Happy Veterans Day: Being the child of a Vietnam Veteran

I grew up with my dad periodically pulling out a white sheet and hanging it in the living room and showing us slides of his time in Vietnam. He was drafted in 1969.  My brothers and I heard and hear regularly stories from that time in his life. I honestly thought this was a normal part of childhood. I now know as an adult that it is a real privilege to be a daughter of a veteran. I get the lessons my dad learned from that horrible war passed on to me without the suffering he saw and endured.

Joe Alexander, 20 years old on R & R in Australia

A few details I remember him sharing:

• He said he didn't sleep for 364 days.
• The area he was in was bombed more than any area of Vietnam.
• He would have to "pull guard" all night and then still report for duty the next day.
• He built and rebuilt bridges as they were blown up or collapsed.
• My grandmother put his name in the Mooresville Tribune and he received so many letters over Christmas that they asked him to stay on the stage during mail call. He said if someone wrote, he always wrote back.
• He was in Vietnam at the same time as his childhood best friend & my godfather, Sam Hill.
• We've met several of his Vietnam friends over the years. We took a trip to Indiana when I was ten to spend a week with one of them.
• He said he couldn't cry for almost four years.
• He says he has gotten through the effects of war only through knowing and walking with Jesus.
• I only know my dad a funny, story-telling, belly-laughing, brave, tender-hearted man who loves Jesus deeply. This is not how he describes himself in the years post war.
• My mom was a senior in high school when he was drafted to go. She had to go to her prom with my dad's friend.
• My great-grandmother passed away while my dad was in Vietnam. They didn't tell him until he came home.
• My dad told everyone he was leaving for Vietnam "tomorrow" but left that day because good bye was too hard. He said my grandmother gave him a look as he left that she knew.

The helmet says, "War is hell, Joe & Cathy (my mom) buddies & Home Sweet Home.

Right behind my young parents is where they built the house I grew up in just four or five years after this picture. My aunt Mary made this banner for my dad.