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Jane Wesley's avatar

I was 13yo. I wore a POW bracelet until my soldier came home. When I sent it to him in NJ, he wrote me a long letter of gratitude for my hope. There was a lot nobody could explain to my satisfaction except “Communism was bad. Really bad.” So why are all these people hating on the soldiers coming home? I thought that was was idiotic. But that bracelet was doing my part to support SOLDIERS. My Mom grew up during WW II so I wanted to be like her. But she had a lot more company than I did. I still wonder how people came to spit on returning soldiers who were forced to go by their own government and then tossed aside when they got home. It still makes me so, so sad.

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Chet's avatar

I graduated from high school in 1964. All of my buddies were joining the marines. I was 17. My dad

had died 18 months earlier, and my mother said,"No!" I wasted a year until I turned 18 and joined the Coast Guard. My mom freaked out when in 1967, I went to Vietnam. I came home in 1968 and went back in 1969. I returned home in 1970, and left the service. With that I received the greatest gift I have received in my life next to life itself: 48 months of GI Bill benefits. I attended a small liberal arts college in New Hampshire where they allowed me to earn my BA in five semesters and I earned my MA at Washington State. When I finished, I had two days of benefits left. The scars from combat and the loss of life we experienced have faded some, but the education I received has continued to provide me with benefits I couldn't have imagined as a young man raising my right hand and taking my oath.

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