Fifty Years Ago This Day

Prisoners of war – Hanoi, North Vietnam

The last American soldiers left Vietnam 50 years ago, There are 58.318 names  on the Vietnam Wall.  These are the ones that didn’t make it home.  One third of these were conscripts, drafted off of the streets, given training at Fort Dix or elsewhere and then dropped in the Mekong.

They weren’t able to get into National Guard units like George W. Bush.  Or get college deferrments like Bill Clinton.  Or have “bone spurs” like Donald Trump. The state with the highest per capita casualty rate was West Virginia.

Why are you not surprised?

But today was the day they all came home. It was the day the prisoners of war were released.  It was all finally over.

By 1975 the North Vietnamese rolled into Saigon and an independent Vietnam appeared on the world stage.

Has it bothered anyone since?   Nah.  My bedroom set from Rooms to Go was made in Vietnam as well as some casual shirts I bought at Kohls.

But today was the day the war was over for us.  Seems like ancient history now.  Everone who remembers it is now my age.  And those my age who lost someone will think about this day and reflect on whether or not it was all worth it.

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