FreeShippingBack Wrote:
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> A good buddy of mine named Ray, served in Vietnam
> as a door gunner on Huey helicopters. He was shot
> down by enemy ground fire a total of 5 times.
> After each crash, as soon as he was able to walk
> again (i.e. recovered from his bullet wounds
> and/or crash injuries) although he didn't have to,
> he would head right back out to the flight line to
> fly yet more missions.
>
> I asked him why he did that, and he said that if
> he didn't go, that somebody else would have to.
> And that it would likely be some stupid kid that
> didn't know shit and would only get himself and
> their entire crew killed.
>
> The 5th time Ray was shot down he was immediately
> captured by the Viet Cong. He told me that it was
> like being held by a bunch of teenage juvenile
> delinquents. There were no interrogations or
> attempts by the VC to gather any intelligence
> information from him or his other crew members.
> The VC simply starved the Americans, denied them
> water to drink and would twice daily beat and club
> them with rifle butts simply for fun.
>
> After a week of beatings and no food the VC
> finally provided some rice for the Americans to
> eat. Being half starved, the Americans all
> grabbed big fist fulls of this rice and started
> cramming it into their mouths. Too late, the
> helicopter crew realized that the VC had fed them
> rice with ground up glass in it. The crew all
> suffered terrible cuts and lacerations to the
> mouths, tongues, gums and throats. They bled so
> bad that they all nearly choked to death on their
> own blood and puked up the rice that they had just
> eaten, resulting in even more internal injuries.
>
> That night Ray realized that if they didn't escape
> that they would all eventually die in captivity.
> I no longer recall the details of how, but they
> killed a guard, made their escape and were
> eventually picked up by friendly forces. Ray this
> time had to be sent back state side and the war
> was over for him. To this day he still suffers
> with ulcers in his esophagus and is unable to eat
> the foods that you and I take for granted every
> day. Not to mention his chronic back pain from
> compressed discs in his spine and arthritis in
> several broken bones he suffered during his string
> of crashes.
>
> Try and place yourself in Ray's shoes. Imagine the
> level of abstract terror that a man would have to
> overcome in order to climb back into one of those
> nakedly exposed flying bullet magnets and go back
> up there time after time. Especially knowing that
> the odds of your coming back alive were decreasing
> with every flight.
>
> There are tens of thousands of unsung hero's out
> there just like Ray.
>
> They all deserve to be recognized whether they are
> alive, dead or still missing. If that tribute is
> only going to come in the form of 50,000 bikers
> riding into DC, well then so be it. And anybody
> who would do or say anything to detract from this
> gesture is not worthy of living in this country
> and partaking of the freedoms that we all enjoy
> today as a result of their sacrifices.
>
> So grow the fuck up you teenage juvenile
> delinquents!
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