gary_jacobson2 Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 I invite you to visit my, �Vietnam Picture tour,� from the lens and poet's pen of a combatinfantryman:http://PZZZZ.tripod.com/namtour.htmlTake a walk through "the park" with the 1st Air Cavalry on combat patrol. <p> Photo tour of Vietnamese people: http://pzzzz.tripod.com/viet.html <p> I served with B Company 2nd/7th 1st Air Cavalry '66 - '67, as a combat infantrymanoperating out of LZ Betty near Phan thiet in Vietnam's Central Highlands. My goal inwriting today is to educate people who have no idea of the realities and atrocities ofwar...with the desire to promote peace. I wish the horror stories of what happened thereto never die. I want them to live on in the telling and retelling...rubbing people's faces inthe horror vested on a generation, until they become a firmly established part of ourmemory...so that we may understand this should never happen again. <p> I am a Vietnam poet, working in multi- media with the Internet, using colorfulbackgrounds, and haunting music that many veterans say reveal the anguished smell andtextures and feel of war in Vietnam. <p> I was the sports editor of my college daily newspaper (BYU's Daily Universe) when I wasdrafted...and like so many others, Nam changed the direction of my life indelibly andforever. Nam imbedded my soul with a new set of senses...forever. <p> Many veterans have written me saying that for the first time in 33 years they read exactlywhat they felt, and for the first time they were able to sit down in front of the computerwith their families and show them what war was like for them. School teachers havewritten me saying they think my "tour," should be required viewing for their students. <p> I wrote this poetry because all the people of the world continually need to understand howimportant an event war is. War will always be a determining factor of not only who weare, but will determine our very futures, as well as the futures of our wives and children. Isincerely hope we will not doom our children to fight senseless battles as did we, shacklingthem to similar fates suffered by their fathers in the latest in a series of"war-to-end-all-wars!" If we do not learn the history of war, learning there is no glory inwar...only death, destruction of values and misery, then we are doomed to repeat it! <p> And the next war will inexorably come! <p> Sometimes war is a necessary evil...sometimes not...sometimes there's Vietnam! Myfervent wish is that there be peace evermore, and war-no- more! <p> Vietnam combat vets have a lot of baggage they need to contend with, depending on howmuch blood they got on their hands...and how much of it was their enemies, their buddies,or their own. Combat Veterans of the Nam may or may not have been woundedphysically, but have deep emotional, ethical and psychological scars. Most were just youngboys who were like I was, gung-ho naive. We patriotically answered our countries call,and were made to kill and suffer killing, ravaged with the aftermath of learning hatreds andfearing, the skills of killing, Agent Orange and ptsd effecting many "boys next door" withlife threatening maladies that still are a vital part of our lives today. I also have beenexposed, numerous times, to that chemical miracle wonder that causes birth defects,cancers, diabetes, liver, heart and kidney problems.... <p> There needs to be understanding, love and healing. Our nation must learn there is a betterway to solve disputes. These are but some of my poems...I ask you to please read thembefore you judge: <p> "A Combat Soldiers Prayer," http://PZZZZ.tripod.com/prayer.html <p> "My Thousand Yard Stare," http://pzzzz.tripod.com/stare.html <p> �I Felt I�d Died,� http://Knights_Lance.tripod.com/vietnamwarpoems.html <p> �Soldiers Of The Wall,� http://pzzzz.tripod.com/wall.html <p> �A Soldier�s Seven guardian Angels,� http://pzzzz.tripod.com/sevenangels.html <p> "A Soldier�s Legacy," http://PZZZZ.tripod.com/warrior.html <p> �Papason,� http://pzzzz.tripod.com/papason.html <p> �Just Before The Battle Mother,� http://pzzzz.tripod.com/battlemother.html <p> �i�m no hero,� http://pzzzz.tripod.com/hero.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilhelm Posted December 12, 2000 Share Posted December 12, 2000 This is probably the very best private web site I have ever visited, but it seems misplaced on this Forum. My feelings range from "My God, they were so young and so thin," to "I liked Forrest Gump a lot better." Wonder where he got the music -- I could listen to "The House of the Rising Sun" all day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mechele_bass Posted March 25, 2001 Share Posted March 25, 2001 MR JACOBSON. I AM A 32 YR. OLD DAUGHTER OF A VIETNAM VETERAN. AS I WENT TRU YOUR WEBSITE MY THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS FOR MY DADDYS PAIN AND SUFFERING AS WELL AS ALL VETS BECAME OVERWHELMING. IVE HEARD SOME STORIES THROUGHOIUT MY LIFE FROM MY DADDY OF VIETNAM,THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO THERE HAS PROFOUNDLY EFECTED HIS LIFE {IM SURE YOU CAN RELATE}. ALTHOUGH YOU THAT FOUGHT IN THE VIETNAM WAR MIGHT HAVE BEEN SPIT UPON AFTER RETURNING HOME AND TREATED LIKE OUTSIDERS,IT INFURIATES ME; THIS WAR FOR MANY YEARS, HAS RULED VETS VERY EXISTENCE. ITS A SHAME THE WAY VETS HAVE BEEN TREATED.SOLDIERS THAT FOUGHT AND DIED FOR OUR COUNTRY THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HONORED FOR THE REST OF THEIR DAYS. I ADMIRE YOU FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE WORLD AS WE NEED TO KNOW THE DEPTH OF YA'LLS PAIN, MAYBE TO HELP US BETTER UNDERSTAND. MY DADDY HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY LIFE. "HE IS MY HERO" MY SALUTE TO YOU, SIR FOR YOUR COURAGE IT IS AN HONOR MR JACOBSON. MECHELE BASS P.O. BOX 112 ELMER, LA. 71424 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msitaraman Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 Mechele: <p> Your kind sentiments are well appreciated by Gary Jacobsen, I'm sure but why SHOUT? <p> Just for your information, typing in capitals on the internet, and in e-mails is considered to be akin to shouting and is very rude... No offense ;-) <p> FWIW, I wonder if the practice goes back to telegraphic messages, which were always transmitted without case, and for those old enough to remember, were typed out in capitals on a paper tape... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msitaraman Posted March 26, 2001 Share Posted March 26, 2001 Gary, and my apologies for misspelling your last name in the above post :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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