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Lessons learned from Vietnam veterans |
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February 27, 2017 |
By U.S. Senator Mike Crapo
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the majority
of Idaho’s veterans served during the Vietnam
War. Veterans put their lives on the line and
lost friends and family during their service to
our country.
They experienced great loss and personal
sacrifice while being criticized for doing as
they were told. They are among the first to step
forward and help fellow veterans and others in
our communities.
Many lessons can be learned from these great
Americans.
As Americans, it is our duty to honor those who
sacrificed so much for our country. To do this,
we must continue to seek answers for families of
America’s prisoners of war (POW)s and missing in
action (MIA).
Hiedi Young, an Idahoan and past director of the
POW*MIA Awareness Rally, compiled sobering
information from multiple sources about the
price paid by American families during and after
the Vietnam War.
These details about the more than 58,000
individuals listed on the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., are worthy of
recognition:
* Three sets of fathers and sons are listed on
the wall;
* 39,996 listed on the wall were 22-years-old or
younger;
* The largest age group, 8,283, were just
19-years-old;
* 3,103 were 18-years-old;
* 997 service members were killed on their first
day in Vietnam;
* 1,448 service members were killed on what
would have been their last day in Vietnam;
* 244 service members were awarded the Medal of
Honor during the Vietnam War; and 153 of them
are listed on the wall.
The POW*MIA Awareness Association reports that
1,618 Americans, including eight Idahoans,
remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. I
highlighted the immense service of these
Idahoans in a September column. In addition to
those missing from serving in Vietnam, according
to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency 366
veterans from Idaho remain listed as POW/MIA,
leaving some families without answers for
decades.
To better enable families to find their loved
ones and bring them home, I co-sponsored S. 120,
the Bring Our Heroes Home Act.
This legislation would provide for an expedited
and consolidated process for declassifying and
collecting records of POW and MIA personnel. The
legislation is meant to address the obstacles
preventing families and caseworkers from
accessing the records needed for recovery
efforts by putting one entity, instead of the
current multitude of agencies, in charge of
prioritizing and facilitating the
declassification of records related to missing
service members.
Additionally, late last year, Congress passed
and the President signed into law H.R. 4511, the
Gold Star Families Voices Act, that requires the
Veterans’ Oral History Project Act to include
recordings of histories by immediate family
members of service members who became missing in
action or died because of wartime service.
We cannot let these accounts, which shape
understanding of the realities of war, be lost
to time.
Finally, the U.S. Senate recently passed
legislation to add March 29, Vietnam Veterans
Day, to the list of dates on which the flag
should be flown to pay tribute to the servicemen
and women involved in this conflict.
I am continuously impressed with Idaho veterans’
humility and willingness to serve others. I
carry their lessons of giving with me as I work
to ensure all veterans are properly honored,
return home and receive the services they need
for the sacrifices endured. |
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