A grandaughter was talking about how her grandfather from orlando was a prisoner of war in vietnam for 7 horrible years.the only way her grandmother knew he was alive was , because she saw a picture of him sitting at an organ.they took happy pictures,to make it look like they were treating the prisoners nicely. you get chills, just listening.he missed seeing his children grow up.
I didn’t tell her my uncle was a lt. col. in laos , and years later we found out he had been in the cia.only their sons lived , with them in laos and my cousin , started a fight with her brother a few years ago. she was upset because her brother had a pony and she didn’t.in her sixties she is still very upset. he laughed and said you were safe in columbia, s.c. and i was dodging land mines.she did not think that justified a pony.
a friend of mine drove me from charleston to greenville,for my aunt’s unveiling . and when we arrived, he saw my uncle and he said he knew him from danang.he is over 30 years younger and he was with an african american group of soldiers.
everyone who was with my friend become very ill over there.they believe from agant orange. he had a heart transplant
over 10 years ago and now he has early alzheimers.he is a disabled veteran and volunteered at the va hospital every day. it is very sad.
the citadel had , i think ,a 60th reunion and my uncle and general westmoreland were in the same class and alive to go.i had just heard general westmoreland in charleston at a brunch and didn’t know until the reunion.