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Khe Sanh Veteran’s Reunion Saturday, July 16, 2005 Chicago, Illinois  1,270
of our brothers and sisters lost their lives at that place called Khe Sanh.
What might they have done with their lives? What might they have become?
They were so young and will forever remain so, never to experience a child
who would rebel against them in his teenage years, the loss of their parents,
the disappointment of an unrealized career, the ravages of age, debilitating
disease: yet never to again feel the rain falling on their face, the cool
refreshing breeze on a hot summer day, wonder at the view from a mountain
top in the fall, embrace their loved ones, enjoy the fruits of their labor
or enjoy the sweet fellowship of their comrades reminiscing from the brink
of their senior years.
Let’s not forget our Vietnamese comrades, men who fought
hard and many of whom paid the ultimate price. Their country does
not remember them and they are not honored. After the war the communists
bulldozed their graves and expunged their names from public life.
They are not numbered among the war dead in Vietnam today.
There is less "vim and vigor" at our reunions and more
serenity and reflection as time goes on. Our gatherings are places
of camaraderie where men can relive stories of valor and humor but they
are also places of acceptance, healing, and concern for one another.
They are places where we can come to grips with the "what if's" and "why
didn't I's" that have haunted many of us over the years.
Bill Dabney remarked that many of us wrestle with remorse
over mistakes that we made in Viet Nam. He said that we should come
to grips with the fact that we are all human and that we all did the best
we could with what we had under the circumstances. These were words
of ministry, words of healing, words of leadership.
Hostilities have ended in Viet Nam but it's not over
until it’s over. I see us as mountain climbers roped together.
The goal is to get to the objective with everyone intact. We do care
for our wounded. When a man stumbles we will not cut him loose but
will pick up the slack. We are nearing the finish but there is still
a lot of mopping up to do and a lot of loose ends to be secured.
Most of our men seem to be doing well but I hear stories of broken lives, some of our men who never adjusted and just couldn’t make their lives work; Men who are suffering from mental and emotional wounds as real and in some cases more debilitating than their physical wounds. If you are able today, pick up the pack of the weaker brother beside you as you did some 37 years ago and press on to the objective together. How do you pick up the pack? 1. Listen - Listen carefully to the story or experience being described to you. Pay close attention. Focus on the one speaking to you. 2. Accept - Do not be judgmental. 3. Console - Speak words of comfort, words of healing.
4. Encourage - “Encouragement is food for the heart and every heart is a hungry heart". Determine to be an encourager. 5. Value - Value your brothers and sisters in arms. They are unique gifts to you. 6. Express appreciation - The fact that we were there should make us no less thankful for others who were there with us. Say thank you. 7. Seek to understand - Everyone's experience was different and each was seen through a unique prism fashioned over that person's lifetime by his own experiences and circumstances. 8. Trust enough to be transparent - Be willing to let
yourself be seen as you are without pretense. Open up and trust you
brother and sister enough to be vulnerable.
9. Help - To the extent that you are able, offer aid where needed. Listen carefully; everyone may not express his needs. 10. Be a confidante - When someone trusts you enough to confide in you honor that trust. 11. Be available - This is perhaps the most important for unless you choose to make yourself available none of the above can be realized. How do we honor our fallen comrades? Remember their names and use them.
Tell the truth about them and the manner of their deaths. Keep ourselves upright and honorable. Pray for our armed services and the men and women who serve. Pray for our country.
Most of us have at times, in the quietness of our own hearts, asked the question; would God accept me? When the Lord was incarnate here on earth he chose
for his disciples not the priests and "righteous" ones but a group of rough
spoken, hard working fishermen; Men with hard muscle and feet of clay.
God is not impressed by our "goodness" and he is not some kind of cosmic
clerk keeping an endless list of all of our offenses. God looks at our
heart. King David was a warrior king who committed some sins that
you and I would never dream of (2 Samuel 11, 8-26) and yet God said that
David was a man after his own heart, one of his "mighty warriors".
You are each one mighty warriors.
The Khe Sanh Veteran's Association is a maturing organization.
In fact, the truth is it is a dying organization like the veterans of the
Death march of Bataan. When the last of our brothers takes his last
breath the Khe Sanh Veteran's association will be no more. The world
will not remember our Association but as long as men remember past wars,
as long as men remember and honor past sacrifices they will remember us.
They will remember what we endured and what we accomplished at a place
on the other side of the world, a place named Khe Sanh.
Owen Matthews
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