>Vietnam Veterans Home

For all the Vietnam Veterans.
You served with honor. You came home.
No ticker tape parades.
No patriotic songs.
You were looking for a place to belong.

Kathy Lee, 1st Lt., Army Nurse Corps, Vietnam: 1968-69.
I wasn’t really welcome in the VFW; it was sort of a good old boys club. The World War II veterans did not really recognize the Vietnam veterans and they did not recognize women.

Gonzalo Reyes, Sgt., Radio Relay, US Marine Corps, Vietnam: 1970-71.
The VFW was not accepting the Vietnam veterans in that it wasn’t considered a war. In some of the VFWs where I was invited as a guest, they weren’t open to receiving minorities.

Kathy: I didn’t really feel like I fit in a lot of places, so I went to the VFW figuring I would join them. I was told by them that I was qualified, I could pay my dues, but not to show up.

That was then; this is now:

Kathy: In 1993, they asked me, and it really took a lot for me to actually do it, but I finally did, and I’m glad I did!

Gonzalo: I found, lately, no barriers in being a leader and I’ve been encouraged to take more leadership roles.

Kathy: The majority of the posts now, are probably Korea and Vietnam and they’re a lot more understanding and accepting.

Gonzalo: It’s like a support group, but it’s not a support group because you’re already there and you’re with people you like being with, not a bunch of strangers.

It’s all about Veterans helping Veterans.
Past, Present, and Future.

Robert Crider, HM3, US Navy, Vietnam: 1967-68.
You can be somewhere today perfectly financially solvent and wake up the next day, and you’re not. And that doesn’t have anything to do with a work ethic; it has to do with circumstances. And, I think, the greatest enjoyment I have, is one a fellow Veteran needs help, you give him that help and you don’t ask for a thank you; it’s not required.

Kathy: I just did a claim last week for a man 101 years old who did not know he had any benefits. He was a veteran of World War II in the very beginning, and all he wants is hearing aids.

Robert: You know, it’s the responsibility of us as Veterans taking care of our fellow brothers that also served with us, and their families.

James Rowoldt, Spec. (E-4), RTO, US Army, Vietnam: 1965-66:
We are our government’s conscience.

Gonzalo: If we don’t help each other, no one’s going to help us.

Robert: We have a responsibility to the young men and women who are serving now. And I think what the VFW does is, the older Veteran can sit back and says, “I know where you are, and I know where you’re going to be.” And my responsibility is to make certain that these entitlements and benefits are there when you do come to the realization that these are the types of things you’re going to need.

Kathy: I feel like I’ve come full circle; I took care of them then, and I’m taking care of them now.

The VFW.
This is where you belong.

Robert: We have a common bond and a common experience, and what the VFW is, is an extension of that common bond and that common experience, understanding what the young soldiers, sailors, coast guardsman, of today are going to need.

James: Honoring the dead by helping the living is a byline we use all the time; it’s part of our structure, honoring the dead by helping the living. That’s basically it, Veterans taking care of Veterans. We need to be there for them. We are our government’s conscience.

Kathy: I feel that I belong there; I can identify with them; I can understand them. There’s a bond that you have with other veterans that that’s where you want to be because you’re accepted for who you are.

Gonzalo: My VTSE counselor suggests that I continue to do as much as I can with the VFW.

Kathy: The VFW has been good for me.

www.Honoravet.org

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