Let's Move On

What we now know as Veterans Day began on Nov. 11, 1918. That’s when Allied countries and Germany signed an armistice to end World War One.
In 1926, Congress designated November 11th as “Armistice Day.” The date became an official federal holiday in 1938.
In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation that changed the name of the holiday to Veterans Day. It’s a day when we honor all our country’s veterans. Those who served in war and those who didn’t. Those who died on the battlefield and those who survived.
As Veterans Day 2007 fades into the past, perhaps this is a time where our nation – and in particular Baby Boomers – can do all veterans a favor and put the Vietnam War behind us.
The war has fractured our generation for 40 years now. And not without reason. This was no small combat mission.
Our country was involved in Vietnam for more than a decade beginning with President John Kennedy’s initial wave of advisors sent to that southeast Asian country in the early 1960s. President Lyndon Johnson escalated our involvement in the mid-1960s. President Richard Nixon unleashed bombing raids in the late 1960s and early 1970s before eventually signing a peace treaty in 1973.
At its height, 540,000 Americans were engaged in that war. More than 58,000 of them died. Most were Baby Boomers in their late teens and early 20s.
Unlike today, there was a military draft, which meant virtually any young man could be called upon to risk his life in Southeast Asia.
Television fanned the flames even furthur. The war was covered on the nightly news. During the 1960s, virtually every home in the United States witnessed the war on their t-v screen. In full view were bodies lying in fields and flag-draped caskets rolling out of the cargo compartments of planes.
There was one final, fiery ingredient. Before 1972, the voting age in the United States was 21. That meant every 18-year-old, 19-year-old and 20-year-old being drafted didn’t have the right to choose the leaders who were sending them to war. It was 1960s equivalent of taxation without representation.
The war was a lightning bolt that cracked our nation into sectors. On one side were those who supported the war. On the other were those who opposed it. The generation that fought in World War Two couldn’t understand the younger generation’s reluctance to fight in a war against Communism in a foreign land. Many Baby Boomers were outraged we’d be asked to sacrifice our lives in a conflict that didn’t directly affect our nation.
The war also split our generation. It divided those who went overseas to fight against those of us who remained at home. The soldiers who wearily returned from battle were, in many instances, treated as traitors who were aiding and abetting our leaders instead of young men and women who were simply a cog in a large war machine.
The rift didn’t end with the conclusion of the war. It has lingered for the 35 years since the peace accord. Former soldiers still feel bitter about the way they were treated after risking their lives. Those against the war still feel it was an unjust crusade that needlessly killed tens of thousands of their generation.
The Vietnam War has surfaced in the past four presidential campaigns. Bill Clinton’s avoidance of the draft was brought up both in 1992 and 1996. Al Gore’s service in Vietnam and George W. Bush’s stint in the Air National Guard were campaign issues in 2000. John Kerry’s duties on boat patrol in the Mekong Delta were a crucial part of the 2004 election.
The war still haunts people on an individual basis. Vietnam veterans complain about flashbacks and guilt from their tours. It’s estimated 25 percent of the nation’s homeless are war veterans, the majority of them from the Vietnam era.
This is not a minor problem either. There are 8 million Vietnam veterans in this country. That’s about a third of the military veterans still alive.
So, as the book closes on Veterans Day 2007, it might be a good time to put an end to four decades of divisiveness. Enough is enough. Let’s lose the anger.
The younger generations are tired of hearing us talk about Vietnam and the ongoing dialogue about the war is preventing Baby Boomers from healing the scars from that period and putting the issue behind us once and for all.
The people who fought in Vietnam did what they thought was the right thing. The people who protested against it did what they thought was proper. End of story.
We shouldn’t necessarily forget, but we can certainly forgive.