Ok, Today’s a Day Off for Many of Us, But Remember Why We’re Celebrating Veteran’s Day. I Sure Do!

The bottom of the old side door scraped against the ice and made a terrible screech. My mom yelled up from the bottom of the stairs, “Kevin, I think someone is trying to get into the garage.” I ran downstairs, through the dining room and into kitchen, but before I could reach the door, my brother was walking through it, dressed in his Marine uniform and carrying a large duffel bag.

“Tim!” my mom and I said almost simultaneously. We couldn’t believe he was home. My mom fell on the floor, laughing and crying in the same breath. I just looked at him in disbelief. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing was real. My missing older brother was finally home!

This is truly a tale for today – Veteran’s Day. The year was 1968 and my older bro was a Marine grunt in Vietnam, assigned to a Reconnaissance unit. He basically went on patrol in the jungle, usually near, above or around the DMZ – the famed Demilitarized Zone that separated North Vietnam from South Vietnam – looking for troop and supply movements of the Viet Cong and North Vietnam regulars. If you ever saw the movie “Platoon,” with Charlie Sheen, you’d have an inkling what my brother and his fellow Recon buddies experienced. It was war at its most basic.

My brother spent most of ’67 doing the dirty job of a Recon soldier, often dodging bullets and artillery fire from the Viet Cong, while watching his friends get killed or wounded, and then skedaddling as quickly as he and his unit could after radioing coordinates to Navy pilots, who bombed enemy positions. He now lives in Japan, and has lived there for more than 40 years, with a Japanese wife and four adult children, and a smattering of grandchildren. He still suffers from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) but doesn’t talk about his experiences in ‘Nam.

He survived that terrible conflict, but he almost didn’t. And that’s when the story of that cold March night in the kitchen of our Upstate New York home began to unfold. My brother was based in Khe Sahn ( Khe Sanh ‑ Location, Vietnam War & Who Won (history.com) , a Marine garrison located on the principal road from South Vietnan to Laos.

Around Jan. 21, 1968, the People’s Army of Vietnam launched a massive artillery attack on Khe Sahn, pinning down the Marines. About 10 days later, on the lunar or Tet observance, the Viet Cong attacked 13 cities in south central Vietnam, including a successful attack on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. The so-called Tet Offensive escalated the war and shocked the world with its images of carnage broadcast on nightly television.

As the offensive continued, we lost all contact with my brother. We received no correspondence from him for weeks on end. We didn’t know if he was dead or alive. We reached out to the Marines. Nothing. My dad contacted our local Congressman, who was an old friend. A dead end. We even called the Associated Press, who ran a picture of a Marine in Khe Sahn “taking a catnap”. The solider looked eerily like my brother. No such luck.

My parents were beside themselves with fear and anxiety. My two older sisters were living out of the house by that time and weren’t as exposed to the unfolding drama as perhaps I was. But truth be told, I was a pimply-faced 14-year-old at the time. I had my own worries. But then the old-side door squeaked, and my 6-foot two-inch brother showed up in our little kitchen, and all was suddenly right with the world again! Our Vietnam War was finally over!

If you know a Veteran, thank him or her for their service. And, if you want to spend more time today thinking of, or thanking veterans, plan to attend the American Legion Colin Hyde Post 172 Veteran’s Day Observance from Noon-2 p.m. at 7898 NE Bucklin Hill Road.

History of Veteran’s Day

Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces.^[b][1][2] It began, and now coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, which are commemorated in other countries, marking the anniversary of the end of World War I.^[3] Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. At the urging of major U.S. veteran organizations, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.^[4]

Veterans Day is distinct from Memorial Day, a U.S. public holiday in May: Veterans Day commemorates the service of all U.S. veterans, while Memorial Day specifically honors those who have died while in military service.^[5] Another military holiday that also occurs in May, Armed Forces Day, honors those currently serving in the U.S. military. Additionally, Women Veterans Day is recognized by a growing number of U.S. states that specifically honor women who have served in the U.S. military.

The United States Congress adopted a resolution on June 4, 1926, requesting that President Calvin Coolidge issue annual proclamations calling for the observance of November 11 with appropriate ceremonies.^[6] A Congressional Act (52 Stat. 351; 5 U.S. Code, Sec. 87a) approved May 13, 1938, made November 11 in each year a legal holiday: “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day'”.^[4]

Source Materials and some photos gathered from Wikipedia History.com, and City of Bainbridge Island. 

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