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Subscribe to RSSNBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports on the return of letters written by Army Sgt. Steve Flaherty during his service in Vietnam.
Letters written by an American soldier killed in Vietnam in 1969 were returned too late for his deceased parents and brother to read, but the rest of his family will cherish the last mementos of their beloved relative, his uncle said Monday.
The missives, penned by Army Sgt. Steve Flaherty, were taken by Vietnamese forces after his death at age 22 in Vietnam and used in broadcasts during the war. They were handed back to American officials during a landmark meeting in the Southeast Asian country on Monday, in which the United States also returned a long-held diary belonging to a Vietnamese soldier.
“It’s a treasure, it’s remembrance,” Flaherty’s uncle, 80-year-old Kenneth Cannon, of Prosperity, S.C., told msnbc.com. When he learned about the documents, he said: “I felt very good about it. … I was eager and anxious to learn about Steve, what his thoughts were when he was there.”
Cannon said he did not know two of the people the letters were addressed to, identified as “Betty” and “Mrs. Wyatt,” but he said the family would try and find them. He described his nephew as an excellent student and athlete who loved life and was well-loved, especially by his older brother Ronald, who had spotted Steve, about 14 years his junior, in an orphanage while he was stationed in Japan with the Army and asked his parents to adopt the boy.
Then six, Steve Flaherty, whose biological father was American and his mother Japanese, traveled on his own by plane and train to his new home in Columbia, S.C., Cannon said. Before enlisting, Major League Baseball scouts had expressed interest in recruiting him, but Flaherty wanted to join the Army, his uncle said.
An obit for Flaherty published in The State newspaper upon his death on March 25, 1969, said he won the outstanding athlete and baseball player awards in 1966 at his high school, enlisted in October 1967 and was sent to Vietnam one year later. He was killed near the A Shau Valley.
Courtesy of the Richland County Public Library
The obit of Steve Flaherty of Columbia, S.C. published in The State Newspaper on March 30, 1969.
Vietnamese Col. Nguyen Phu Dat kept Flaherty’s letters, but it was not until last August, when he mentioned them in an online publication, that they started to come to light. Early this year, Robert Destatte, a retired Defense Department employee who had worked for the POW/MIA office, noticed the online publication, and the Pentagon began to work to get the letters back to Flaherty's family.
Panetta visits Vietnam, exchanges soldiers effects
In a letter to his mother, Flaherty wrote: "Our platoon started off with 35 men but winded up with 19 men when it was over. We lost platoon leader and whole squad.” He added, “The NVA soldiers fought until they died and one even booby trapped himself and when we approached him, he blew himself up and took two of our men with him.”
Another letter to his mom reads: "If Dad calls, tell him I got too close to being dead but I'm O.K. I was real lucky. I'll write again soon."
Flaherty’s mother, Lois, died in 2002. His father, Army Lt. Col. Raymond G. Flaherty, passed before her though it’s not clear when from his wife’s obituary. His brother Ronald died in 2009 at the age of 76.
Cannon’s son, Mike, a 54-year-old living in Surprise, Ariz., said it had been an emotional journey for him since Destatte contacted the family. He was 10 when Steve died and didn’t fully grasp the larger implications of the Vietnam War or why his cousin had gone there.
Vietnam has given U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta the personal letters of a soldier who was killed in the Vietnam war in 1969. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
“I was just blown away that they even existed after this many years,” he said, at points breaking down in tears. When asked what he hoped his family would get from the letters, he said, “You can’t really say closure. … Whatever I could read about it would be very helpful.”
It’s not clear when they will receive the letters, but Kenneth Cannon said they would be shared among the family.
“Nobody has ever forgotten Steve,” he said. “They’ll go into frames and they’ll be cherished.”
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Leave a Comment:
Handsome man.
Why don't we talk about the war criminals that helped keep this war going (H. Kissinger).
War is a brutal place to be both physically and mentally. We should be cautious and learn from history rather than repeat it.
