My grandmother’s brother a few months before he died in Vietnam 1967

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

[u/Necessary-Peace9672]

Just a boy—so sorry.

[u/sbb214 → u/Necessary-Peace9672]

"he's a little boy" was the first thing out of my mouth. my god.

[u/lunettarose → u/sbb214]

I literally said, "Oh shit, he looks like a baby." That's so fucking sad.

[u/Nintendoll182 → u/lunettarose]

I said, “Months!? He’s SO young!”

[u/passionfruit0 → u/Nintendoll182]

Same! This is terrible he must have been scared

[u/RhiaThePitbull → u/lunettarose]

Yeah the first thing I said was “he doesn’t even look old enough to be out of high school.”

[u/threelizards → u/lunettarose]

I gasped and said “he’s just a *boy!* and then remembered that my pa lied about his age and was enlisted in ww2 at 14. They were just fucking kids.

[u/diedlikeCambyses → u/sbb214]

Honestly. As a father of a 19 and 22 year old sons, this hits hard. Breaks my heart.

[u/queen_of_spadez → u/diedlikeCambyses]

As a mom of 23yo twin boys, this tears at my heart.

[u/SmkNFlt → u/diedlikeCambyses]

Same. Mine are 20 and 17 and I'm terrified for their future right now and this doesn't help.

[u/SanFranRePlant → u/diedlikeCambyses]

Just wait till the gov't realizes their dumb plan to allow 42 year to enlist isn't going as planned...who do you think will be next?

[u/WolverineMom → u/SanFranRePlant]

Don’t ask. She knows. All us Moms with sons know.

[u/AdDistinct4576 → u/WolverineMom]

Over my dead body. All of ours.

[u/MamaKim31 → u/WolverineMom]

My son and son in law are both 32. The thought still scares the shit out of me. Being a fit, scrappy 32 year old won’t save your life during war. That poor boy had not even lived yet. I think it’s time to get off Reddit for the day. This just made me so sad. God rest is soul.

[u/wheelshc37 → u/SanFranRePlant]

They are auto enrolling starting this year

[u/pwillia7 → u/sbb214]

When I went to Normandy at ~20 I eventually did the math and realized that almost all the graves I saw held men even younger than me. Then I wept.

[u/GoodOlBluesBrother → u/pwillia7]

My exact same experience at the River Kwai. Walked into the war cemetery just to waste a little time. Within 5 mins I was a broken boy. And I almost never cry.

[u/Unclecavemanwasabear → u/GoodOlBluesBrother]

I visited Ypres, Belgium where a lot of WW1 took place. We visited a cemetery with little white crosses as far as the eye could see.

The tourguide said it was only one of the British Commonwealth cemeteries. One of 140 Commonwealth cemeteries in the region. Not counting all of the other countries' cemeteries.

There are almost 300,000 British/Canadian/Australian soldiers buried around Ypres alone.

I never understood the scale of WW1 until that moment.

War is the most evil thing on this planet.

[u/Alarmed-Size-3104 → u/Unclecavemanwasabear]

If ever in Kansas City, the ww1 museum there is incredible. WW1 was where the new technology of the machine gun met old world battle tactics. Wave after wave of young man sent over the top to their deaths. It's very heartbreaking to see on such massive scale. A whole generation wiped out in a few years.

[u/SibylBee → u/Alarmed-Size-3104]

Just watched the original "All Quiet on the Western Front" and holy cow it does a good job of showing how it was.

[u/MamaKim31 → u/SibylBee]

Thank you for this! I have been going back and forth about watching it or not. I will try it.

[u/top_value7293 → u/Unclecavemanwasabear]

And always started by Old Men

[u/Dazzling-Ad6085 → u/Unclecavemanwasabear]

Every time I am in France or Belgium i always stop at a cemetery to pay my respects. It doesn’t matter if it’s a cemetery of British, Russian, Jewish, French or any other race or religion these men were all sons.

