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Letters to VVAW

By VVAW

Vietnam Veterans Against the War:

Thank you for inviting me to speak at your Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rally on Saturday, May 23, 1981, at 10:30am. Regretfully, I will be unable to attend due to a prior commitment made some time ago.

I support all three of your demands:

1. Testing, treatment and compensation for Agent Orange victims.
2. No V.A. Cuts
3. No aid to El Salvador.

In the present Congress, I can't promise any quick victories, but I do pledge to you that I will take a leading role in the fight against V.A. cuts and aid to El Salvador, and for the testing and treatment of Agent Orange victims.

Sincerely,
Harold Washington
Member of Congress
First District, Illinois

Hello there:

Enclosed is a poem which was written after I attended a conference for concerned veterans at the Pioneer inn in Oshkosh. I hope to donate more than words to our particular area of interest, but this will have to do for now. I am a victim of both Agent Orange and Delayed Stress Syndrome.

It seems to me that anything in the way of raising the public consciousness cannot be regarded lightly, even though the public regards us in a rather light vein...

Charles Phelan
Oshkosh, WI

Cocktails, and fancy talk; discussions of African drums,
V-100's, Laws, and M-16's never le me know
That it would be anything like this..
Mornings when the devil presides, lead to the daytime
When the truth screams from inside:
No was the only answer,
Yes was the only truth,
A truth that screams at you...
That eats you,
One that turns you into a fraction of what you are...
Or is it the other way around?
There is no room for a mistake in a situation...,
Such as this...
Tell it to your grandmother,
Big boys play by the rules, or so they say,
Little boys play until they cry,
Big boys cry until they try
To set the matter straight...then go.

DEAR VETERAN,

As a long time member of VVAW I found some striking parallels between the veterans of pre-Nazi Germany and the Vietnam vet in a recent David Bowie movie, "Just a Gigolo." After the First World War the German veteran came back defeated, disillusioned, shattered. There was little or no work in Germany at that time and veterans either became avid fans of Hitler's young Nazi Party or, as the young lieutenant did in the movie, ended up becoming gigolos.

One thing VVAW always has tried to stand for is truth and peace. Although disillusioned and mutilated by our own country after defeat, instead of becoming para-military and aggressive toward the rest of the world we were able to learn form our experience and show people that the only real answers lie in peaceful solutions.

Hopefully, our whole society will not continue to force more vets into becoming gigolos and part of the unemployment lines. And hopefully, Vietnam vets will take control of their own disillusionment and turn it into a constructive force by teaching brotherhood and peace.

Sincerely,
Scott Moore
Nazareth, PA

The Sanity of War
Have you seen my sanity?
I can remember being alive and well—sometime—long, long ago.
I once felt my senses blossoming with the spring—
Laughing happily with the summer—
Becoming colorful with the fall—
And seeking warmth during the
Winter months of my life;
I can remember when my senses
Were in unity with my heart...
There are stitches that line these pockets of time;
Encased within each stitch there are memories...
I cannot find a reason for my
Pockets to have left the great protector—the clothing of my mine
What remains is a heart within a shell;
Cracked and broken—like the old clock that once sat upon the fireplace mantle...
My pockets were once filled and fully stitched, weren't they?
With these eyes—
I watch you.
With this heart—
I reach for you.
To feed my desire, this endless void of starvation—
I grasp every virtue you do possess...
I steal away...
Like you—
Who sent me away when I was whole—
I shall thieve away into the night.
Like you—
Who stole away a peoples' right to live—
I shall steal away the day...
If war is a means to recapture what man steal away from mankind—
By day—
By night—
Then I shall war away for what is mine:
Empty pockets;
Worn stitches—
In time...
Have you seen my sanity

Stephen W. Gregory
Marion, OH
(Dedicated to Dr John Wilson, Director, forgotten Warrior Project, Cleveland State University.)

Dear VVAW,

I am a high school freshman have recently finished studying the Vietnam War in Contemporary Problems class. The highlight of the unit was when a Vietnam veteran and representative from the Milwaukee Chapter of VVAW came and talked to us about the war. Needless to say, it was very enlightening.

Good luck in preserving the benefits and rights of veterans. You have my support.

Very truly yours,
Allison Bethea
Milwaukee, WI