Dear Vietnam Veteran,

Yes I am writing to you because my class decided to, but the main reason is because I wanted to write to you. What happened to you in Vietnam and what happened to you when you came back was testing. Your experiences there and at home tested your mind, your body, and your soul. All aspects of your life were forever changed, unable to look at the world with the same innocence as before you went.

Now I cannot even try to pretend to feel like I know what happened to you during and after the war but I had a great uncle who did. He was a medic, on the front in Vietnam. He went over there twice as a medic. He went over to try and help save lives the first time. The second time he told the government he did not want to go back as a medic because he wouldn’t be able to handle it. Unfortunately they did send him back as a medic. The next time my mom saw him he had schizophrenia. He battled it long and hard but it finally killed him. But different from my uncle you are still alive, your a fighter, and you won’t go down easily. You live your life and your experiences become apart of you and for that I and so many other people look up to you, we honor you, and to make up for the horrific way people looked at you we welcome you

Welcome home soldier

Sincerely and with respect,

A high school junior

Joseph S.

P.S.

Please write back and tell me about your experiences during and after the war