Memorial Day 2013

For those of you who know me well, you have heard me talk about my Uncle Walt.  Our family called him Bill Jack.  I was only around him a short time when I was four years old, but I remember him well.   He was in the Army, like my Dad, and had served in WW2. Before he left for Southeast Asia in 1961, he and his wife, Maxine (my Mom's sister), my two cousins (Gary and Karen) and my grandmother came to Central Texas to visit.  We spent a great weekend on the lake.  My uncle was a lot of fun to be around.

I wonder what he was thinking that weekend.  He knew he was leaving soon to report for an assignment to a foreign place that know one had heard about.  I didn't know he was an Army Green Beret (Special Forces) working as a secretive military liaison supporting the Laotian Army to help train them against the invasion of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA).  In the pre-Vietnam era, no one really knew what was happening in Southeast Asia.

In March 1961, my uncle was captured by the NVA, beaten, starved, tortured, shot repeatedly, kept in a hole in the ground and a bamboo cage and eventually executed in July 1961 (http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/m/m162.htm). In 1963, President John F. Kennedy awarded him a Silver Star for his heroic service to the country and promoted to Major.  If you visit The Wall in Washington DC, his name is on the first panel. He may have been the first casualty of the Vietnam War depending on who and how was counting.

The older I get, the more I think about him.  Especially on days like today.  I also think about my Dad who was a WW2 veteran who made it home.  I think about my son-in-law who is a Captain and Army Ranger and served a year in Iraq. I also remember all the guys just a year or two older than me who were killed in Vietnam in the early 70's while I was having the time of my life in high school.

We can never forget the men and women who have died for our country.  As parents and grandparents, we have to teach our children and grandchildren about their true bravery.  Happy Memorial Day to all of you.