Post by ferris1248 on Jun 23, 2024 8:56:45 GMT -5
Really brought back a lot of thoughts and memories. God bless David E. McAllister, Specialist Fourth Class and his family.
While others here and across the country faced far worst than I did, Spc4 McAlister's experiences almost mirror mine.
It's a long story but well worth reading.
"He says it wasn’t until about 20 years ago that he started feeling comfortable telling people he’d been to Vietnam. As vets were returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and being treated with all of the respect they deserved, my dad says he noticed a shift in the way Vietnam Vets were treated around that time, too. People seemed more appreciative of his service. That made it easier for him to open up about it."
"By this point he felt like he had “made it,” to some extent—he’d started his own business and was doing well financially, he’d put both of his kids through college, had bought a townhouse as a second home, and he saw his stature as a veteran as something to be proud of. “That was not a negative,” he says, of having served in Vietnam."
"That’s another thing he wants people to know. With the number of Vietnam Vets dwindling and his own time running short, he wants people to understand that they weren’t all bad guys. They might have gotten swept up in an unpopular and ultimately doomed war, but most of them were decent men who were doing what they felt was right. It seems obvious to say that now, but for a long time, there was nothing obvious about it."
www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/it-s-never-too-late-to-recognize-our-vietnam-veterans/ar-BB1hOUtj?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=u531&cvid=ecaa12d711a64c30bbd8f3b6dd1406a8&ei=25
While others here and across the country faced far worst than I did, Spc4 McAlister's experiences almost mirror mine.
It's a long story but well worth reading.
"He says it wasn’t until about 20 years ago that he started feeling comfortable telling people he’d been to Vietnam. As vets were returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and being treated with all of the respect they deserved, my dad says he noticed a shift in the way Vietnam Vets were treated around that time, too. People seemed more appreciative of his service. That made it easier for him to open up about it."
"By this point he felt like he had “made it,” to some extent—he’d started his own business and was doing well financially, he’d put both of his kids through college, had bought a townhouse as a second home, and he saw his stature as a veteran as something to be proud of. “That was not a negative,” he says, of having served in Vietnam."
"That’s another thing he wants people to know. With the number of Vietnam Vets dwindling and his own time running short, he wants people to understand that they weren’t all bad guys. They might have gotten swept up in an unpopular and ultimately doomed war, but most of them were decent men who were doing what they felt was right. It seems obvious to say that now, but for a long time, there was nothing obvious about it."
www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/it-s-never-too-late-to-recognize-our-vietnam-veterans/ar-BB1hOUtj?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=u531&cvid=ecaa12d711a64c30bbd8f3b6dd1406a8&ei=25
