(C) James J Alonzo
Someone said, "War is Hell!" But that's a lie. Hell is only for the guilty. War is worse than Hell, war not only destroys a country, kills soldiers on both sides, but it also kills and destroys innocent people. Sometime whole generations.
Viet Nam is where It began, the young men answering the call of their country, after training, received their orders, then they were sent to this exotic country in Southeast Asia. These soldiers got sent to this exotic country, met interesting people, and even kill some of them. Viet Nam was war, gore, heat, death and destruction. A war that stole their father's heart. A war that killed his buddies, his spirit, and hardened the man within
Vietnam was a place that many soldiers left parts of themselves, hurting with fear, and pain.
Viet Nam was a place that over 58,000 of their buddies died. Viet Nam was a war that hundreds of thousands were wounded and maimed. Viet Nam was a war where terror through the night struck hard, as beads of sweat rolled down their faces. Viet Nam was a war that they did not choose.
Viet Nam was the war that they had to listen to the fire of ammunition echoing through the sky, and watching their buddies falling at their sides, their blood beneath spreading across the mud and dirt. Soldiers dead, wounded, crying out "who is caring about me?"
Viet Nam was where they had to stay alive by crawling through the mud, having to improvise, learning to roll with the shock and changes as they came. Young, and naive, struggling to survive with each passing day, never knowing the planes above spraying chemicals that would kill them.
Viet Nam, where soldiers had to drudge through the mud up to their knees, crossing warm rivers with leeches, snakes, and contaminated by dioxin from Agent Orange runoffs. Earth giving soldiers shelter from harm, as they grasp it and hold on to it tight, feeling it beneath their feet pulling them into the darkness of the jungles.
Guns readily at their sides, never allowed to go to sleep. And when they try to sleep, while their buddies watch, nightmares flash through their mind. Flares flicker overhead, fired into the sky to aid in searching for the enemy hiding in the black jungle.
At the end of their tour, the United Sates of America sending them home one by one, scarred by the war, not knowing their minds damaged with PTSD, bodies contaminated with Agent Orange, not knowing that they would also be contaminating their future children.
Back home, no one really understanding the pain and suffering going on. Thousands of tears fall to the ground for the Vietnamese victims of The war, but not for the soldiers coming home one by one. Where was the welcoming home, the support they needed to go on with their lives?
Some wives and children grieving the loss of their dead fathers and husbands. Others, their husbands and fathers, are standing in front of them, but they are spiritually, and emotionally gone forever.
The Black Wall in Washington, Beer, Whiskey, and Cigarettes speaking from the graves of the brothers who died in front of them. To forget, drugs and alcohol are used, a disease that swept across the nation of American combat soldiers. Children and wives left behind, pain and suffering over taking their lives.
Misunderstood, and running away from the memories that still lived inside, screaming murder, blood everywhere. Nightmares, flashbacks, memories in the soldiers head, wrestling day in, day out, all through the night. Combat veterans, no joy or life left in them.
The soldiers that survived Viet Nam, coming home, their children born, filled with defects and illnesses, parents crying through the night. Questions unanswered, walls built up, broken communication, lack of love, relations dissolve. Prayers for the child of the soldier to survive.
The Viet Nam War stole their fathers, damaged family's lives, as the aftermath of Agent Orange spread through their veins one by one. No mercy, no compassion, where is the justice for the American soldier and his family.