Also I honor all those who died for these war criminals.
have you ever been in the military? or just some left wing,liberal who talks a good game, and sits down to piss
be quiet, Reg-we all pay for the military so we all get a say-idiot
Norman, and Derek,
good comments.
Both you peter puffers need to talk about how well and who the soldier looked like,that's all you limp wrist punks are worth.
When I saw the newspaper headline that said, "Columbian Is Killed in Vietnam", I said to myself, "What? I thought he was from South Carolina; not Colombia" until I saw the note underneath that said he was from Columbia, S.C. It's so sad. I guy I went to high school with graduated in 1968, joined the Marine Corps and was killed in Vietnam just a few months after graduation. I saw his name on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC and wept for him.
I have a pack of letters that look just like those, right down to the "free", and the striped envelopes. They are from friends who returned and friends who did not. The grief is a lifetime pain and seeing this brought it all back up again. Not funny, very sad and tragic memories, but most of all...sinful and stupid to lie about defense, make money off it, and murder others for some vague political ideal or the exploitation of resources, imperialistic motives or whatever it comes packaged so convincingly in and delivered to the credibility department of the US citizen's wide eyed gullibility.
As the saying goes somewhat expanded, "Those who will not study history and do not remember the past "mistakes" made that already came back and bit even the elite in the butt and have already been proved wrong, or those who know but who are exploitative, ruthless, corrupt, or just in denial...are condemned to repeat the same horrible consequences of the past. This also goes for the ignorant fools who continue to vote an uninformed vote for these clowns and shysters, and sadly all the rest of the innocent bystanders in the way will become collateral damage too.
This is not some fiction movie, this is not somewhere far away, it could be your family and mine some day in the line of that fire, a fire caused by some people who were stupid and given a post of power to destroy a nation by making all the wrong moves at a critical point not knowing the whys and wherefores of the constructed three tiered system of democracy that was put together so carefully in a balance of years of trial and error, action and consequences, by the framers of the Constitution.
Why do we not require an education worthy of the post one runs for? Why do we allow money to measure and vet those we put at the helm, thereby putting ourselves and our safety in their care? People in places of power who do not know what they are doing or are not educated and trained to understand it are dangerous. They do things that have serious long term and damaging ramifications on a whole country, like convince their subjects to just jump into wars. There was a King who did that once and he was not very popular with his own citizens, actually there were a few and there was a queen or two also. With so called rulers like that, who in Hades needs enemies? But wait, this is the USA. Here there are not Kings, WE THE PEOPLE are not subjected to rulers, we are not subjects of any kind. We are citizens and free men and women, not wage slaves, not beholding to anyone, we participate in OUR democracy, right? It is ours. Let us take it back.
No one is squelching constructive progress and free enterprise, but the human destructiveness of a Hitler or any warmongers of a power elite that exploit and bully...or carry out gang style revenge for personal slights in vendettas while twisting facts into pretzels is not okay. Travesties of justice behind closed doors, star chambers, and stacked juries are not okay. This is not some banana republic or dictatorship...this was a democratic republic. Now it is getting torn to shreds by a stacked court that is messing with the foundation of fairness, individual worth, checks and balances in the structural workings of the original constitution, and the result before our eyes is that nothing is working fairly and no one can get around or fly over the barriers of class distinction. Bigotry is religious prejudice, Racism is racial prejudice, Sexism is sexual prejudice, but what do we call economic prejudice, a bourgeois attitudinal set? Alienation? Jealousy, envy or greed? Up the hill, down in the dumps? Mammon judgement? Blessed by good fortune? Cursed by bad luck? How does one become just so much cannon fodder? How precious is a life?
I have watched this show of rootin tootin bullet shootin cowboys for over forty years, (ever hear of the movie Trinity?) ...longer if you count my disillusioned parents returning from WW2 and then Korea happening which just killed them because it was then they knew of the lie that this was a war to end all wars and about the atomic testing which naturally led to the conclusion that there actually was no end to this rootin tootin madness in the future. There were some family friends who had worked around that glowing stuff and watched the mushroom clouds that died in the 60's and 70's of cancer while others were drunk or doing shrooms and watching Clockwork Orange or 2001.
