Night Watch

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. "Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.

Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Soldier standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Soldier wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Soldier could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Soldier sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Soldier move away rest awhile.

He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Soldier was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Soldier released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Soldier interrupted her.

"Who was that man?" he asked.

The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.

"No, he wasn't," the Soldier replied. "I never saw him before in my life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"

"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."

The next time someone needs you ... Just be there. Stay.

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We are not human beings going through a temporary spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings going through a temporary human experience.

Hi I'm Dallas

Hi I'm Viper

Hi I'm Daniel

Hi I'm Bennie

Hi I'm Bandit

I am 100% DAV from PTSD and Agent Orange ....I am a Survivor of being an infantry soldier in Vietnam and I am a survivor of cancer, and I am the survivor of  laying down a Harley Davidson on pavement at 60 MPH and skidding 120 feet with no leather and no helmet and I got up and walked to the ambulence when it arrived... so I figure I am a survivor! :) I am a life member of the DAV, a member of  Soldiers for the Truth, a member of Hacks Pack ( a group who served with David Hackworth )

My other online pastime is building web sites I am supplying the link to a few below, enjoy them they are all very useful for Vietnam Veteran resources and information.

Click on picture to enlarge

I served with the 25th Divisions Delta Co. 2nd 27th Infantry Wolfhounds and with MACV Adv Team 50  44th STZ in Cao Lahn in Vietnam, from April of 1970 to April of 1971. I was a 2 year Draftee. After being drafted I was sent to Basic Training at Ft Bliss, TX,  AIT at Fort Ord CA,  NCOC School at Ft Benning GA, graduating as a Buck Sgt E-5, and then I was sent to Ft Polk, LA for OJT where I was promoted to SSG E-6. Then it was on to Vietnam.

I am proud of my service for my country. People ask me if I would do it again...yes I would in a heart beat, what we did in Vietnam was not only the right thing to do but it was the honorable thing to do for any American, to fight for FREEDOM for all of mankind. People ask if we lost the war...the answer is NO! We pulled out of Vietnam in 1973, the South Vietnam Government fell in 1975. And I would like to add one other point about this much misunderstood Vietnam war. Since the Vietnam war,  Communism as a form of government has failed miserably all over the world not only in the USSR but in many other countries including Vietnam who are now begging the US for more trade and aid, seems to me we won that war. And those brave young men and women who gave their lives so that others might be free who are etched upon a black granite Wall in Washington DC are all heroes who deserve the utmost respect.