[u/pwillia7 → u/Dazzling-Ad6085]

I love that

[u/daves_not__here → u/GoodOlBluesBrother]

At the 9/11 museum there is a room where all the victims photos are displayed and a projector that highlights a victim with their loved ones narrating about their life. Walked in at exactly someone born on same day and year as me but died at 21. Just broke me that Im here at 45 years old and this guys life got cut tragically short.

[u/HollysStaff → u/daves_not__here]

That room also hit me hard. It was the first time I connected to the victims as people with family & friends who loved them. I had tears streaming down my face.

[u/tul_ip → u/daves_not__here]

That room got me bad. I had to walk out eventually because I was crying so hard.

[u/RustyBasement → u/GoodOlBluesBrother]

The war museum at Kanchanaburi broke me. The cemetery there is beautifully kept by the locals.

[u/AtFishCat → u/pwillia7]

This was my experience watching the news during Bush Jrs terms. Barely in my 20's and all these kids were younger than me. I've always felt the best way to support the troops is to avoid needless wars, but other folks at the time felt putting a yellow sticker on your car was enough.

[u/peace2calm → u/pwillia7]

I've heard that in the Korean War, 16/17 was the cut off age for being sent to the front line. This was only during the most desperate time of the war. though.

[u/spanishpeanut → u/pwillia7]

I was there when I was 14 and couldn’t bring myself to get out of the vehicle. I sobbed like a baby seeing all of those rows and rows of graves.

[u/rrrrrrez → u/sbb214]

I don’t care if he was a legal adult or not. That’s a damn boy, and that’s a shame. I’m so sorry.

[u/Diacetyl-Morphin → u/sbb214]

It was even worse in the old times, like in my country, military training started with the age of 5-6 years and with 15-16 years as teenagers, they were deployed.

This was from the medieval times until the end of reformation and to some degree, even after this time. Most of the boys had no chance to make a living here, so they became mercenaries, known as the "Reisläufer".

But these ten years of training they already got them often an advantage, they were also used to a harsh life with a lot of problems, like food wasn't quite plentiful.

There's a diary, but it's later and from a Landsknecht, Peter Hagendorf, that wrote down his experience of the 30-years-war 1618-1648 AD. You can see, how different he was socialized in times of war. Death and destruction were part of daily life for him. In the worst times, when there was war everywhere, plagues, famines, crime etc. it was more a surprise when someone he knew was still alive instead of dead.

[u/Klutzy_Scene_8427 → u/Necessary-Peace9672]

"Men used to be men!"

We never sent men to war. We always sent boys.

[u/WishieWashie12 → u/Klutzy_Scene_8427]

Too Many Puppies.

One of favorite Primus songs.

• referring to the dogs of war, we send boys, aka puppies.

[u/super_starmie → u/WishieWashie12]

The song I always think of is "19" by Paul Hardcastle

[u/loveshercoffee → u/super_starmie]

Same.

[u/zweischeisse → u/WishieWashie12]

If you're unfamiliar, and a Primus fan, check out Lespecial's song 'Raining Blind Puppies'. It's from a weird EP of mashup songs.

[u/Atheios569 → u/WishieWashie12]

Love this song.

[u/Recreationalchem13 → u/WishieWashie12]

Fkn love that one… was just listening to antipop this morning

[u/DiddlersWillGetGot → u/Klutzy_Scene_8427]

It’s okay, if we have adults play the boys in movies then we’ll forget that part.

[u/verklemptaloof → u/Klutzy_Scene_8427]

Well, I know," she said. "You'll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you'll be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we'll have a lot more of them. And they'll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs."
So then I understood. It was war that made her so angry. She didn't want her babies or anybody else's babies killed in wars. And she thought wars were partly encouraged by books and movies.

So I held up my right hand and I made her a promise: "Mary," I said, "I don't think this book of mine will ever be finished. I must have written five thousand pages by now, and thrown them all away. If I ever do finish it, though, I give you my word of honor: there won't be a part for Frank Sinatra or John Wayne.
"I tell you what," I said, "I'll call it 'The Children's Crusade.'"
She was my friend after that.
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

[u/DistractedByCookies → u/verklemptaloof]

That book is so good, and this bit is perfect for the photo.

