This has been a bitter sweet weekend. The sweet part was going to visit my good friends grandson who was injured last weekend, to find out he was being dismissed to go home yesterday. Stephanie and I went over to visit the family at the hospital and were told that the doctor had asked him if he wanted to go home and he told him yes. Considering all he has been through this past week that was the best possible news, Then I went to lunch today and found out that the sweet lady who had worked in a variety of jobs here at the Waterford had passed away yesterday very unexpectedly . She had been on vacation for about 2 weeks, gotten sick and had to return home, was diagnosed with pneumonia and passed away yesterday. Gloria will be missed, she had been here 12 1/2 years, knew everyone and was just the sweetest lady. She will be sorely missed. Then I watched a movie about the first part of the war in Viet Nam. I was very young and naive when Phillip left and flew to Viet Nam . We were not married but had been dating since July and he left with the first wave that went over in September of 1965. It never occurred to me that he wouldnt come home,. The movie I watched today starred Mel Gibson as the leader of the 7th Calvary and what they went through during the first encounter with the Viet Cong. Today, 49 years later, long after Phillip came home and we married and we laid him to rest in 2004, did it hit me just how blessed we were that he was able to return home. We had so little information about the war and the things our soldiers faced. Phillip was a Caribou pilot and spent his time in Viet Nam rescuing wounded soldiers and flying supplies behind enemy lines to the Green Beret and other forces . The end of the movie when the reporters just surrounded the officer who had led the troups hit me really hard. Phillip flew with many reporters on his flights and often times all they could do as they were under fire trying to load the wounded into the airplane was shoot footage, he threaten to remove them from the plane if they didnt stop with the cameras and help load the wounded. He came back with a distaste for the media because of what he had witnessed. I am sorry it has taken me so long to be as thankful for his return as I am today. The veterans of Viet Nam were true courageous men many of whom gave their lives in a war like we had never fought before. The Viet Cong were devious men who thought nothing of using young children to do their dirty work. Our troops new nothing of fighting the kind of war that North Viet Nam waged. If your soldier was blessed to come home count your blessings but if your soldier was not one who made it home count your blessings for he was a true hero. Thank you far too late to my husband for what he endured and thank you to the others who fought that war for their service to a country that did nothing but ridicule them when they come home. God bless them all.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 20:46:38 +0000