The reality sure has not been like the movie imagined it would be, nor George Orwell's 1984, has it? Those were strange times and many were thinking "why not, we will not be around much longer so make the most of life today". I notice how some younger righties who were not around love to knock the hippies and don't even know the meaning of the word or anything much about it all back then. They yap about bums and have no idea how many brilliant innovative and creative scholars we had. Hippi means seekers of enlightenment in Greek. We had many amazing visionaries that brought in solutions for the new world in those years. We do benefit greatly from many of their discoveries today. As for peaceful protesting about idiots putting all the pipes in backwards at places like Diablo, those were engineers and doctors from the university being dragged off to jail, not bums you label as hippies. Mislabeling is a favorite pastime of righties. But just the same, it forced the issue. The NRC got rid of the corrupt administrators after they were found guilty of witholding information, and went back to double check Diablo. Its a good thing they did inspect because they discovered the mistakes and avoided a complete and horrible melt down near a highly populated region.
About Nam, oh yes, the reason we were given for these wars was to stop the "Domino effect", the paranoid thing they created to keep us in fear, the big Commie bear that was coming to get us and it worked splendidly on the kids that had done drop drills in elementary school. There was a documentary I watched some years later that I would like to suggest about that whole mess in Nam titled, "Hearts and Minds" that shows the reality and pain of that war through the ample news coverage of those years. I used to eat my dinner after doing my homework watching that nightmare on my parent's TV, I was just a kid and it blew my mind! Right at six o clock every night we sat watching the murder of my friends taking place in the rice paddys and villages, all of this real, not a suspense filled movie - all before the media police were smart enough not to show the carnage.
Yeah, that was really what you call tripping out. I was stone sober. I was numb with fear, heartbroken, anorexic and half suicidal when my high school friends left for boot-camp, the parents were alcoholics in the big bedroom and no one was quite right out there anymore. The adults had clearly lost it. They were in doubt and confusion. The power elite influenced American minds alright, confused the hell out of us all back then, driving harder and harder the messages of having to be good enough and wear the right styles, use the right brands, do the right things like little robots, and our boys were coming back home in body bags.
So being quite twisted out, we all loved the monster movies and sci fi thrillers. They were killing us so we wanted to kill everyone else. It was a useless mess. Movies of green shrinking water sprayed witches and dead head green berets were all weird and twilight zoney. They were being very successful at making the lower class into cannon fodder as we watched Soylent Green and laughed along with Dr. Demento. One can see how they do it every third or fourth generation banking on generation gap and social amnesia. Its a form of overpopulation control quite obvious to all of us back then. So the pointy finger statements are really giving us the choice of being a lemming or saving ones own life by not participating in the violence and insanity? I prefer the more preventative and humane practice of keeping angels in their realm that in modern times is called birth control. History has shown this and other struggles of The People for their rights to be a more healthy prevention. History also showed us how far from reality this big Commie bear elitist fantasy thing was. All can see that the walls are down, boundaries are changed with the times, and there is trade as has always been by one name or another...its just this year's flavor of political language and there are power elites and class stratification in every country.
So, again, I will tip my hat to the new revolution, whatever form or style it comes cloaked in, knowing I am here because of the sacrifices so unwillingly made by my young and naive friends which were futile and accomplished nothing but loss, while remembering that my own death is eventually on its way. No one owns the world. No one can. We all rent this space-time for awhile and then we must pass on. If people would look out and see it this way there might be less need for people to run around killing each other. You were conceived, born, you live and you will die soon enough anyway. Will humans awaken to manage this world wisely in a peaceful and civilized way so that our mortal stay can be a nice one and so that they can break out of this vicious cycle of wasteful, violent, and painful destructiveness before its too late? This question is still the one that looms on our horizon and stares into our faces with no answer.
God bless him for his service and ultimate sacrifice.
The photo of this man makes him look like the late actor Mark Lenard, who had many TV roles in the 60s and 70s. So nice for his family to have his letters.
