It's Veterans Day

A few ways to honor our warrior class

Veterans Day is a funny thing. It’s meant to honor our Veterans, yet many of them have to work a regular job while many school kids and other public employees get the day off. A record number of our veterans are homeless and hundreds commit suicide every month, and yet we see “Happy Veterans Day” at many the holiday sales held on this day.

It’s a circumstance worth noting and using as motivatation to move closer to a true understanding of how things are. At the end of this email, I include some ways to support veterans, or at least learn more about their experience. I hope on this Veterans Day, you’ll join me in pausing and supporting our warrior class.

Today I am honored to be one of the speakers at the Round Lake, N.Y., Veterans Day Event.

This is the gist of what I’m planning to say:

I am honored to be here. I am not a veteran but my childhood experience of living in Saigon just before the fall in 1975 has given my life the unique coloring of being touched deeply by the specter of war.

Initially, I did not want to write about my family’s experiences in Vietnam. The subject was just too big, too complicated. But when it became apparent that it was, truly, the right thing to do, I did indeed answer the call. Just, I like to think, as many of you answered the call to serve your country.

As I began to delve into my own memories and recollections, I felt ashamed to put them forward as defining moments of the Vietnam War. I was writing about the experience of an eight-year-old girl who lived in a French villa protected by an armed guard, not a soldier who had faced the worst in the jungles, lost friends, and who was scorned and rejected upon a return home.

Still, there seemed to be something to the telling of the stories; people always responded with interest, with fascination, with a glimmer of a changed perspective, or at least a heightened interest in, the Vietnam Era. This was a good thing.

Still I had to find a way to square things with the actual veterans and there was no better place to do that than the Vietnam Memorial Wall in D.C. So I traveled there, unbeknownst to me at the time, on the 50th anniversary of the Tonkin Gulf Incident, a day when Congressmen cloistered in their chambers used circumstance to send flesh-and-blood men into harm’s way without making the slightest provision for their return.

We were, after all, at that time still feeling the effects of the Red Scare and in the fight against communist totalitarianism the wished-for ends seemed to justify the means.

So I traveled to the Wall to find the benediction, the blessing I needed. And indeed I did. I know I need to keep this address short so I won’t describe what to me was a very moving incident, but there a Vietnam Vet, John Granfors, having found the name of his buddy who was killed three days before he was to come home, spoke with me and shook my hand, and said, “We must not forget.”

And I knew I had received my marching orders from one who had been there, one who knew.

The rightness of that moment still carries me today. As do the words of my Uncle James Rabdau, who served three tours in Vietnam. He used to visit schools around Veterans Day and I think he was a fine ambassador for the armed services at six-foot-four and broad-shouldered, and yet also with a kindly face and heart. Strong in the quiet way of true warriors.

I’d like to read for you his words that he shared with the students, I think stand us in good stead today:

An 8-foot-high painting in honor of Veterans Day and my Uncle James L. Rabdau. Painted on site by my Aunt Yvonne Rabdau Alexander with the help of Jim’s daughter, Julie Rabdau Isaacs.

My Veterans Day Wish for You

That you make your quest for knowledge a lifetime adventure.

That you serve your community and country in a positive and meaningful way.

That you treat your fellow life travelers with consideration and respect.

That you always do your best.

and

Always, always do the right thing.

James L. Rabdau
USA Special Forces Retired

Here are a few ideas of how you might commemorate the day:

1. Attend a Veterans Day ceremony or parade. Your presence will show support for those who served.

Veterans Day Ceremony, Queensbury, N.Y. 2015

2. Watch the 45-minute film, Mad Man which tells the story of Veteran advocate and founder of the Vet Centers and The National Veterans Foundation (NVF), Shad Meshad. Truly well-made, sometimes heart-wrenching, but clear-seeing and an inspiring call to action on behalf of our veterans.

3. Visit the site “10 Simple Ways to Help Veterans” at the National Veterans Foundation.

4. Make a $25 donation at the Veterans Site by Greater Giving today, which will be doubled to provide a $50 “Good Pack” to homeless veterans and their pets.

5. Sign up for reminders to make a daily (or occasional) click at The Veterans Site supports veterans at no cost to you.

6. Consider supporting my crowdfunding campaign so I can promote 2024-25 programming that will support veterans and help bring more attention to the role of the Vietnam War in our history.

7. Become a free or paid subscriber to this newsletter to show your support in my continued effort to highlight these subjects and to spark additional conversations.

8. Share this post to spread the word about ways to honor veterans and to “do the right thing.”

Thank you for reading and take good care.
Our collective health and well-being begin with you. ♡