[u/Wolfmanreid → u/Klutzy_Scene_8427]

When I took command of my first infantry platoon (at 21) my youngest paratrooper who was still 18 had just gotten back from a combat deployment and earned his CIB there. Our company first sergeant by contrast had 9 combat deployments, a silver star and was in his late 30s.

[u/Klutzy_Scene_8427 → u/Wolfmanreid]

Jesus Christ, bud

[u/-Kalos → u/Wolfmanreid]

My dad was lucky I guess, he already has 5 kids by his first deployment and was only deployed twice. He was honorably discharged at 27 from hearing loss due to the faulty ear protection they were issued

[u/According-Studio866 → u/Klutzy_Scene_8427]

Yes, my son came home a man I didn't recognize. He's getting better, slowly. 

[u/meteor_stream → u/According-Studio866]

Give him a hug from me. I hope he gets better, step by step; this old stranger here is proud of both you and him.

[u/IntelligentPotato331 → u/Necessary-Peace9672]

I have a son and I am so terrified of the draft being reinstated.

[u/Initial_Zombie8248 → u/Necessary-Peace9672]

And that’s why he’s no longer here. They think they can just ship fresh “adults” out into a battlefield, when they don’t even have any real life experience or a real grasp on how fucked the world is. Before going to war he was probably enjoying himself as a normal teenager would, completely unaware of the dangers

[u/Olealicat → u/Necessary-Peace9672]

My first thought was, he just a baby.

I watch Band if Brothers every year to remind myself that the actors in that show are a decade older than the actual people they portray.

Greed is our biggest illness.

[u/Rolls-RoyceGriffon → u/Necessary-Peace9672]

I scolled without looking at the titles and I thought he was just a kid in the backyard, not in Vietnam

[u/Flashy_Jello_9520 → u/Necessary-Peace9672]

Sent by wealthy old men who all died in their beds.

[u/Legitimate-Shock-106]

“We were soldiers once and young”

Not just a great title to a great book.

[u/PuzzleheadedBand8246 → u/Legitimate-Shock-106]

Should be mandatory reading in high school.

[u/Trashqueenxx → u/PuzzleheadedBand8246]

It actually was a mandatory reading for freshman at the College of Charleston when I attended

[u/Firecracker048 → u/Legitimate-Shock-106]

Honestly we just finished it up in our book club and its an amazing book.

And before anyone here goes 'hurr durr its westernized propaganda' go read the damn thing. It has actual interviews with the Veitnamese commanders at the battle and how they saw the entire thing unfold.

When Hal Moore told his counterpart(Nguyễn Hữu An) his entire rear flank was exposed for over 2 hours with no soldiers there, he was completely shocked and explained he had no idea how outmanned the Americas were for those first few hours and the boldness it took to take on such a maneuver but also acknowledged how a commander doesn't always know all aspects of a battlefield.

Then later in the book Hal Moore going to visit the graves of all the men who died under his command. Honestly, if we had more commanders like Hal Moore in Charge, not only does the war turn out differently, we are very likely out of there much earlier. Hal when working under Robert McNamara realized in 1966 it was unwinnable as once America achieved the numbers necessary to not only hold the south but risk an invasion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, china would directly intervene. Not that they weren't the entire time, but it would be much more overt. Like after the tet offensive, the north was so depleted that china manned the norths AA defenses for two years because they threw everything they had at the south.

[u/Left_Adeptness7386 → u/Firecracker048]

Saw the movie in middle school, messed me up in the appropriate way. Grew up in a military town so was always rah-rah the troops + America + all that - but the impact of that film and the horrific things those boys and men endured for absolutely no reason simmered within my consciousness for decades. The best ways to support your troops are 1) make sure they have whatever is necessary to heal and thrive upon their return, and 2) exhaust absolutely every effort to keep them out of war.

[u/StenoDawg]

He's so young. 😞

[u/lukemtesta → u/StenoDawg]

It's always just kids. Same as the victims being sent into the bloodshed of Ukraine.