I was thinking Townes Van Zandt
This beautiful young man was of my generation, another war that bled out my generation, all for nothing. What did this war resolve, anyway, but the loss of 55,000 young men of my generation.
One of my boyfriends in high school was there just three weeks and died. Today, Viet Nam is a cherished vacation spot for American tourists.
Mass murder and mass murderers bleed out, one generation after another, just like the war in Iraq. What did it solve?
I remember, witnesses to the war returning with memories of young kids as young as 18, dying in agony, screaming for their mothers. So far from home and their mothers.
Skor154 I'm with you, woman, you said it well. "bled out my generation"...perfect. I remember it well, too....lost a few friends, protested across America, part of the hippie movement of the 60"s' but that war was SO politically motivated and useless I still get angry at the words "Viet Nam."
You protested across America while other people died for your right to do so. Chicken Sh!t.
get therapy retired 40.
We threw 55,000 of or best in to a war with no purpose. Agedsteak protested while you drank Koolaid. He´s moved on, 55,000 of our best will never move on and you are the only one miserable.
Spew on Marty.
Yes, 55,000 died, my father fought there, all so you d-bag's can rise from your 40 year hazy stupors to spout your anti-war, anti-establishment ant-everything BS.
Go back to sleep.
My older brother spent 2 tours of duty in Viet Nam in 68 & 69 and it was my intent to follow him when I graduated from high school (which would have been in 74). A couple of years or so after he got back (probably some time around 71 or early 72) he sat me down and explained what the reality was on the ground over there- the government of South Viet Nam was as corrupt as the day is long, our own generals were primarily interested in covering their own behinds with nonsense like body counts, that the people of Viet Nam didn't want us there and never had and that the war from the beginning had been pointless and unwinnable. He was working construction on the other side of the state where we lived at the time but promised if he heard about me enlisting that he would drive home and break both of my legs if he had to to keep me out of the military.
Retired40 & RajunCajun007- my brother isn't a chicken @!$%# or in a hazy stupor. He won a bronze star, was awarded the Purple Heart and served his country honorably. When he was in boot camp, he and another soldier were selected for OCS school and they got well acquainted while they were waiting for the Corps to figure out that they were too young to go to OCS. They both took different paths in the service but both were in Nam around the same time and they managed to meet up a couple more times. After his initial tour was up, my brothers friend re-enlisted, went to OCS and retired about a decade ago as a Colonel. My brother came home, married his high school sweetheart, raised 2 beautiful and successful daughters, was active in his community and church, opened a hardware store and lumberyard that he owned for 35 years before he sold it and retired early and now he spends his time golfing and dotting of his 5 grandchildren with his bride of 40 years.
This past Memorial Day weekend (just a little more than a week ago) my brothers friend came thru Fargo (where my brother and I both now live) along with his wife on their way from North Carolina to the state of Washington and stayed for 3 days. It was the first time they had met face to face since they were both in Viet Nam. After a little while spent catching up (they had been in contact for almost a decade so they already had done a lot of that) most of the conversation turned to the time they spent in their initial tour in the service especially the time in boot camp and Viet Nam. I spent most of my time just listening.
I can tell you Retired40 & RajunCajun007 that it isn't just chicken@!$%#s and hazy liberals that think that 55,000 American solders died in a pointless was. So do a retired Colonel and authentic American Dream success story.
good story bro i know what its like to want to go to war my father served in vietnam with the 101st airborne just like the man in this article only my father wasnt meant to die just like your brother wasnt i remember this story my dad told me about once while he was there he said he was supposed to be on a helicopter flight back into the bush but before he could get on the chopper another soldier jumped on and took the last seat and then that very chopper was shot down later that night killing everyone on boared just remember some folks are not supposed to die personaly i dont believe in luck its a bunch of bull@!$%# but i do believe in reason just ask your brother if he thinks luck got him out of there then tell him about this story
You know, I have to wonder about those on here who knock those who think that war sucked. Are they trolls? I spent a bit of time with vets, and have yet to hear one say that war was worth it.
