Thursday, October 9, 2014

A few hours early: Friday Flashbacks

Karen (taken down by request, should have asked her first.)






Me, to the right





1968. I guarantee everyone there would have rather been somewhere else. 

20 comments:

  1. I wasn't ready for this...
    I'm not sure what most people think about after seeing these two photos.
    I spent some time in a place much like this in 1969. I got to leave that room pretty much in one piece and was soon able to return to my unit. People like you and the people you were working with, never got to leave. I would rather have been in my position than yours. I know it wasn't you, or those others in the room with me, but thank you, just the same. The things you must have seen and had to deal with on a regular basis, would destroy many people. I also have a hell of a lot of respect for every corpsman I ever dealt with in Vietnam. I'm in a totally different place than I was 10 minutes ago.... Great photos and post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Pat
      Well, I don't think we have to fall back on the saying we had then, remember? "Don't mean nothing" But we're different than we were then, different people. Memories crop up, but that's all they are, we just have to remember that.
      Glad we both made it back to the world.
      Cheers pal,
      Mike

      Delete
    2. You are so right about the memories. I wish more people would remember that. I sure do remember that saying. Considering the context in which it was used, it was perfect...

      Delete
  2. The photos made me sit up
    At first I thought they were stills from MASH
    more sobering.....and thought provoking when I realised they were real

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Different times, John, the ancient past, it's like seeing pictographs on cave walls. Alas, it seems to be repeating itself in some places.

      Delete
  3. I feel like an outsider who has been granted a glimpse of such viscerally personal mental images based on horrors of reality.
    Such conflicted emotions yet ones some find coexistence with throughout a live well lived while pushing through memories.
    Cogent expression after seeing/reading these posts is difficult for me but they're so very much appreciated.
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We got them 2 or 3 stops after you did. Thank you for these photos, Mike. They help put my experiences in perspective. They also help tell my brother's story. Love, Martha

    ReplyDelete
  5. You're welcome.
    BTW, you have one of the best blogs I know of.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a sight.
    I'm just the hippie who marched in the street, carrying signs. I did write Nixon a letter when Cambodia was bombed. I think that precipitated my tax audit. I could not believe what you had to do, then or now. The brutality has not, will not, stop, until I'm dead and it doesn't matter for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't protest until I was back from my second tour and joined VVAW. You made the better choice.
      Sounds like Nixon and Hoover's work, your taxes.

      Delete
    2. My step dad was already there working in construction, so I had to sign a waiver to go. It didn't take me long to regret it. Did you know that Halliburton (who made a fortune off of us being Iraq) also made a fortune off of us being in Vietnam? Domino Theory my Arse!

      Delete
  7. Mike, we will never forget, although some things are not so clear as they once were.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's correct for sure, Steve. Shouldn't clarity come with age? Why does it get more unsure instead?

      Delete
  8. I should have known Navy nurse Karen would be beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow. That's so nice of you to say. Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm very sure that's true.

    Although I'm not sure I'd want my photo on the net if I were one of the patients.

    ReplyDelete