CLEOEJACKSONIII.COM
  • My Home Page
  • My Life and Ministry
  • My Ongoing Thoughts
  • My Favorite Bible Verses
  • My Favorite Stories
  • My Favorite Jokes
  • My Favorite Quotations
  • My Favorite Web Links
  • My Contact Info
"Helping Others Communicate"

MY PLANS FOR MEMORIAL DAY

5/22/2014

 
A web site titled http://www.vietvet.org/thepast.htm is devoted to “Reflections, Memories, and Images of Vietnam Past”. It provides opportunities for Vietnam veterans to post their often overlooked thoughts about their service to our country.

One contributor is "Gunner 44" - James E. Leiker.  According to his short bio, he served with Battery B of 1st Battalion, 11th Marines in I Corps from 69-71.  He operated out of China Beach and Hill 55 for most of his tour.  He also did a short stint on OP Crow’s Nest in the Marble Mountain area.  He served as an Artilleryman, FDC, Radio, and even a stint as Admin Chief. 
 
He is currently gainfully employed as the Manufacturing Manager for a growing telecommunications company in Norcross, GA.  He has taken the time to make three postings on the site:  “A Hug From The Wall”, “Life In The Nam”, and “What I'll Be Doing For Memorial Day”*.

With Memorial Day weekend on the horizon, I wanted to repost the latter of these here today.  Be advised, it is quite moving.  
 
What I'll Be Doing For Memorial Day 
By James E. Leiker

Memorial Day is a rough day for me.  It's a day of remembering. Remembering can be curse when you've spent years trying to forget.  It's even worse when you get mad at yourself for not being able to remember.  It's strange that you forget so many things you want to remember and remember so much that you really want to forget. 

I spent 11 months, 28 days in sunny Southeast  Asia.  I came back physically whole.  "No members missing" tag on  this Marine.  By the Grace of God, good training, and just plain pure dumb luck, I suffered no more than a slight hearing loss, a concussion or two, and 25 years of mixed-blessing memories. 
 

I've been a good husband to my wife, a lousy father to my two daughters, a mediocre son to my mother, and a reasonably successful employee to five employers over the years.  With these results, I consider myself as doing better than the average bear when compared to many of my fellow veterans.  The Grace of God and luck still abound. 
 

Memorial Day is not a day for self-evaluation or selfish thoughts. So I turn my remembrances to other people, places, and things. 
 

I remember heat.  Heat that kept you from getting a full breath for weeks. Heat that sapped your strength so that you were beyond exhaustion after a minor exertion.  Heat that made you tired and kept you from sleeping. Heat that made you sweat buckets.  Heat that made you freezing cold at 70 degrees. 
 
I remember lush green mountains that always seemed to go up not down.  I remember red earth that was sticky enough to glue a deuce and a half in place, slippery enough to make it impossible to stand on, and dusty enough to choke you into a
coughing fit like a bad cigar. 


I remember rice paddies.  They could get you killed or save your life.  Dikes stop bullets but can leave you exposed if you're dumb enough to walk on them.  The water smelled of feces but was better than not drinking at all. 

I remember rain.  Rain that broke the intolerable heat then never stopped.  Rain that was as gentle as silk or as stinging as a nest of bees.  Rain that let you get a good clean shower and rotted your feet 'til they bled. 
 

I remember the sun.  The sun that created the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I've ever seen in my life. The sun that you couldn't look at...if you ever wanted to see again.  The sun that you could feel without touching it. 

I remember a moon that shone so bright you could read a map by it.  I remember moonlight dancing on foliage that made you see nothing one minute and imagine a host of slinking VC the next. 

I'll never forget the colors of an explosion close at hand.  The white center bleeding out to a yellow ring surrounded by black rolling smoke was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. 

I remember the orange and green tracers dancing lazily through the night, while I prayed that none came to roost on me. 
 

But above all this, I remember people.  Faces, personalities, and human events still crowd my days and nights with pleasure and pain.  I can remember entire conversations and events in explicit detail.  I cannot remember the names of more than a few, and I don't know why. Shouldn't this be the other way around? 

I remember the parting face of the Huey jock, who took an RPG in the nose 100 yards after he lifted off from leaving me in a clearing. I remember every detail of the guy who hung himself 2 weeks before he was going back to the world.  I remember the guitar songs taught to me by the kid from Boston, who drove a jeep over a 105 shell buried on a dirt road and tripped the trap.  

I  remember the quiet calm of the guy who told me he was sorry and assured me that  I would be O.K. after he stepped on a mortar-round booby trap.  All this while I held what was left of him in my arms, and we filled him with enough morphine to kill a horse because he was cut in half below the waist; and we knew
he wouldn't survive the slick ride back to DaNang. 
 

Of the hundreds I knew, I kick myself for remembering so few. Especially on this Memorial Day when I should be able to remember each and every one.  They are the ones who paid for this Memorial Day.  This is their day.   I will not spoil it by forgetting even one of their number. 

God help me, I will remember.  From this day forth I will carry their memory and spirit with me as a living memorial to their sacrifice and dedication to God, country, duty, and honor.  They shall not pass gently into the night as long as I have breath in my body to shout to the world... 

REMEMBER, REMEMBER...  For God's sake Remember.

*SOURCE: 
http://www.vietvet.org/gunner44.htm.

Comments are closed.

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All