It has nothing to do with the soldiers, it's all about the leaders and politicians.
evergrien,
"You know, I have to wonder about those on here who knock those who think that war sucked. Are they trolls?"
I doubt it. I think they're just a sign of the times. The division in this country has become so bad that we can no longer talk to each other civilly. We can't disagree without denigrating one another. We seem to have forgotten that we are all Americans, whatever our opinions may be.
Just adds to the sadness, RIP young men who perished in Vietnam.
We must never forget what they did there.....A salute to everyone who has worn the uniform of the US Military.
How sad! Make me tears in my eyes. God bless to this young man.
I feel bad his poor parents and brother didn't get to see the letters before they passed.
Many Vietnam Veterans remember and will never forget. Today we don't have a draft as back in the 60's young men got their lottery tickets to served this country. Some dodged the draft by fleeing overseas like Mitt Romney did in 1965. My brother was drafted and took pride in serving the USA as he died in Vietnam in 1966. Sgt Steve Flaherty had he lived could be running for President. Each of our brave Patriots have a story and we honor each one. What is a disgrace is the US might have a Draft Dodger as President. Many Presidents either didn't live during War time or used legal ways of getting a deferment yet now we have a clear proven Draft Dodger. Some say Mitt got a deferment to go to Missionary religious teaching. The Law hasn't changed in the 60's you could get a deferment by going to a credited college for education. Mitt like the coward he is come home once the Draft ended. Our US Military will have it's first Draft Dodger in Chief and his example to future generations that you can dodge ever serving the USA but you can become President.
Uhhhh...urstillanidiot...the first Vietnam presidential draft dodger in chief would have been "slick willy" Bill Clinton. Willy dodged successfully from 64-69.
Bush didn't go to Viet Nam, neither did deferment Dick Cheney.
Maybe you should have been studying history instead of smoking dope back in the 60's. As Sloppy Joe says, "#1 Draft Dodger" would be Slick Willy.
Seriously? You turned this story into your own personal political soapbox? You should be ashamed.
RIP and thank you for your service, Sgt. Flaherty.
Clinton, Gingrich, Cheney, Romney- all stayed in college and took deferments. GOP silver spoon Romney was pro-war, but didn't enlist in 1969 when he returned from 2 years in France. His high lottery number kept him out, so it appears.
Speaking of military service, exactly what branch of the service did Barrack Obama serve in? Also, not every military person that served in time of war actually saw the front lines. I was in the Navy during that time and never left Jacksonville Florida. As for bleeding out a generation, 58 thousand men have their names on the Viet Nam Memorial but that is only a tiny percentage of the military age men of the time. The Viet Nam war was ill concieved and a total mess, same as the nonsense going on in Iraq and Afganistan today. After we are totally gone from Iraq and Afganistan there will still be unrest, the same as there has always been for thousands of years. It will never end until they get rid of that insane religion of theirs.
Dan.................Obama wasn't old enough to serve in Vietnam.
58 thousand men isn't enough for you to use the phrase "bleeding out?" You didn't leave Florida, but thousand of men who didn't die served and came back with no arms and no legs. They bled out too.
The Vietnam war wasn't "ill conceived." It was a farce. And Iraq and Afghanistan aren't at war because of their religion, but because of George W. Bush's Christianity.
If you're going to make stupid comments, at least make them factual.
I agree.
Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate who has served in the military.
Ironically he is the only one who does not want unprovoked wars...
Whats sad is we have a president that could have served his country in the peace time military and didn't. Romney ,Clinton were both draft dodgers, Ron Paul said it best just a bunch of Chicken Hawks, that goes for those that criticize others and never worn the uniform also.
My regards to the young man's family. I hope that they make the most of their mementos.
The majority of the cowardly chicken hawk neocons that lied our nation into the Iraq war dodged Nam better than most. That is why the majority of them would have been facing war crime charges if PBO was as progressive as the reich wingers love to claim.
