By Lynn R. Mitchell
[Editor’s note: This is an encore post from Memorial Day 2014. Sadly, one gentleman in the story — our Vietnam War tunnel rat neighbor — passed away two weeks after this was written. He is not forgotten (see Husband, neighbor, friend, Vietnam vet … saying goodbye and Passings: Honoring a Vietnam veteran).]
It’s Memorial Day 2014. Our Korean War veteran neighbor stopped by the house this morning looking for my Vietnam-era vet husband who was across the street visiting with our Vietnam veteran neighbor. Now the three of them are sitting out there talking … one can imagine the conversation between these friends, neighbors, and military survivors.
The Korean War vet was a 19-year-old from North Dakota who was wounded and survived two weeks behind enemy lines in 1951 (see Korean War vet survived behind enemy lines). The Vietnam vet was a 17-year-old tunnel rat from Stuarts Draft. My Air Force vet husband from Powhatan County was an 18-year-old in Southeast Asia during Vietnam as part of support efforts. Their stories are a living history of two wars, and remembrances of those who did not come home.
My Air Force veteran husband flies American and POW flags in front of our house every Memorial Day.
Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
2014 Memorial Day
May 26, 2014
