Wow! Back in 1969, I was in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. While there, we were called to New York to watch out for looting and other horrible things. I had an M16 and a 45 and we marched down the street watching for anything wrong. They really set us up because I had 4 magazines for the M16 and some for the 45. Luckily, I didn't have to use them. I am 6'2" and all the guys that were over 6 feet were put in the front when we marched. A year later, someone told us there was going to be another group against the Vietnam War. They called it Moritorium Day (I can't spell worth a hoot?) Anyway, were called up to got to Washington D.C. That was 1969 and we were loaded up again, but this time we had to watch out for the mob of college kids that were trying to get to the White House and the Capital Building. We were on the steps of the Capital and we were ordered to shoot over their heads. Evidently, some of the guys didn't hear to shoot over their heads because about 20 people were killed or wounded. I never wanted to go through that again. Luckily, I was able to stay in the States the rest of my tour. My brother and father weren't so lucky. My Dad go hit by a Rocket and was medivaced home. Three months later, my brother was in the bay when the ship he was serving on got hit. He is 71 and still reliving that day. I would say my family paid their dues for our country. Please! Take a moment and remember our brothers and sisters that were killed by those crazy terrorists on 9/11. At least, they won't have another chance to do any damage.
Thank you and your family for their selfless courage and service to protect the very basic foundation of what this country was founded on, freedom.
A couple of years ago this POW-MIA bracelet from the Vietnam War was found while metal detecting. I offer a free service for finding and returning lost items and have 34 returns to date. The first was on Panama City Beach where I found a man’s wedding ring valued at over $8000. It turned out he had just gotten married the night before and his bride was taking a nap so his buddies convinced him to sneak off to the beach with them and he promptly lost that ring. Always wondered what his honeymoon would be like had he returned without the ring. He offered me a $20 reward which I turned down and offered him $50 if I could keep the ring. Another time a man called me crying because his 48th anniversary was coming up and he had lost his ring. Took 2 days to find and as a thank you I was granted permission to hunt a large tract of land his father bought 80 years before. While searching I found a second ring that looked like the first ring so I called his wife and asked if she had lost her ring. She said no but her husband had lost his ring. I replied I had already found that ring and she then told me I had found his SECOND ring but his first was lost 30+ years before. So he got a “Two-fer” out of me. Almost every object I’ve ever recovered for somebody had a sad story but I really wanted to return this bracelet to the next of kin and I thought it would be easy to learn who that was. NOPE! The new privacy laws make it virtually impossible. I called the VA and was shot down on several levels. I called congresspeople and got nowhere, including one I went to high school with. The mayor of my town got the mayor of Indianapolis to assign somebody to help me. They never answered the phone nor returned calls. The soldier was 19 years old and killed his first day in Vietnam. His body was identified but left behind and never recovered. He was part of a story on POW-MIAs in Time magazine. Finally I started blindly sending letters to people with the same last name and finally hooked up with his sister. She was strangely suspicious of me and my motives but eventually gave me an address to send it to. It arrived just before Memorial Day but I’ve never heard from anybody. But that’s ok. Those are great remembrances you have there. And today, 9/11 is a day to remember
