Unheard Voices
There were no parades, there were no bands, but we were spit on and looked down upon for what our country ordered us to do. We came to realize the one’s you trusted were are the only ones you can trust here. Vietnam vets have been in the news quite often, mainly for attending fallen heroes who were in the military. Most often the “Freedom Riders”, also known as “Patriot Riders” attend funerals of soldiers that have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. These bike riders are made up of a large majority of Vietnam vets. Vietnam vets want the soldiers of today to be remembered and honored as they should be, many of them who came home during Vietnam if they were alive were treated very poorly. Often called harsh names as “Baby Killers”, “psychopaths”, “drug addicts”, and “The dirty little kid killers” just to name a few. The federal government claimed it was just a police action in Vietnam, had to prevent the spread of communism. Therefore, the US told the South Vietnamese that we would assist them. Little did we know it was a hornet’s nest just waiting to be messed with. The US took over the assisting of the South Vietnamese from the French who had been trying to help in about the mid 1950’s. Once the war escalated this is when the draft was put into effect. The federal government at the time truly believed that we had to prevent the spread of communism. However, there has been talk that during the early 1960’s there were others who had other intentions. In 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated. With his death, almost all hope of ending the war was lost. Kennedy was considering withdrawing our troops from Vietnam because he believed it was a lost effort of trying to win. After his death acting V.P Lyndon B Johnson was sworn in he later signed a bill that catapulted the United States deep into the war. When this bill was signed in several companies who were near bankruptcy received billion dollar contracts for war preparation. Several of these companies were