Strength & Honor

Grunt Melody
Norm McDonald (US Army grunt)

". . . Over the years I mellowed and studied and thought a lot about it. From the distance of time and a cool head, I can now see the geo-politics of the collision between freedom and communism, and that Vietnam was just one hot spot in the whole 50 years or so of the Cold War. I see myself as doing my small part in bringing down the Iron Curtain and I am proud to have served in that capacity. I don't think that is rationalizing, but who knows? Maybe I'll ask Flash, and no matter how much we differ I will treat his view seriously because he and I humped through hell together and watched each other's back.

I want my family to meet Flash. My grandchildren can watch us talking about old times, thinking of us as a couple of old coots telling irrelevant and exaggerated stories, refusing to let go of the ancient past. I hope they never realize the jungles of the Vietnam War were far worse than what we say, and I'll pray they never know in their heart what it means to fight for their life, or to shoot a man and watch him die. . . ."