Memorial Day Message......

"For the honor of the fallen, for the glory of the dead", Edgar Guest wrote of Belleau Wood (WWI), "the living line of courage kept the faith and moved ahead". They are all gone now, those Marines who made a French farmer's little wheatfield one of the most enduring of Marine Corps legend.All Marines die in the red flash of battles or the white cold of a nursing home. In the vigor of youth or the infirmity of age all will eventually die, but the Corps lives on. Every Marine who ever lived is living still, in the Marines who claim the title today. It is that sense of belonging to something that will outlive your own mortality, which gives people a light to live by and a flame to mark their passing.


This old Marine still gets ill watching a punk like GW Bush putting a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Freedom has a flavor that the protected will never know.


Semper Fi,

Lt. Dan

Thank you Lt. Dan and Happy Memorial Day to you and yours!

Lest we not forget






<B><BIG>VIETNAM WAR FACTS</BIG></B>

While many aspects about the Vietnam War are debatable, the facts and figures of the war have a voice of their own and are indisputable.

<B><BIG></BIG>On these pages I list some of the commonly accepted facts about the Vietnam War.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year, thanks to the mobility of the helicopter.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>After Vietnam the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand managed to stay free of communism. The Indonesians expelled the Soviets in 1966.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>During the Vietnam War the national debt increased by $146 billion (1967-1973). </B>

<B><BIG></BIG>58,148 Americans were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.59 million who served.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>The average age of those killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>50,274 were enlisted, average age 22.37.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>6,598 were officers, average age 28.43.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>1,276 were warrant officers (NCOs), average age 24.73 years.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>11,465 were less than 20 years old.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>From 1957 to 1973 the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 South Vietnamese and abducted 58,499. Death squads focused on leaders that included schoolteachers and minor officials.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>The number of North Vietnamese killed was approximately 500,000 to 600,000. Casualties: 15 million.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. Although the percentage who died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. This was the result of two things, booby traps and also the mobility of the helicopter to get the wounded to treatment faster than any other war up til then.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>The Tet '68 offensive was a major defeat for the VC and the NVA.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>Two-thirds of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers, two-thirds who served in World War II were draftees.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>91 percent of Vietnam veterans say they are glad they served.</B>

<B><BIG></BIG>74 percent said they would serve again even knowing the outcome.</B>









wil.

Wil,

How about:

Weapons used by enemy eg. AK47, b40, 122 rockets etc.

Fighting 2 armies .... NVA... well trained, organized & armed...... VC..... masters of concealment..... bobby-traps.

Vietnam Memorial..... funded privately...... many years after the fact.

Troops treated w/disrespect upon return.

It is now fashionable to be a "brother", many wannabe's surfacing. Most of the current neocon hawks are all draftdodgers. Had other "priorities".

I am not a hero because all of the heros died in RVN!


Semper Fi,

Lt. Dan