But the worst coward of them all was the a$$hole that evaded Nam the rich man's way. First, his "Poppy", as congressman in TX, arranged for his a$$hole son's entry into the TX ANG and $1 million worth of flight school before the a$$hole went awol instead of reporting to his assigned duty. Why?
Because he was born a rich a$$hole that knew he could get away with it. After all, Poppy covered his crap from West Texas to Yale, so why shouldn't Poppy let him play with an ANG jet for awhile? It's the best toy in the world when no bullets are flying.
He took the flight school seat away from a guy that may have served for a career. As a military school grad the year before, I was hoping for one of those seats. Can't be sure, but there's a strong chance that some privileged jerk pulled strings for a less qualified candidate to take it.
Didn't stop me from volunteering for and serving in Nam. Our soldiers, sailors and airmen that have served honorably in all war zones deserve the same respect and have to know that your dedication is appreciated. You need to cleanse the idiocy of hating Muslims from your minds just as Nam vets had to rid themselves of their hate for the Viets.
Most of all, do not believe for one second that the Repug politicians give a $hit about you and your family. Give Pres. Obama and the Dems your votes in November if you want to maximize programs for returning veterans.
The 1st draft dodger was Clinton, than Bush, some of us never had the chance to dodge.
Sosickof the GOP
My point was that Obama did not serve in the military at all. Obviously he could not have served in Viet Nam since he was about 12 when hostilities stopped. Viet Nam was indeed a farce and ill concieved. 58 thousand of the millions of men that were of military is not bleeding out a generation. My brother and father both died in Viet Nam so did a few of my friends. More than 58 thousand die in car accidents every 6 months and of cancer and heart disease. I still have friends and family that are serving and I have never heard that we are fighting for George Bush's idea of Christianity. Thats just crazy left wing nonsense. I agree that we should not be in Iraq and Afganistan, but it's not about Christianity.
royce,
"some of us never had the chance to dodge."
Do you mean because you were born too late (after the draft was abolished) or because you were drafted before you had the opportunity to dodge it?
wow.
Well you are right but Clinton and Obama are also draft dodgers.
Clinton went overseas on a Rhodes Scholorship... Clinton did not "dodge the draft," he got a student deferment--as did, among others, Dick Cheney (who got five of them)... which ALL men had the choice if wanted back than... Obama NEVER FACED THE DRAFT and was never in the military. You should prly get your facts straight.
Well, considering Obama didn't turn 18 until FOUR YEARS AFTER Vietnam ended.... Don't see how he could have "dodged the draft".
Big Black Dog
When the draft was in in 1965, Obama was 7 years old. Get your facts straight before you post.
Obama was 11 years old when the draft ended.
Clinton dodged for six years including faking enrolling in the University of Arkansas ROTC (of which he had no intention to start) in order to get a fourth additional deferment and draft status change in late 1969.
He first started dodging in 1964 when he turned 18 and was registered.
He finally was selected AFTER Nixon ended the major callups and only when he drew a lottery of 313 in l1970!
Any of you remember what a 313 lottery number got you in the draft in 1970? Or any year for that matter!
Answer = NOTHING!
Jello heads!
Come on, people. Facts dont matter to people like big black dog. The only thing that matters is how he can spin any story to attack people he doesn't like.
I was draft age in the 1960s. College deferments (2S) were routinely granted in the early to mid 1960s to anyone enrolled in college. After graduation you were subject to the draft but could get deffered or exempted if you became a teacher or some other 'service' occuptations. Otherwise you were reclassified 1-A. I graduated in 1969 and was told "Don't take any summer vacations" by the induction center after taking the physical. Graduate school did not exempt you unless you were in medical school and agreed to serve afterwards. In the fall Richard Nixon's administration implemented the lotter system which was based on your birthdate. The first year the lottery included everyone who was eligible from 18 up. Thereafter the lottery applied only to those turning 18. I got a high number and did not serve. I did not flee the country but certainly don't consider myself a 'draft dodger.'
You have to wonder; what would have happened if there was a draft to send soldiers to Iraq? Seems like lots of Repub congress member's children mysteriously missed that war. And yes I am aware that a few congressman's children did go to Iraq. Both Dem and Repub.
