In article , (The
Watcher) wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 15:33:04 -0700, remove munged
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 16:33:02 GMT, (The Watcher)
wrote:

I consider one of America's biggest national black marks the way we(as a
country) treated the veterans WE sent to fight in Vietnam



More hype and blather from a know nothing.

Oh? How many Welcome Home parades were there for the veterans when they came
home from Vietnam?

Well, I participated in quite a long parade of cars with their lights on
as we took my childhood neighbor & first sweet crush Jimmy Shrieves to the
cemetery, the first of several on our block to be brought home, in the
words of Country Joe, "in a box." Didn't live long enough to ever vote or
get LEGALLY drunk. And we honored him not only that day, but just about
every day since, because it isn't something that ever really heals.

So if such grief-stricken homecoming parades as that count, at the time
there seemed to be no end to them in poorer neighborhoods like mine. If
what you hoped for was jingoistic pride in a baseless & unjust war that
couldn't even be won, then hey, you're just gonna love the next GOP
convention.

How many memorials have been erected to the men who served in
Vietnam?

God I hope that was asked tongue in cheek.

More than for the Korean War for some reason.

And one of 'em is world-wide the most famous war memorial that exists,
with even a "travelling replica" that sets up here & there unvaryingly
with massive attendance. There are a great many lesser-known Vietname War
memorials listed here, with links & photos of each one:
http://www.vietvet.org/vietmems.htm
which documents not all that exist, since thousands more do exist in
cemeteries, & smaller plaques in city parks across the nation. But the
cited page finds a good many significant examples, in Alabama, Arkansas, a
half-dozen in California, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, five in
Illinois, Indiana, two in Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, three in
Massachusetts, two in Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, two in Missouri,
Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico has two, New York, North Carolina has two,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pensylvania has five, Texas has two, Utah,
Vermont, Virginia has two, West Virginia. Michigan, & Wyoming. There are
Vietnam War memorials additionally in Australia, New Zealand, two in
Canada, -- &amp perhaps most humblingly, the Vietnamese & American Peace
Park in Vietnam.

Of course, what we still need are more Vietnam Anti-War Memorials
commemorating homeland efforts & casualities, whose continuous pressures
& protests did eventually put an end to a nightmare, & without whom that
world-famous Memorial in D.C. would've had to have needed another wall
longer. Until the memorials arrive, here at least are a couple good places
to start for peace activists; it's still not too late to help out:

Veterans for Peace:
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/
Vietnam Vets Against the War:
http://www.vvaw.org/

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com