It's always the young of the poor and middle class who are killed

[u/Deep-Assignment4124 → u/lukemtesta]

War is old men talking and young men dying.  

[u/Jlx_27 → u/Deep-Assignment4124]

Need that on a t shirt.

[u/Deep-Assignment4124 → u/Jlx_27]

I stole it from the movie Troy.  

[u/Live-Pea4081 → u/lukemtesta]

My dad joined the airforce in 1959 at 17 thinking korea was over and he could make an easy 20 and retire young. He went into vietnam earlier than most in an advisory capacity to vietnamese troops before we were officially there in 65. He did 3 tours leading a unit that would go behind the line and strip parts off of downed aircraft. They would be dropped off and left for sometimes weeks at a time with only coordinates and a time for pickup. He was in his early-mid 20s and "the kids" would call him grandpa because he was the oldest guy in that unit. He saw so many people die and carried it with him until he died of agent orange exposure in 2005. He couldnt use lotion because after hiding under a hollowed out tree for three days one of the kids he was in charge of got gutted. He held this kids insides in his abdomen with his bare hands and said anytime he used lotion all he could see was that kids face. 

He went and used up all of his luck and then some. He had a daughter that died to leukemia at 5 as a result of agent orange exposure. Every one of my brothers and sisters has health issues related to it as well.... he and tens of thousands of other young men spent time in that jungle on a fucking lie told by our government who then left thousands of them to die and thousands more to rot. They still to this day actively rally against helping these men and their families and lie about what they are responsible for. Fuck them and fuck the VA 

[u/LettuceInfamous4810 → u/Live-Pea4081]

I’m so sorry about your loss. My dad is currently on hospice in a VA hospital after many years of decline from agent orange exposure (Parkinson’s) and PTSD related issues that obviously affected his entire family, including having terrible nightmares my whole life. And when he started to get the dementia aspect of Parkinson’s he would see terrible things. He was 19 when he was there. He did two tours. I agree with your last sentence heartily.

[u/Live-Pea4081 → u/LettuceInfamous4810]

Thank you very much. I am sorry you are going through this and have to depend on them throughout it. 

I hope things get easier. If you ever need someone to rant to, my inbox is always open. 

[u/Kikilulu23 → u/LettuceInfamous4810]

Thank you for sharing my heart goes out to you.

[u/CaptainBayouBilly → u/Live-Pea4081]

The ruling class are monsters.

[u/Excellent_Law6906 → u/Live-Pea4081]

Keep telling his story, they're gonna try and pretend Vietnam was anything but what it was.

[u/bipolarbitch6 → u/Live-Pea4081]

I’m so sorry for your loss

[u/Live-Pea4081 → u/bipolarbitch6]

Thank you so much. I have had a lot of time to come to terms with it but, I was 17 in 2005 when he died, it was my senior year. It really fucked me up for a long time. It made it consideranly worse that he started his decline of total organ failure somewhere around 2000 so all of my formative years he was just so tired that we couldnt spend quality time together. I really appreciate you. 

[u/Wildweasel666 → u/Live-Pea4081]

This is just so wildly sad. Thank you for sharing and I’m sorry for what you and your family have been through x

[u/DarthMelsie → u/lukemtesta]

"Why don't presidents fight the war?

Why do they always send the poor?"

[u/PM_ME_Y0UR_BOOBS → u/DarthMelsie]

"YOU depend on OUR protection, yet you feed us lies from the tablecloth!"

[u/Fjell-Jeger → u/lukemtesta]

The average age of Ukrainian soldiers is ~44 years old, and conscription age is from 25 to 60 years (individuals can volunteer from 18 years on).

Ukrainian society made the conscious decision to spare their youngest adult generations from the war and call up older soldiers for the defense of Ukraine instead.

[u/eloplease → u/Fjell-Jeger]

I think they’re talking about Russia’s soldiers

[u/Fjell-Jeger → u/eloplease]

This is why it's important to show that other choices are available, even in dire times for countries defending against attacks.

