I met him next to the banana display at Walmart.
He had driven his motorized wheelchair to the produce department, his veteran’s hat clearly visible.
“Where is Pine Island?” I asked, looking at his clean-looking cap, which bore the words “USS” before the words, along with an embroidered outline of a ship.
He said it was in North Carolina, off the coast. The ship was a seaplane tender, which means that they deployed planes in the water.
“We got there just as the shooting stopped,” he explained about the Korean War. “We were there just to make sure the enemy didn’t get any farther.”
I nodded. “But even if you don’t have a gun in your hand, that is stressful.”
“Yes, it was difficult,” he said. His face twisted a bit, showing memories no doubt buried in the past of many years.
“My dad was in the Korean War,” I said, trying to draw our thoughts together. I thought about my dad’s experience of getting transferred away from the front to another company to avoid the fighting. My dad knew he would be in demand because of his ability to type.
I didn’t mention this fact because it I thought it would be embarrassing. After all, this man sat in a ship off a hostile shore and faced the possibility of real fighting. But I realized that almost anyone would sympathize with my dad’s action.
“Did you serve?” the man asked.
Vietnam draft
“No. I just missed the Vietnam War. The draft ended just as I came of age. I guess my mom was relieved.”
“Any mother would be,” he said. “World War II was good, Korea was good. But Vietnam was bad.”
I suggested, “The country did not have public opinion behind the war.”
I added, “I went to church this morning, and our priest said that his brother fought in Vietnam, and brought home stories. He said the whole thing was terrible.”
The priest said his brother had suffered greatly as a result of the Vietnam experience, including enduring the public ridicule of veterans common at the time. The brother turned to drinking for his whole life, and always carried the burdens of war in his mind.
As this man in the store, we see other veterans from long past come forward, sporting their black embroidered hats that announce their military service.
At least those prior to Vietnam.
But the Vietnam veterans suffered in the same way on those battlefields. And the cause of the war was the same – to defend the innocent. Someday we’ll hear their story, too.
Memorial Day is a good day to remember those who fought for our freedoms. As the priest said this morning, we honor and pray for both those who hang up their uniforms, and those who die in them.
Amid our cookouts and parades today, let us remember and pray for our veterans.