It's been over forty  years,
but I still feel the tears from
thirteen months of combat in
a  no - win  situation called
Vietnam. The years just keep passing
by, and still many Vietnam
Veterans die, and no one wants
to admit why.
The anger and saddness is
still there and what makes it
worse  is a society that acts
as if they care, acting like
they know where we had to go
and what we had to do, and
now they just stare.

Our tears flow for our brothers
whose names are on that Wall,
the ones who answered the call
and gave all.

It is American tradition to honor
War Veterans, but they shut the
door on us and some just can't
forget.
For some better late than never,
but for me it just won't go away.

Now a whole new generation
in a different era thinks a  simple
" welcome home " will do. A
generation that is blind to what
went on, and the the injustice
that we were served,
a generation that looks the other
way when the homeless living on
the street try to speak .
A generation that ignores the number of
Vietnam Veterans taking their
own lives every day.
The shock of this is so much,
I  just don't know what to say.

Some of us choose to live another
day and this new generation
honoring us needs to know
that we will not just go away and
that they will have to deal with
us someday, giving more than
just a " welcome home" that
comes a little late, and they need
to know  why our minds are in such
a  f*^k^d   up state.
                              Jon York  USMC Vietnam  1969 -70

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