Silent Dignity - Promo with Armand Assante

The Vietnam veterans deserves respect and dignity with valor!

Thanks for sharing this! Vietnam was an ordeal, that our nation and those who served will not forget! My hat goes out to them for their courage and commitment during a very unique time in our history!

I am not sure about "closure." I also know our time will be forgotten by most, probably even all, except those who went.
An old quote:

Those that did not go will never understand.
Those that did go will never forget.

To my fellow Vietnam Veterans;
Welcome Home.

We did those veterans a great disservice

Thank you for this post. I hope to see the documentary this January.

I tell people the dislike for us was palpable. You could feel it as well as see it

I served in Vietnam from October 1966 to June 1967 with the 4th Infantry Division our AOs included the coastal lowlands to the Central Highlands and then as an patrolling instructor at Ft Polk’s AIT committee group ,have always felt a sense of guilt that I could have done more to prepare those young men going to that terrible green place, Welcome Home Brothers

By the time I returned home in September 1968 my physical wounds had healed, but the deeper, hidden wounds throbbed for another 40 years (and still ache now and then). Survivors guilt gave way to a deep sadness. Oh, I'd had great expectations. Relief, surprise, and gratitude filled me as I headed home.

A Four Letter Word


Racing up my open throat
And tumbling over trembling lips
The word comes pouring out.
At first a whisper, then a shout,
Unbridled joy finally let out:

Home!

Born in my soul and cherished there,
Held deep in my heart:
The pilot light that kept me going.
My heart and soul propel this word
Across this ocean and my land
To tell my kinfolk, friends and girl
That I will soon be there

Where long I've longed to be.

High above the Pacific
I'm jetting to meet the sun.
A new day is being born
In the land of home,

And I'll be there.


Apart from family and friends, who cared but couldn't understand, "home" was no longer there. As Thomas Wolfe wrote, "You can never go home again". Derision, scorn, and apathy were the coin of the realm. My only consolation was that "Duty" is also a four-letter word. Ever since, I salute all Vietnam vets with "Welcome home".

The death of one of my sons brought all that grief home and I finally was able to face it. As Arthur Miller demonstrated, they were "All My Sons". Or they were all my brothers. Healing takes time and time does heal, but the scars remain.

In a Memorial Day speech I made the connection:

May 10, 1968 flying medevac (UH-34D, HMM-163) out of Quang Tri.
I started at dawn getting wounded from 1/26 and 3/26 North of Dong Ha, in or near the DMZ. At around 9 AM, finally got to the dead. There were 19 Marines laid out in a row, no body bags. I looked down from the cockpit and the picture burned into my mind and soul.

The overnight battle was still going on, the LZ was being overrun, taking incoming artillery, mortar and rocket fire, air strikes were in progress, and we took fire each time going in and out. Because of our fuel load and crew of 5 it took 3 trips to get the KIA out. The aircraft settled in to the trees on the first and third trips because we were carrying 7 bodies, and we struggled our way into the air.

I had to take evasive maneuvers because of enemy fire and one time, my Corpsman had to throw himself over the bodies to keep them from rolling out the cabin door. We took a lot of hits from small arms but no one was hit and the aircraft got us home after we brought the bodies to Delta Med at Dong Ha to start their long and sad journey home.
At that point in my tour I'd flown about 600 combat missions, mostly medevacs, carrying many hundreds of wounded and dead. But that day, I hit my wall and bounced off it, never to be the same. There were just too many losses, too much pain, and I almost broke.

Back in my hooch I deliberately got blind drunk, hoping to erase that picture from my mind. It was the first time that I'd tried a drunk for self-medication instead of pleasure. It didn't work. From that day, the only direct memory I had was the sight of the long row of dead lying in the morning sun, haunting me all these years. The alcohol had erased memory of everything but what I was trying to forget.

After 33 years, my Corpsman, Don "Doc" Proutey and I connected and he filled me in on all the details that I'd erased. I was still left with a huge sadness and pain, and wondered and tried to search for years to find out who those men were.
In 2019 the Traveling Wall ("Wall That Heals") came to my town. I got a search tool from them and was finally able to find who those Marines were, and to "bury them" with prayer and thanks.

I had visited the Wall in DC many times and found some peace with finding the names of my friends who'd died, but these 19 unknown still haunted me. Now I've found them, and with that, found some more peace.

If any of us has avoided visiting the Wall because we know that there'll be pain, let me say that seeing and touching the names will hurt, yes, but it will also heal. In-country, we never got to say goodbye. Now we can.
Anyone who reads this, please say a prayer for and thank these men. May they be alive in honored memory.

1/26 Operation Kentucky
Thursday, May 9, 1968
LARRY E ADOLF, LCpl, Age 18, Omaha, NE 57E 12 C CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
KURTIS N CHAPMAN, LCpl, Age 20, Overland Park, KS 57E 16 D CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
EUGENIO E FERNANDEZ JR, Pfc, Age 21, Romulus, MI 57E 17 D CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
PAUL L FREDERICKSON, Cpl, Age 21, Battle Creek, MI 57E 21 H&S CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
EDWARD A GILLASPY, Pfc, Age 18, La Habra, CA 57E 22 D CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
EDWARD J HUGHES JR, Capt, Age 30, White Plains, NY 57E 24 D CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
SIDNEY B MAC LEOD JR, Cpl, Age 21, Mc Lean, VA 57E 28 1ST PLT, M CO, 3RD BN, 26TH MARINES
STEPHEN D MC GEE, LCpl, Age 18, Mishawaka, IN 57E 29 1ST PLT, M CO, 3RD BN, 26TH MARINES
JOE L MC GILL, LCpl, Age 21, Shelby, NC 57E 29 1ST PLT, M CO, 3RD BN, 26TH MARINES
HOMER MITCHELL JR, LCpl, Age 18, Montgomery, AL 57E 28 D CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
WINSTON G PARKER, HM3, Age 21, Columbus, OH 57E 31 H&S CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
JACK E PORTER, LCpl, Age 21, Dayton, OH 57E 31 D CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
ROBERT P SICKLES, LCpl, Age 21, Avon, NY 57E 30 D CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
BILLY G STEWART, Pfc, Age 19, Swannanoa, NC 57E 31 D CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
PHILIP G WIGTON, LCpl, Age 22, Omaha, NE 58E 2 1ST PLT, M CO, 3RD BN, 26TH MARINES
MELVIN G WINDHAM, HN, Age 21, El Paso, TX 58E 3 H&S CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
Friday, May 10, 1968
FRANK V CALZIA, HN, Age 21, El Segundo, CA 58E 5 H&S CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
DAVID L KIRKEBY, Pfc, Age 20, Drayton, ND 58E 10 H&S CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
ROBERT C ONSLOW, Capt, Age 37, Minneapolis, MN 58E 13 H&S CO, 1ST BN, 26TH MARINES
Rest in peace.

Wayne Soares I can relate and will also watch the movie.

I re-upped in early 1965 - for Germany. I occasionally feel bad I didn't go to Vietnam, but, as a Chemical soldier, I worry that I could have been exposed to Agent Orange. I wish the best to everyone who went. I was right behind the DMZ in Korea for a year earlier.