Howdy Rangernet! *Here's an event without a patch<g> "25 years of "Liberated Vietnam" NBC had a live sunset from downtown Saigon (*ho chi City) and the cyclo's still buzzed by the front of the REX Hotel. An array of Americans were interviewed about their remembrances of the roof top evac from the American embassy, and from their time spent in prison in the north. The red banners hung from street light posts and a large monouent to Uncle Ho replaced the RVN warrior memorial. The Flag of Vietnam is not yellow with three bars of red... It's solid Red with a star! There has been a change... The pictures should be burned in your mind.. *Of- The last firefight on the bridge into town.. The people at the gate throwing their children over the fence to Marines.. The line going up to the Helo pad on the roof of the embassy The last plane out of Da Nang ..and the Tank crashing the gate at the Palace...and the VC flag flying above. 25 years later- We left friends behind who trusted us to stand by our pledges on that bridge.. 25 years later half the population is younger than 25 and has never known war, yet the line at the US consul for a visa is long... *The taste of freedom is sweet, and the cost is dear.. 58,000 American/allied dead 1,500 still un-accounted for as MIA. 25 years later two sisters who were very young children were on that last jet to freedom and today have grown up as Americans and have no memory of the war, or their families left behind. No clue as to who to contact or where to go to look for a Mom or Dad. They just know someone wished them to live free, and they were given that chance by an American family. 25 years later after *some progress the government of Viet-nam is still one of the few remaining Communist governments in the world, and there is no doubt that their goals to restore a divided country were met with Victory, at the expense of many, many lives.. 25 years ago we saw for the first time the face of the "enemy" as they stormed the city.. The NVA Tank driver who crashed the gates of the Palace spoke.. "We were so happy... Now we may have ..*peace" US Ambassador to Vietnam today is Pete Peterson who along with John McCain was imprisoned in Hanoi and tortured for 6 1/2 years said that when he was freed he pledged *NEVER to return to Vietnam... Yet, he found he had fallen in love with a Vietnamese and they married.. He spoke: "After so much destruction, anger and pain.. the only remedy for me is construction and progress forward, the only way to ease my pain is to forgive and find that the future is better than the past. *I could remain a prisoner, or I could live free... So I agreed to return and serve my countries interests in the land of my former enemy." Pete Peterson was tied to a cart and paraded before an angry mob ready to lynch him from a tree.. Today he is an honored diplomat liveing in Hanoi... *Sen. John McCain- was on hand to talk with NBC about his experience as a navy bomber pilot shot out of the sky over a lake in downtown Hanoi just 5 min's from the prison that he would spend 5 1/2 years... He walked to a marker.. with his name on it! it celebrated the shoot-down of his jet that broke both arms and his knee.. He was dragged out of the water beaten and bayoneted and thrown in a cell for 5 days without medical attention... drifting very close to death. *He says: "I have no anger of cause for bitterness with the people of Vietnam.. My life is mine to make it what I desire and that tragic part is just a portion.. Today is here and tomorrow we face the challenge's as we choose them." 25 years lter the key to survival of that war is by the *spirit of forgiveness and ending the struggle of personal tragidy. The healing is to be found in embraceing today and working for this life, this world today. The enemy found the *Peace through Victory..that aluded us in our "Peace thru strong defence" attempt to preserve freedom's "Light at the end of the tunnel" among our friends.. the price was too high. Our loss was great. 25 years later our chalenges are to remember the sacrifices made by brave men like Mitch Silvers in a "Nobel Cause" and not count that effort a "waste".. *But as we remember them with love and longing.. remember to be wise in the future, in who you deem an "enemy" for in time that man may be a new friend, and "peace" may only come from the change of heart and renewed mind. Thanks- Liberty-Justice-Freedom-*READY! -=A=-
begin: vcard fn: Duane Wheeler n: Wheeler;Duane org: OPT. 354 TPCC email;internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED] title: ->A N0.1<- note: "A life time adventure!" x-mozilla-cpt: ;0 x-mozilla-html: FALSE version: 2.1 end: vcard
