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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Stig / Major Tom on March 29, 2021, 05:33:06 PM
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(https://i.postimg.cc/9QbGgYtK/leeteter.jpg)
"Reflections" - Painting by Lee Teter
Every now and then I'll hear a Huey fly over. And like every other person who was there, I'll look up and try to find it.
Served as a medic at an evac hospital in the central highlands - and in dust-offs piloted by a crazy bunch of fellow youngsters.
More than 50 yrs ago - but doubt if any of us ever had a more rewarding job.
Stig
BTW- my daughter told me about this day. I had no idea.
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I don't believe I have ever taken the opportunity to do so before, so let me use this occasion to say it: THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!
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I was in the Air Force during the Vietnam era, but I don't consider myself a Vietnam veteran because I was never there.
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Just stepped out the front door to collect our dinner (Chipotle delivery) and watched 3 Blackhawks fly over...pretty low. Funny, haven't seen a military helicopter in months! They don't sound the same...so no hairs on my neck did anything....😊
In some ways I consider nearly every guy who was of draft age in the 60's to be a kind of a veteran of that war. It was hanging over all of our lives....even if you weren't taken.
Still, the heros are on that Wall in DC....and were those mourning someone in homes across the country.
Stig
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Picture reminds me of a short poignant song by Crosby Stills Nash & Young (Find The Cost of Freedom). The song is only 2 min long you should give it a listen.
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Picture reminds me of a short poignant song by Crosby Stills Nash & Young (Find The Cost of Freedom). The song is only 2 min long you should give it a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMfvYxK9Zoo
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Thank you Neil for the link.
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My pleasure!
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Never much of a fan of that gang - except for their Canadian member!
Youngsters treasure their music. It is a big part of their life.
American youth in Vietnam were no different.
(It is said that the war in Vietnam was a "teen-age" war, while the average age of the American fighting in WWII was 26. Some dispute this number, by 2 yrs or so. Of those killed, 61% were not old enough to vote.)
Eventually, troops began to express their anger by joining in, loudly, on certain stanzas from songs like:
"We Gotta Get Out of This Place" by The Animals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6gcxNFc1I0
Edwin Starr’s “War”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztZI2aLQ9Sw
"Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec0XKhAHR5I
And everybody was homesick for the USA, some days.
Since there were a lot of 'brothers' in S. Vietnam, I heard a lot of MoTown. (7,200 of the 58,000 on the Wall were African-Americans)
For instance:
"The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding
and...pretty much anything from Aretha Franklin!
and surprisingly, you'd hear the softer stuff, too, like - "Leaving on a Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul and Mary
In bunkers, hootches, hosp. wards, along flight lines and in hangars - music was were the soldiers were, if at all possible.
I never made it to any cities of any size during my tour - but I suspect the 'clubs' were blasting it out every day. (Pleiku, the closest, was off limits due to the presence of VC in the town)
Stig