Oh Pat, you made me cry again, you old curmudgeon, you. You better write that play........even if it hurts. It all still does, even if "we" have moved on and "let it go".

I was sitting here, reading this, and thinking of the 2nd Great War......and how things were written in stone, then, in our father's times.....and how my father so loved the Japanese culture and people.....even their Bushido, because bushido has a real reason behind it....written in stone, huh? The only thing my dad ever really wanted that he didn't get to do was to go back to Japan, and see Kyoto, and find out if "Mr. Bear" (whoever he was.........?) was still alive.

War is hell, my friends, on all sides, and I only hope none of our children ever have to go there........

VietNam was the watershed of most of our lives. Sad, but true. All of us have, really, only one story to tell; for most of us over 40, that story is somehow related to VietNam. In another 50 years or less, those of us who personally experienced the pain will be gone, just like the veterans of Germany, Japan, Africa, France and Italy are gone now.

All that will be left is stories, so let us tell our stories as best as we know how. Lest We Forget.....what we cannot remember, we are doomed to repeat.

(My question: How can a generation remember what they did not experience? Thus, the sad cycle....)

With all due Respect for everyone on every side.....
Sorcha