LETTER: Earned respect and honor
When they came home, some of our veterans received no recognition for their service (Korea was initially classified as a conflict), so their service was questioned because they supposedly never went to war. Our brave soldiers who returned home from Vietnam sometimes were mistreated by the civilian population. And we can’t forget our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who were deployed over and over again like they were pieces of machinery.
The veterans coming home from World Wars I and II and Korea sometimes had a month to decompress before getting home. Unfortunately the veterans from Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan sometimes made it home in hours, instead of days to months, leaving our service people to make big changes after leaving a war zone just hours before.
Nobody ever wants to go to war, but our veterans stepped up to do what they felt was right, and we should appreciate and respect what they unselfishly did. The veterans from the Korean War and Vietnam War never had a time when they were treated with respect or made to feel like they were heroes, and all of these veterans will tell you the real heroes were the ones who didn’t make it home.
We as a nation need to take the time to learn from our veterans and start respecting those who were willing to serve. Unfortunately most of our veterans don’t really like talking about their time in the service or maybe it’s easier not to remember. How many of you would be willing to wear the uniform, willing to lay your life on the line to preserve freedom, stop the spread of communism, or stop terrorism?
Appreciate and respect what they did.
Mark Holtkamp
Washington