Dear Vietnam Veteran,

I want to start by saying welcome home. Welcome home from a nice warm and open armed hug. You deserve way more than you received initially. I want to show you the appreciation that you should have experienced decades go. Thank you for taking time away from your family and your life in order to serve for our country. That truly means the world to me.

I am a 17 year-old high school student and I am writing to you today because I admire what you’ve done and gone through. I couldn’t imagine leaving my family to sacrifice my life for this country. I also couldn’t imagine coming home and expecting a warm welcoming, but instead getting hateful words thrown at you and terrible actions done upon you. And I’m truly sorry that you had to deal with that. I hope you felt the warm welcoming today, as you should have felt initially.

I am thankful for people like you today and everyday. I have been to Washington D.C. and my favorite memorial was the Vietnam Memorial. Fifty-seven thousand, nine hundred thirty nine people names are carved into the granite. It goes to show everyone who visits it that thousands of people sacrificed their life for our country and they are finally getting the recognition for it that they should have received a long time ago. Going to this memorial influenced the way I look at soldiers. I hadn’t realized the great amount of people that actually fought in the Vietnam War, you being one of them. You and thousands of others were willing to fight for this country, and I’m grateful for that. It made a huge impact to this country, and I hope you realize that.

I really hope that you not only enjoyed going to the Vietnam memorial because it’s an amazing structure put together, but I hope you felt a warm feeling in your heart. I hope you felt the true welcoming you deserved. The appreciation from the people that visit the memorial in your honor.

If you’d like to contact me, feel free with the information below. My thoughts and prayers will be with you forever. Thank you for your service. I hope you enjoyed the Honor Flight, you truly deserve it, you hero. 

Sincerely,

Alexis