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For the first time in a very long time I find myself unable to make my annual Veterans Day trip to Washington D.C. Nine months of unemployment has taken its toll on my finances. I've made this trip every year to visit the Viet Nam Memorial. As is the case with a great many veterans of that era, the names of some of my comrades in arms may be found there. I've made this trip, in past years, to honor their memory and their sacrifice. I connect to them by touching their inscribed names on the wall and we are united once again. This connection, no matter how brief, helps me ease my own mind and the sense of loss I carry with me every day of my life.
If any of you from the Washington DC area find yourselves in the vicinity of the memorial this weekend, reach out and touch the wall for me.
To absent comrades, they shall remain forever young.
Chris Vais
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Thank you Chris for your service and sacrifice.
It's been my honor to serve and command many comrades in arms from several nations. Thanks to all of you that serve your countries.
v/r
Joel
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Memorial and Veterans Day are days mean so much to me, but it also brings back memories I wish I could forget. When I went to see the Vietnam Memorial Wall in D.C. I could make it no further than half way before I broke completely down. I felt the weight of everyone as I took each step. So many friends and comrades lost crying out to me "WHY". The young wounded and maimed men I airlifted out to incountry hospitals all asked the same question "WHY". That word still haunts me to this very day. I had no answer then and still have none. I stopped wanting to know your name, to be a friend to anyone as I might lose you today or tomorrow because it hurt too much. I turned off all fear and any feelings I had ever had, nothing would ever bother me again or so I thought. I was given the nick name of "Ice Man". It has been 47 years and 4 days since I was lucky enought to come home physically in one piece. I still think "Why Me" and not the rest, I feel guilty and not fully worthy to enjoy life at times. My shrink has me on so many pills just to keep me calm. I could care less which GOD you pray to, but please pray for all our young men and women now serving in harms way and to bring them home safe.
Thank you all,
Larry
Retired USAF and Civil Service
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Larry,
I hope you find peace...thank you (and all) for your service.
Jay
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Thank you, Jay, for the kind words. Jake, your father and so many like him suffered because of the Nazis and then be sent to Indonesia to fight. No one knows how others feel or reacts unless you have lived with a person that still carries for the rest of his/her days the horror of war. I am glad that your father can now release some of his pentup feelings without completely falling apart. Our younger generations need to know of the sacrifice so many have given that they have the freedoms they now share.
God Bless,
Larry
Retired USAF and Civil Service
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Well despite my inability to get to Washington DC this year, Veterans Day turned out to be a momentous day. On Monday, I was offered and accepted a position with an environmental firm in Hawaii, ending 9 long months of unemployment. I will continue to live in California and work from home, traveling to Hawaii and elsewhere in the South Pacific and Asia as required. My new employer is a firm that I have worked with for 24 years as a subcontractor.
Larry, I know all too well the feelings of survivors guilt and the tendency to keep people at arms length, they cost me the love of my first wife. In the years that have passed I have overcome the guilt, the profound sense of loss, and the hurt through many hours of discussion with our fellow vets. My Dad and his two brothers fought in WWII. At nearly every family gathering he and my two Uncles would brake away from the family group and sit and talk about the War and other things. Kids and wives were excluded. It was their "group therapy" and it help them put the horrors of WWII behind them. My Fathers advice was to find someone to talk to that will listen in a non-judgemental manner. And so I became involved with veterans groups that focused on understand the effects of PTSD and treatment for it. He promised me that over time and after many hours of discussion that, I would find peace in my heart and my restless mind would settle. He was right and I have.
Jake, my second wife, to whom I am married to today is jewish. Her family suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazi's. To this day there are things about her family experience that she cannot discuss without becoming very emotional. I have great admiration for the citizens of Nazi occupied countries who resisted their occupiers. It is good that you Father now speaks of his experiences. It is history that should not be lost.
Thank you all for your kind words and understanding and please extend the same to the young men and women returning from todays conflicts as will need all of our support and understanding as try to find a path forward for themselves.
Chris
Chris Vais
1994 Coupe Midnight Blue Metallic
2015 Audi Allroad Quattro Brilliant Black
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(This post was last modified: 11-14-2012, 05:46 AM by
Chris Vais.)
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Congratulations, Chris! I'm happy to hear your long search has ended.
Joel Wahlsten
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