Dakota Beacon

Veterans Day! What a great time to thank a veteran for their service to our country. Of course, friends and family have already expressed their gratitude. But when total strangers say “Thank you” it means a lot.

Every time someone thanks me for my service as a soldier it brings to mind a lot of memories – the good times and the bad.

I retired from the Army in 1987 completing over twenty years in the Infantry. Only in recent years have people -- especially strangers -- expressed their appreciation. Why the reflective response? After all, no one forced me to serve.

I knew what I was getting into when I went on active duty during the Vietnam era. All military personnel automatically give up many of their rights when they raise their right hand and swear to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. That act immediately limits their freedoms of speech and assembly, where they must be and when, what they must wear and what they must do. The military by its very nature is authoritarian.

It is wonderful to see Americans honor a new generation of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. It wasn’t always like this.

Veterans of World War II were called “The Greatest Generation” by Tom Brokaw. That may be a misnomer even if his heart was in the right place. The Founding Fathers were the Greatest Generation. Pardon the digression. The point is that the World War II generation was welcomed home and honored with recognition for their service and sacrifice. They still are. But, again, it wasn’t always like this.

At the end of World War II the Communist Iron Curtain descended enslaving millions of people in Europe and Asia separating them from the Free World. Bent on global domination, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Red China pressed the expansion of Communist ideology to envelop all people. America reluctantly inherited the mantle of world leadership and vowed to hold back Communism with a policy of containment. Americans, however, were already weary of war when the Korean Conflict broke out five years following World War II.

Far away in an unknown country that most people could not find on a map, the Korean War impacted few people except those drafted and sent to fight. Korea, or “Frozen Chosin” as the GIs called it, became The Forgotten War. Korean War Vets served with little recognition, came home to even less fanfare and quietly blended back into civilian life with scant mention of their tribulation and sacrifice.

Then came Vietnam.

Day after day the news media generated an incessant barrage covering, if not supporting, the anti-war movement. Spurred on by the stridently dissident press, Americans expressed their dissatisfaction with American foreign policy and the Vietnam War by taking out their frustration on military personnel. Who can forget traitors like Jane Fonda who aided and abetted the North Vietnamese while they tortured American POWs in the “Hanoi Hilton?” Who can forget the violent demonstrations led by the likes of Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dorn, Tom Hayden, Kathy Boudin, the Weather Underground and the Students for a Democratic Society? Who can forget the disrespect heaped on servicemen of that era, even years after they left the military?

The professional soldier bears all. Most of all my heart goes out to the draftee who had no choice but to serve or to the enlistee who thought he was doing the right thing for his country by joining the military. These young people bore the stigma of rejection.

Maybe that’s why I get a lump in my throat when someone too young or too innocent to remember those charged and turbulent times says, “Thank you for your service.” If only they knew how much that meant.

Sour grapes? I don’t think so. There are many Vietnam Vets who share these sentiments. If in doubt, consider the few number of Vietnam Vets who bothered to join the American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In his farewell address before a joint session of Congress on April 19, 1951, General Douglas MacArthur referred to the refrain of an old ballad that proclaimed “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” True enough. But until he fades away, the Vietnam Vet will always remember his malignant reception home.

When someone thanks me for my service, my heart softens and the familiar lump returns to my throat. I can only murmur, “Thank you for acknowledging.”

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).