I'll join Ralph and Joe and others in remembering 17 college classmates whose names are carved into the Vietnam Memorial here in Washington, along with a Gunny named Riecker, to whom I owe a great debt, but who got only the silver dollar I gladly paid him for my first salute. He did not come back from his second tour. Vietnam was a place in time --- as well as in space --- when all that was important in life seemed to come into conflict. It was not a good time for those of us who served there nor was it a good time for those who protested it. My college had strong ties to Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman, and yet produced an extraordinary cadre of the guys for whom Memorial Day no longer has a meaning --- because they are part of it. They are the people we remember. The freedoms we tend to take for granted --- including the right to protest and to disagree --- were purchased and are retained at a great personal cost to those who were willing to win and to protect them. Jack Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat May 26 2001 - 21:19:21 PDT
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