SwiftVets.com

Guest · Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 1:16 pm Post subject: The Wall

Yesterday was Rolling Thunder NJ's run to the wall.
A great turnout.
I contacted an old friend that wrote a great letter.
He gave me permission to post it here for you to reflect on.
(thanx Doc if you're watching)

At 08:38 AM 9/20/2004, you wrote:

i needed a copy of "letter to grandpa"
if i remember right it was yours, no?
let me know thanx
hope you're well

Here ya go brother...You have my permission to use it...........................Doc

Hi Grandpa,

My daddy took me to this place called The Wall to meet you today. I've heard so many wonderful stories about you and am sad that I have never met or seen you. All my friends go places and do things with their grandpa's and I wish you were here to do them with me too. I'm eight years old now. Daddy talks about you all the time and that he was my age when you went to Vietnam. We are always looking at your pictures and all the ones you sent home from Vietnam. He told me about the day you left and how tight you held him when you said goodbye at the airport. He said you were crying and that was the only time he had ever seen you cry. It's as if you knew you weren't going to come home. You know, that's the only time I ever see my daddy cry is when we are talking about you. He says the country you and he loves so much won't do anything to bring you home.

I told my daddy that I didn't like Vietnam because it made our whole family sad. He took me out back by the pond and we sat for awhile and talked. He told me a little bit about Vietnam and that the people in the South needed our help. He said our country, being the greatest country in the world, had a duty to help and that all the brave men and women who went to fight were proud to have done so. I think I understand it better now but I still don't understand why people had to die. Why do people have to fight? The hardest thing I have understanding is that you might still be alive over there and why somebody doesn't bring you home. Maybe when I get older I will better understand but right now I just know I miss you even though I have never met you. Every night daddy and I kneel in front of your picture and we say a prayer. Sometimes when I'm lying in bed and thinking about you, I hear you say you are ok and that you love me. Daddy says it's my imagination so I just shrug my shoulders but we know better don't we grandpa? Somehow I know you are watching out for mommy, daddy and me.

I'm going into the forth grade this year. I like school most of the time. I have a teacher who talks about the Vietnam war. Her husband is a Vietnam Veteran and he comes to talk to us sometimes. He is in a wheelchair and has no legs. He looks very old and more like my teacher's father than her husband. When he talks to us about the war, he gets tears in his eyes. One day one of the girls in my class went up to him and put her arms around him and told him not to be sad. She told him to be happy that he was alive because her grandpa died in Vietnam. He looked at her, gave her a big hug and told her that he wasn't sad because he had to live in a wheelchair but because of all the friends he had who didn't come home. He told us that he still had a lot of friends who were captured or came up missing and that there is a chance that those men could still be alive and even if they weren't, he could not visit their graves and pay his respects because they aren't in their own country. It was very strange but the whole class spoke at one time and asked, "Why don't we just go get them?" I'm not sure why but that made him cry even more and he had to leave our classroom. When my teacher came back in she told us about the POW's and MIA's in Vietnam. Then I told her about you and that you could still be alive in Vietnam too. Our next class project is going to be to write to our Senators, Congressmen, and even to the President asking them WHY we don't just go get them.

I love to play soccer Grandpa. I wish you could be there to watch me play. I'm pretty good. Sometimes I think you are there. I also like to play baseball and football. I had a pet frog until last week. I used to keep him in my back pocket and I fell off my bike and well... that was the end of him. Mom had to wash my pants three times. Boy was she mad. She said I could have a pet rock now but I couldn't carry it in my back pocket though. Well Grandpa, I have to go now. My dad wants to talk to you and he's crying so my mom is going to take me for a walk and see all the statues around the park. I will keep praying that someday you come home and we can toss a ball together or you can tell me some stories like you used to tell my dad.

I love you Grandpa and I miss you.

Story by ~Doc

© Copyright 1998 – All rights reserved. Do not use without Doc's permission.
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SangRun Hunter · PO1 Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 462 Location: Zinzinnati

Dear lord that is sad.....

My Grandma's brother died there in 1965 and left 10 kids behind.

They didn't have a great upbringing from what I know since they all live in a different state.

I can only imagine how they all feel about traitor's like Kerry.
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TEWSPilot · Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 3:05 pm Post subject:

It was for just such people as are described in that letter that I wrote a poem in their honor. Click on the link that says "The Promise Kept" in my signature below to read it.
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Guest · Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 3:19 pm Post subject:

TEWSPilot · Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2004 3:51 pm Post subject:

As the title says, it is a "Promise Kept" -- between my wife and me and between me and the 2.5 million other Vietnam veterans to honor their service and sacrifice. It is just as appropriate to those serving today as it was for us.

Eight of my friends were lost over Laos on February 5, 1973 -- less than a week after the "cease fire" in the Vietnam War. Three were confirmed KIA in the wreckage, but no reliable trace of the other 5 was ever verified. John Kerry made sure it never would be when he chaired the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA affairs.

The three year old is now a wife, mother, and Registered Nurse. The two week old is now a husband, father, and is in the ministry. My wife home schools our grandchildren. Never forget.

...if you click on the poem itself, it takes you to another page you might enjoy reading.
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Guest · Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 4:12 am Post subject:

God bless all of you. It breaks my heart to read these letters, poems, and stories. What Kerry did, well, there are words for it, but I am just so hurt for all of the POW's/MIA's that I just cannot put it in words. What a loss that til now we cannot go in and get them. Kerry is much more than a traitor, sometimes I think he is the devil himself.

P. Aaron · Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 4:00 pm Post subject:

This 40+ year old will see The Wall for the first time this Friday Evening around 9PM.

I am in DC for other reasons, but my wife and I are going to pay our respects.
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TEWSPilot · Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 4:27 pm Post subject:

P. Aaron,

While you're there, would you pay my respects to 8 of my buddies? Here are two names with the panel locations to help you find them. In fact, if it's not too much trouble, would you please pay my respects to all of the heros listed on that sacred shrine?

SEVERO JAMES PRIMM III -- Panel 01W -- Line 115
1LT - O2 - Air Force - Reserve
25 year old Married, Caucasian, Male (expectant father)
Born on Nov 03, 1947
From NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
Casualty was on Feb 05, 1973
LAOS
Loss due to Hostile Fire, (remains found in wreckage)
FIXED WING - CREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Religion
ROMAN CATHOLIC

JOSEPH ANDREW MATEJOV -- Panel 01W -- Line 115
SGT - E4 - Air Force - Regular
21 year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born on Feb 02, 1952
From EAST MEADOW, NEW YORK
Casualty was on Feb 05, 1973
LAOS
Loss due to Hostile Fire, (MIA until John Kerry lined through his name as Chairman of Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, had all evidence shredded, and declared him "dead".)
FIXED WING - CREW
AIR LOSS, CRASH ON LAND
Religion
ROMAN CATHOLIC

We were, and are, a brotherhood of unique individuals, melded together in the crucible of wars past and present, and bonded by duty, honor, sacrifice, blood, and love of country. More so than through any other fraternity, the associations and friendships formed through the military are lifelong, and we mourn the loss of our comrades until we rejoin them again someday in formation in Heaven. Sadly, politicians and historians do not share our code of ethics.

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints."
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P. Aaron · Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 7:56 pm Post subject: