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SUPPLEMENT: System Rewrites History, Vets Call for Vietnam Veterans Day

By VVAW

"Just slogging through jungle undergrowth was bad enough, but when we kept having to get around the small lakes, the craters made by our 500-pound bombs, the going got worse. Partly it was the extra 10 pounds of mud which caked our boots, partly it was the mosquitos who bred in the stagnant, water-filled craters. But also it was the sense of this once-beautiful country being ripped apart by our bombs, all being dropped to somehow "save" the country. And that, like all the rest of the things--the blowing away of villages, the free-fire zones, the mine that framer kept setting off--made no sense at all for one who was 10,000 miles from home carrying out the tasks that were supposed to "defend democracy" and "preserve freedom." (From one of the personal recollections of Vietnam, a series being printed in THE VETERAN; the series is on page 16 in this issue.)

When we got back from the war we again had our eyes opened. We found that being a veteran was more of handicap than it was the ticket to a better life that it was supposed to be. That same rich class that sent us off to fight their dirty war have got us again. They have a tight hold on the purse strings and, as a result, many of us have no jobs (or bad jobs) and lousy benefits.

There are a lot of us veterans--29 million--and we face particular problems. But we have no organization on a large scale that deals with these problems. Groups like the Legion and VFW are dying. They have their halls for social gatherings, but in the political arena they are limited by the views of their leadership who have closed their ears to the needs of veterans and closed their eyes to U.S. involvement in wars and potential wars around the world.

It's time to organize to fight back. That's why VVAW is calling form demonstrations and programs on April 22nd in the Midwest, on a day we are calling Vietnam Veterans Day. (Five years ago then-President Nixon declared a Vietnam Vets Day but his ceremonies met with such widespread protest as he attempted to portray Vietnam vets as "patriotic" backers of his war that neither he nor his successors have tried to hold another one.) The time is ripe. The American people are reviewing and revisiting Vietnam and its veterans. Books, movies, TV Specials are all coming out now. People are saying "Why?" "What next?" "What about the vets?"

At the same time we don't want to limit this day to Vietnam vets--we're calling it Vietnam Veterans Day because the Vietnam experience is being aired now. Most vets have shared common experience, have common problems--and a common fight. We should all come out around these things we have in common.

We have to remember how history is made--how change comes about. It doesn't come by waiting for a great man to happen along who will lead us to the promised land. It doesn't come by petitions brought to a Congressman on bended knee. Instead, it comes by people getting out there, on the front lines, and demanding it. The rich bastards who run this country aren't pushing the "Year of Vietnam" because they want us to remember all the lessons of that war. Or because they plan to do anything for Vietnam vets. In fact, they're planning to pimp off the experience of veterans, turn that experience on its head, and use it to help put across their ideas of what happened in Vietnam. They've got a purpose in all this too--to get us ready to go off to fight for them once again.

On Vietnam Veterans Day, the day we declare, not waiting for those turkeys to come up with some jive, we'll take them on. We need jobs or income now--for vets and for all the other unemployed troops in the unemployed army. We demand decent benefits for all vets--that's regardless of discharge, too; we've gone much too long trying to scrape by on their bad VA care, their inadequate GI Bill, their attempts to cut disability payments. We see their next war being pumped up, so we say U.s. Out of Panama Now--their "treaty debate" is another sham. We say victory to the People of Southern Africa, people who, like the Indochinese are fighting for their freedom and independence.

Veterans, like millions of others, have made the gains we've mad through fighting for them. Organizing is the key: one by one we get picked off, but united we have strength. We learned discipline and organization in the military--now we must put these lessons to use in our own interests, not in the interests of the rich who sent us off to fight and die for them.

JOBS or INCOME NOW
DECENT BENEFITS for ALL VETS
FIGHT the RICH, NOT THEIR WARS