So, a variety of events, far too many for me to handle it seems, prevented me from posting over the last couple of days.

As the French might say, Merde' Fait!

This is what I wrote and intended to, but failed to, post on the 30th, National Vietnam War Veterans Day.

Today is National Vietnam War Veterans Day, so take a moment to remember those who were lost, those who are still unaccounted for, and those who still carry the physical and emotional scars of our efforts in a far away land.

Vietnam was a very unpopular war and the soldiers carried the brunt of the country's displeasure and war weariness as the war went on and on and on.

Despite what you may hear, Vietnam is still our longest war. The first American soldier was killed in 1956 and the we withdrew in 1975 after the North violated a treaty that ended the war, signed two years previously.

The "silver lining" to Vietnam is that we as a Nation learned to separate the war from the warrior and that is why today in airports returning soldiers are welcomed and cheered rather than jeered or, at best, simply ignored and this change is good.

Welcome Home to those who will always be my brothers and sisters.

There are lots of politics around Vietnam Veterans War Day now, people taking credit for something that has been long established, but today, or rather the 30th, is not the time nor place for that, perhaps later.

So, as promised last time, next time I will post from Alabama, so meet me there, as usual, but apparently not always, at 9:00am on April the 6th.

To see Vietnam memorials from any of the 50 states, please click on the state name on the left side of this page.