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.
Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
2014 Memorial Day
May 26, 2014