I find it ironic that Romney believes he can lead our country, yet in the more than ten years we've been at war, he has been unable or unwilling to lead any of his five sons to an Armed Forces Recruiting Office.
Obama was too young for the war and draft, but could served in the peace time military, that's if he was a citizen.
Do you ever actually read about facts before you post?
i commend every person who was drafted and served and who today make the choice to serve. we ALL as American's owe our lives to the people who lost their lives in the war... every war.
I am happy that this family will finally get to see the letters. I am blessed that my uncle made it home from that horrific war, although it has been hard for him. I wish this young man could have made it home too... THANK YOU SIR FOR YOUR ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR YOUR COUNTRY!
uno your uncle was not meant to die in nam nor was my dad who served with the 101st airborne just like the guy in this article yea bro some souls are not meant to die my father told me more than one story about how he cheated death almost like that movie "final destination" your uncle and my father were just two souls who fought together in nam but just didnt know it
We have had too many soldiers,men and women die for the wrong cause..My thanks to all of them!! Not just in Vietnam but the latest ones,also!! I wish we could bring them all home from serving in different countries but know we need to have a military..Thanks to all who have served in a living hell like war..
Wow, what a pity that so many find it necessary to weave politics into every discussion on this site! This is a story about a brave young man who gave his life for our country and his written memoirs from the battlefield. Let us pay tribute to him and the thousands of other brave men and women who have worn the uniform and have given the ultimate sacrifice. THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING instead of arguing about who might have dodged the draft and whether it was right or wrong!
RIP Sgt. Flaherty and may your family find some solace in your letters to home.
Too little too late VietNam, I remember the war, senseless slaughter of our boys. I protested it then I protest it still. R.I.P. You are a HERO in my book. Even now as I cry these tears can't bring any of them back.
alison 506550
I also protested the war back then. 30,000 people fled to Canada to avoid the draft. Thery were branded as cowards. Most of them still live in Canada. This was a war based on propogada and scare tactics. I remember so well the spin that was put on the people that if we don't go in the communists will take over the world and we will all be under communist rule. Just like the WMDS in Iraq the people believed it and if we didn't go in these weapons could be used on us and our allies. I agree this is about Sgt. Flaherty and if we weren't so wound up about running to South Korea, Sgt Flaherty and about 58,000 others could still be alive today.
mike, If communism was not a wonderful thing, I'm sure we would not have everything we own made in a communist country.
wireman-1399628
Your right. Fighting communism. Fighting those awful communists. The U.S. owes 1.2 Trillion to the Chinese. 26% of all U.S. Treasury Securities are held by the communists in China. To put that in perspective the U.S. citizens hold 959 billion in U.S. debt. Funny how we had to fight with great loss of life to save us from them and now coming back and asking them to save us from financial collapse.
It's oh so heart warming to see that the disrespectful people turn everything into a political debate. Clinton dodged the draft, Mitt dodged the draft, Obama dodged the draft, the trix rabbit dodged the draft. You people are pathetic
the trix rabbit has served many tours under General Mills. No dodging there
LOL you guys need to cut it out LOL!!!!!! General Mills hahahahaha
Ron: Obama was what, 10 in 1969? LOL.
DOU44, If you had the intelligence to have read the other posts, you would have noticed that Obama was mentioned by a previous poster prier to my comment. Therefore, adding it to my comment. But then perhaps you are not that intelligent. So LOL to you. Not very smart are ya?
It's awful hard to read, knowing what happens but, "Last Letters Home" is about the best book that should be mandatory for every American to read. It is somewhere buried in the mancave, if I move enough stuff I will supply who compiled these amazing stories of the American G.I.
It was from LIFE, and the Iraq war.
I agree that it is sad to have people weave politics into this story. I appreciate all the kind remarks and remembrances to my cousin Steve. I, as well as the rest of my family, regret losing Steve at such an early age; as did way to many other families. Steve was an American Hero in the truest sense of the word. Being able to actually hold and read letters written by him at such a tragic time, will be a treasure.
