960's, I was appalled at the treatment these American heroes were subjected to when they returned to a home they no longer recognized. All these years later, and we still owe them so very much, irrespective of how we might feel about the very unpopular war they fought.

It has now been more than 40 years since the last shots of the war were fired and the final helicopter bore the last small group of Americans on the first leg of their harrowing journey away from Saigon. As with previous generations of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines before them, they came home, worked hard and saw their youth dwindle away as they grew older and entered the continuing phases of their generation's middle years and those that followed.

All these years later, please, please, if you would, humor this Old Grey Falcon and take a few moments to remember those remarkable men and women -- Veterans, GI's, war-fighters, nurses, correspondents, brothers, fathers, sisters, wives and mothers -- who sacrificed so much for all of us, including, some 54,000-plus cases of that last full measure that was their lives. While many of us might still question the purpose or morality of the war they fought, their dedication and bravery is beyond any doubt or uncertainty.

To those of you who sacrificed so much in the days before, during and after the Vietnam War, please accept my deepest-felt thanks and sincerest expression of Welcome Home.

//MORT OUT//