Today is 40 years since the fall of Saigon
I don't remember where I was at the time, but most likely
I was in Boston.
I only know that I felt numb; that was the prevailing emotion
I had. I was also glad that it was over for the Vietnamese people,
and that no matter what followed the Vietnamese people would
arrive at a new society without Americans cramming down their
throats what the rulers of America thought best.
I felt numb because that is the way I came back from Vietnam;
with 'emotional numbness' a term used to define a symptom of
Post-Traumatic Stress. And, by April 1975 I had not drank alcohol
in over two years, but I still felt numbed from what I experienced...
- picking up and carrying the dead
- putting K-Bars (combat knives) to the throats
of other marines in panic on Fire Support Base (FSB) Cunningham
in the A Shau valley.
- wiping up human remains on that same ridge.
- seeing over 240 body bags waiting for shipment home-their
final journey.
- numb from the terrible waste inflicted by America's rulers
upon the Vietnamese people and nation that still kill them, young
and old. I mean Agent Orange - dioxin, and cluster bombs and other
unexploded bombs, mortars, rockets and more that we dropped.
But, mostly, I felt numb to the soul. But, I'm a survivor and I survived.
the Vietnam War was over