Please take time to remember all of our fallen heros.
Good people, it doesn't matter who dodged the draft anymore. That is on their conscience. I served in Vietnam in '69 & '70 as a combat photographer with the 1st Infantry Division. When I read the article, I must admit some old feelings surfaced. It was a bad time in our history when our generation was divided. Our soldiers in Vietnam did a superb job and, as far as I'm concerned, we followed in the footsteps of all those American soldiers who went before us. I'm very proud to be among them and I'm glad Steve Flaherty has finally come home. God bless our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.
I don't think they could have drafted a Kenyan even is Obama had been old enough!
Greg, Too much dope, or not enough?
You can be in the US military and not be a citizen Greg.
I could not have said it better Ron-795690. Leave the politics out of this post. My family and I can not wait to actually hold and read the letters written by my cousin Steve at such a tragic time in his short-lived life. Steve, along with so many others that died in this war, are American Heroes in the truest sense of the word. I am proud of my cousin, for what he did, what he stood for, and sadly, what he died for. He did this for US. You and me. How do you repay a debt like that? By honoring and remembering those that sacrificed.
My thanks to those of you for your kind words. I am fortunate enough that I travel to the Washington DC area frequently. Each and ever time is get there, I take time to visit the Wall Memorial to pay my respects to Steve and to all whose name appears there. I am actually out here again now, but the trip I make this coming weekend will be a special trip indeed.
The Roman Times seems to be returning again. Long live the Emperor.
He was adopted from a Japanese orphanage at age 6 only to die in Vietnam in 1969. That's rough.
I hold JFK and LBJ responsible for this boy's death.
Nixon was elected president in 1968.
wireman-1399628 - And? He enlisted in October 1967. By 1969, Nixon proposed an American withdrawal which was implemented. No, it was JFK and LBJ who escalated the war. Does anyone blame Obama for the Iraq war? Nope.
VERY xsited. I am not trying to give anybody a free pass. But Nixon escalated the bombing campaign before he proposed an American withdrawal. To be fair, Nixon, despite Watergate, was a good president. If it was not for Watergate, he may have gotten his national health-care plan through congress. He would be considered a Democrat if he were in office today.
Nixon expanded the war to Laos and Cambodia and lied to the US public about it on TV. That's how the Khmer Rouge came to power and then they murdered 1 million. Nixon was war criminal in addition to committing felonies in the WH.
Nixon never lied about going into Cambodia, the public was told while the invasion was in process, and the Communist were already in Cambodia-1962 Pol Pot, well before Nixon became president, and major US involvement in SE Asia(1965).
Funny how anyone who says JFK and LBJ were responsible for Vietnam are called into question, although I should expect that on MSNBC. Surely JFK and LBJ were just wonderful Presidents and we should never say anything bad about them! It must be Nixon's fault because he was a criminal, even though this kid enlisted 2 years before Nixon became President. Yeah, blame it on Nixon. LOL!
If you folks were right-wingers, I bet you'd blame the Iraq war on Obama. Figures.
LBJ and McNamara - What were they thinking? And yes, Nixon should have pulled the plug on it as soon as he was elected. This was one of the darkest times in recent American history.
You just don't pull the plug on 250,000 troops, you gradually pull out ,try and make sure the RVN's are aware and ready and protect your ass as you do, and Nixon did a great job when he came into office shorting the war, and bringing the North to the table.
About the time I want to forget how sh..ty N. Vietnam treated our prisoners and Jane Fonda's siding with the enemy and profiting from it, these letters appear.
The Viet Nam government can kiss my a .... for keeping these letters all of this time. I hope they stay a third-world country for another hundred years.
I bet many of them feel the same way about their 3 million dead due to US intervention in the south and bombing of the north over 10 years.
DOU, how come you didn't blame the USSR and communist expansion at all?
DOU--- If you had been there you would have welcomed the bombing of the north and would have welcomed more bombing including Cambodia, which was taken over by North Vietnamese and used as a staging area for the war in S Vietnam.