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b322da wrote:Thanks, TAM, and the same to all of you who tried to answer my original question, which perhaps cannot be answered except by language as immoderate and inexcusable as mine was. If I could bring myself to do so I would edit out the last clause of my original post, some 12 words I will long regret. I just cannot do so, as this would be cowardly and would cause most of the comments following mine to be misunderstood. I have heard it recommended that one should never make an even slightly hostile internet posting without reviewing it for 24 hours first. I cannot seem to comply with that.

And a word for ooorah: my 24 years were from 1953 to 1977. Your comments are well-understood by this old man, and it may be that you have put your finger on one of the reasons for my sometimes being rather bitter, which I know is wrong but which is sometimes unavoidable.

Thanks again, all,

Jim

I too was very bitter at one point in my life. It was difficult in the 1970's for a Marine to find a restaurant that would seat us, a club that would let us in, or a young women that would look twice at us. I could not wear a Marine hat or shirt until the late 1980's for fear of someone making a rude remark. Times have changed for the better. I still think about the 12 Marine Pilot friends who died in training accidents. The world would have been a better place had they lived.

howdy wrote:

b322da wrote:Thanks, TAM, and the same to all of you who tried to answer my original question, which perhaps cannot be answered except by language as immoderate and inexcusable as mine was. If I could bring myself to do so I would edit out the last clause of my original post, some 12 words I will long regret. I just cannot do so, as this would be cowardly and would cause most of the comments following mine to be misunderstood. I have heard it recommended that one should never make an even slightly hostile internet posting without reviewing it for 24 hours first. I cannot seem to comply with that.

And a word for ooorah: my 24 years were from 1953 to 1977. Your comments are well-understood by this old man, and it may be that you have put your finger on one of the reasons for my sometimes being rather bitter, which I know is wrong but which is sometimes unavoidable.

Thanks again, all,

Jim

I too was very bitter at one point in my life. It was difficult in the 1970's for a Marine to find a restaurant that would seat us, a club that would let us in, or a young women that would look twice at us. I could not wear a Marine hat or shirt until the late 1980's for fear of someone making a rude remark. Times have changed for the better. I still think about the 12 Marine Pilot friends who died in training accidents. The world would have been a better place had they lived.

The world is a better place since they did live.
Maybe not as long as we would have liked, but they did live and they did make the world a better place. RIP

I remember my older brother telling me that he changed out of his uniform after he landed in SFO when returning from Vietnam because of the protesters at the San Francisco airport.
I understood the objections and protest against the government policies, but not towards the men who served.

On April 30th, we laid my brother-in-law CWO3 Keith Cedras to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. He was a Cobra pilot in Viet Nam, was awarded two Bronze Stars, the DFC and several other decorations. After Viet Nam he was flying a UH-1 with a student and full crew for an air demonstration in Germany. They lost the engine and Keith took over the controls and made an auto-rotation into the trees saving the lives of everyone on board with their suffering minor injuries. Keith had a broken back, ruptured organs and multiple lacerations. He was told he would never walk, control his bowels or be capable of sexual encounter. He was retired with 100% disability.

He was a very determined and focused individual and not only was able to relearn walking, he went on to fly for Bell as a demonstration pilot, director of domestic sales and retired as head of international sales. What's more he was able to marry my sister and made her very happy. He succumbed to cancer that the military admitted was from exposures to agent orange and secondary to those injuries sustained 30 years ago. That helicopter crash did kill him; he just didn't know it for 30 years.

Thank you Keith for making my sister happy, thank you for serving and thank you for being my friend.