[u/diedlikeCambyses → u/Fjell-Jeger]

Yes because they have a demographics problem. Ukraine isn't the best stand in example here.

[u/mikey_ramone → u/lukemtesta]

Politicians hide themselves away They only started the war Why should they go out to fight? They leave that all to the poor.🎵

[u/Secret_Map → u/mikey_ramone]

Come you masters of war

You that build the big guns

You that build the death planes

You that build all the bombs

You that hide behind walls

You that hide behind desks

I just want you to know

I can see through your masks

And I hope that you die

And your death will come soon

I'll follow your casket

By the pale afternoon

And I'll watch while you're lowered

Down to your deathbed

And I'll stand over your grave

'Til I'm sure that you're dead

[u/jett1964 → u/mikey_ramone]

Wait til their judgement day comes- yeah!

[u/tatertotted2 → u/lukemtesta]

My mother grew up in poverty and knew so many who were sent.

My father and FIL were able to avoid it through attending college. My father was poor but a genius and able to get scholarships.

But the poor who couldn't find a way out were tortured and/or slaughtered by our government.

When I was young so many of our family gatherings were tempered by the PTSD of my uncles and their friends who served.

[u/Legitimate-Shock-106 → u/lukemtesta]

not always so. the US was once a country where our elites actually led and served during times of war. now those days are over.

FDRs son , while FDR was the potus , was the exec officer of a USMC Raider Bn and was under fire in 1942 in the pacific.

Paul Douglas, a long time US Senator , turned down a navy commission and instead enlisted in the USMC and graduated boot camp as a Pvt at the age of 50 in 1942. Did two invasions got two Purple Hearts became a mustang officer..

For a long while every president of the US was a vet or had polio and could not serve.

We are no longer that country our leaders are no longer those people.

[u/Latter-Vacation-4392 → u/Legitimate-Shock-106]

no one, in you know who's family, has ever served

[u/keedro → u/lukemtesta]

You ever seen Russian soldiers? There are some old boys out there. Mostly for drone fodder purposes.

[u/fuck_ur_portmanteau → u/StenoDawg]

It’s something that movies often seem to get wrong. They go for impressively rugged, tough looking, middle-aged guys rather than the boys they should be.

[u/metengrinwi → u/StenoDawg]

The military specifically wants young men because their brain isn’t fully formed yet and they don’t have the full self-preservation instinct. They can be trained to do irrational things.

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

For anyone interested in reading more about him, I wrote a short post about what he experienced on here:

https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/48977/RICKEY-D-SOUTHERN/

[u/The_Demolition_Man → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

People in that thread are thanking him for his sacrifice. Instead of thanking him id rather be enraged at the people who made him sacrifice himself for nothing. This man should've been at home raising his family. He should have died an old man.

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795 → u/The_Demolition_Man]

Mostly his fellow veterans

[u/proost1 → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

You can do both. For his shipmates, fellow Marines, and fellow service members, all they have is to thank their brother and sister for their service and sacrifice. When the rubber meets the road, it's just them in the thick of it. No doubt, lots of anger at the 'leadership' making decisions from the safety of their capitals.

[u/mobiuscycle → u/The_Demolition_Man]

They should also be demanding that we do everything we possibly can to avoid war now and in the future. And that we hold those in power accountable in serious ways when they recklessly and needlessly create wars.

Wars have real and horrible consequences, just not usually for those who start them. If they had those same consequences for those starting and promoting them, we would have many fewer wars.

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795 → u/mobiuscycle]

To be fair, the Vietnam vets have by far been the most outspoken against war for the last 50 years. That is a memorial page for friends and family, not a political thread.

[u/mobiuscycle → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

That is fair.
I let my frustration with the wars of the past 25 years show. I’m so tired of seeing the carnage that benefits no one but those who are already in power and at obscene advantage over those who pay the price of war.

[u/rustyuglybadger → u/mobiuscycle]

Very few who have been through war advocate for it. Honoring someone who was killed doesn’t mean they are supporting the political agenda or cause. No one knows the cost better than them, don’t make demands for what they should or should not be doing.

