5/28/2007Memorial day, a time for memories and reflection. A time to honor those young men who made the ultimate sacrifice. I'm a veteran of the war in Viet Nam. I was very fortunate in that I emerged unscathed and,in fact, only knew one person who died. I also knew a couple of other fellows who were badly wounded there but there were mercifully few casualties among my many acquaintances..  We were all so young and thought we were immortal.None of us were heroes. We were just average guys hanging out. It was 1967 and we were 18 and 19 year olds who really had no clue about what was going on in the world. St.Louis in 1967 was not Haight-Ashbury or Berkeley so when draft notices came we went...or enlisted early. I joined the Air Force. My thought was to get a little training, and avoid tromping in the mud in Asia with a rifle. What happened? Well, they made me a security police officer... sent me to Asia ...and had me tromp around the perimeter of the base... with a rifle...in the mud. ( I spent a lot of time during monsoon season wondering where my plan went wrong.) It was fairly low risk. We had the occasional rocket attack or sabotage but nothing very serious whle I was there.My friend Larry was not so lucky. He had enlisted in the Army and was killed in action in 1968.  I saw his name on the wall in Washington D.C. 4 years ago.  Memories flooded back of a fine vibrant young man, one who answered his nation's call.  One I was proud to have called my friend.  His passing made a profound impression on me.In the complex world we live in following World War II it is hard to find a clear cut reason to fight and war is never really declared. It is just a series of police actions. Korea,Viet Nam, Grenada, Panama, Kuwait ,Bosnia,and Iraq are complex and clear cut victory is hard to achieve or even to define.today a new generation of young men are called to do their duty. Again they answer their Nation's call. I salute them all. God bless them all and God bless Larry and all our fallen young men.tom