Fifty-Two Years Ago, I Went To Vietnam.

December 16, 2019, marks a special anniversary for me: Fifty-Two-Years Ago, I Went To Vietnam.

I'm amazed that over half-a-century has passed since I arrived in-country just before Christmas of 1967.

As each year comes and goes, there are fewer and fewer Vietnam veterans still alive.  Some have succumbed to age related diseases, and some to Agent Orange, and its debilitating consequences.  Some have taken their own lives.  Some sank deeply into a bottle of whiskey and ended up as an alcoholic.  I came pretty close to that myself.

For ten years, I tried to forget and bury my frustrations and depressions with booze...  Not good.  I can assure everyone that booze doesn't console a lost soul, and I was a lost soul.  My faith was out the window, plain and simple.

We also hear a lot these days of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known by the acronym: PTSD...

When I came home, there wasn't much talk about that; it was something "new".  In World War I, it was called shell-shock; in World War II, it might have been called cowardice (remember the scene in  the movie "Patton," where the general visits a field hospital, and slaps a PFC across the face, classifying him as a coward?).  In succeeding wars, it has become more widely known, and there is a great deal of treatment available for the troops that have suffered from their hellacious experiences...

At the time, I didn't think much about any treatment that might have been available, so I suffered.

But for the grace of God...

I now know that people were praying and never gave up on me.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Today, my wife and I drove through a minor snowstorm to get to a beautiful Traditional Latin Mass in Kansas City, Missouri...

We have a wonderful son (who served honorably in the Marines); we will soon be grandparents once again, and I'm retired so I can write these silly little articles...

We do, however, miss our special friends back East, especially those at the St. Benedict Center in Richmond, New Hampshire, but they are always close to us in spirit: good and decent Catholics are always brothers and sisters no matter what distance separates them...

So, on this Monday, December 16, 2019, I remember those brothers in uniform that didn't make it back, and whose names are now on the Wall in Washington, D.C....

Please pray for our country, and all Vietnam Veterans...

Gene DeLalla