There are a lot of graphics and will take some time to load, but
part of remembering our lost ones is the wait, the silence, the thought . . .
. . . . .
I sit here at this keyboard and wonder, why did I come back, why didn't your brother, your
father, your nephew, your grand-father, mother, sister, niece, grand-mother?
I'm in a pondering mood tonight, I've been wandering around the
POW/MIA webring and viewing the thousands of pages, reading the stories and listening to
the music, and god it makes me wish things had been different. I read stories of the men
and women who have visited the 'Wall' and am not sure anymore if I can take the rush of
memories and pain this visit would bring upon me....I have wanted to make that trip ever
since it was built, but finances being what they are, I've not been able to make
it.......someday maybe, unless lack of money is just a cop out, maybe deep down I don't
want to save the money for the trip, from fear of what will come welling up from where
I've buried it for all these years. Some days the smell of cordite just rushes in from
nowhere, the smell of the delta blowing in the window at night, or branches moving in the
light of the streetlight, bring on memories of flares. These memories were made for me at
the age of 19, when I should have still been in school, or starting a family, or just
kicking back. Don't get me wrong, I love my country, my people, my life, I learned much
while fighting for my life in Vietnam, I learned loyalty, brotherhood, and trust. I also
learned duplicity, cowardice, unfaithfulness, and mistrust, quite a lesson for a 19 year
old from Northern Michigan.
Okay the page should be done loading now . . . . . . . So please
read on.
This site is dedicated to those we've left
behind, and to the fight to bring them home, or to at least have a full accounting of what
happened to them all. Over 2,000 of our/your countrymen are still unaccounted
for......Please! join the fight to get them or their remains back to American soil.
From the Mekong Delta to the DMZ, we cried together, we
laughed together, we fought together, and we watched each other die. It didn't matter what
color, what religion, or what station in life, we became brothers, our lives depended on
one another for life itself.
At nineteen years of age (the average
age for combat soldiers in Vietnam - 26 for W.W.II) many of us were away from home
for the first time. Our innocence and naivete were lost in this Southeast Asian country.
The smell of cordite, the thumping of incoming and heavy weapons fire, the
rattle of small arms. The odor of fresh blood, the screams from our comrades and
ourselves, and the oppressive, overpowering smell of death -- this was our time to stand
and fight.
Canadians, our brothers in arms to the north have felt
this same pain and suffering. What many Americans (U.S.) don't realize is
that Canada has sent a contingent of combat forces to fight in almost all
wars and conflicts that the U.S. has fought in.
Visit these sites as well. To learn WHO these brave and
selfless people were, and are.
Enough cannot be said about the women that served with us in
Vietnam. They not only provided medical care, but as sounding boards to our woes.
They listened, they laughed, they cared for us......They were and still are, considered: Angels of Mercy, by many of us. To us they are THE
HERO'S of Vietnam.
For those of you interested in making a difference, please visit this site
and sign up for your POW bracelet, show your support for bringing these people home.
This site is also dedicated to the POW/MIA issue and is a good source of
information and data. Over 2,000 are missing and unaccounted for. Our government is not
doing what they promised. They said publicly many times, "we will not leave any of
our people there".
America, even with all it's faults is still the best country in the world.
The people, tho a hodgepodge of nationalities, is the most open, giving, caring people on
earth.
Awards I've received for my POW/MIA pages
This Operation Just Cause Web Ring site is owned by Carl Johnson
Walking on it, or buried in it.......American Soil.
Again I say we all must press our government representatives to continue
to resolve this important and long running problem. It has been 24 years now, many of the
prisoners, if alive have aged those 24 years also .
God, can you imagine the loneliness, the despair, the utter depression those men have gone
through........
It is WAY past time to BRING THEM HOME!!!!!!
"All Biographical and loss information on Vietnam Era POW/MIA's
provided by Operation Just Cause have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag of POW/NET http://www.asde.com/~pownet/ . Please check with POW/NET regularly for
updates."