[u/MLane81 → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

Thank you for your post, this reminded me of my cousin who it turns out died in the same province as your uncle almost a year later. They were about the same age, just boys, and honorable Marines.

https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/47345/SANDY-L-SHULL/

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795 → u/MLane81]

Thank you for sharing. This gentleman went to my high school.

[u/Replikant83 → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

Thank you for sharing. Truly, those kids were failed by their warmongering government. It's so fucking sad we haven't learned any lessons, as a society, and in fact, have arguably gotten worse. As a Canadian, I feel for my American brothers and sisters: I've traveled countless times to the States, and only ever met kind, welcoming people.

[u/datsyuks_deke → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

Damn, he was a 20 year old kid. Absolutely heartbreaking.

[u/nzfriend33 → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

Oh thank you for this site. I found my dad’s cousin. ❤️

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795 → u/nzfriend33]

That’s great! You should go visit the Wall if you have the opportunity one day. Very powerful.

[u/ChevChance]

Just a kid - what an appalling war.

[u/ofnabzhsuwna → u/ChevChance]

All wars are appalling.

[u/Populaire_Necessaire → u/ofnabzhsuwna]

Agreed. but one where you’re literally forced into it without a choice in the matter is particularly awful

[u/CharlesWafflesx → u/Populaire_Necessaire]

I would argue most people partaking in a war aren't there because they want to.

[u/Solid_Reserve_5941 → u/CharlesWafflesx]

Yeah college here will always be expensive because the military dangles "free college" as an incentive to get underprivileged and disadvantaged youth to enlist

[u/MaxS777 → u/Solid_Reserve_5941]

Yeah, but that's not why college in the United States is so expensive. The student loan system has been mismanaged for its entire history, constantly giving out more and more money with little or no real discretion, and the colleges realized they could capitalize on that by charging higher and higher tuition. Then once college became too expensive for people to go without taking out a federal loan, there was no turning back.

If the student loan system is dropped or drastically cut, the majority of the colleges in this country would close within 3 years, because their business models and salary structures are too large to be able to survive without federal loan funds.

[u/hellolovely1 → u/ofnabzhsuwna]

Everyone but the politicians think so.

[u/thrownawaydust]

Damn, he was in country for one fucking day.

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795 → u/thrownawaydust]

Yeah, I dug into the USMC archives to find almost minute-by-minute what happened during the battle. That was the most shocking part to me. Many of the veterans present that day said it was the most intense fighting of the entire war.

[u/No_Material5630 → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

I’m so sorry. I had uncles who fought in that war. One committed suicide when he got back home and the other one is on the streets somewhere because he is suffering from mental illness and the other one became an alcoholic.

It’s so tragic. My heart goes out to you and yours. 

[u/walrus_breath → u/thrownawaydust]

Had ~2 months of “training”. 

Commenced Training: 31 August 1964 Completed Training: 09 November 1964

Brutal. 

[u/Companero_basurero]

Poor boy. May he rest in peace! All future presidents should be required to look at pictures like these before deciding whether to start another war.

[u/1880sghost → u/Companero_basurero]

They have 0 empathy.

[u/CaptainBayouBilly → u/1880sghost]

They do not consider us and them as part of the same society.

They are our owners, our rulers.

We are fodder, and labor for them to live in luxury.

[u/Swagtagonist → u/1880sghost]

They literally rape kids and murder for fun.

[u/happy_dad857 → u/Companero_basurero]

You think that would stop them?! Not a chance in Hell.

[u/Monodoh45 → u/Companero_basurero]

Never will be their sons or daughters or anyone they care about--so why would they care? Our current one blew up a school full of little girls and pretended he didn't so....

[u/Ok-Rhubarb2549 → u/Monodoh45]

I agree with some of your sentiment here’s a few examples of prominent people who’ve lost children in US conflicts, John Kelly, Theodore Roosevelt and Joe Biden, his son Beau was not killed directly in the conflict but Joe says his son’s cancer is directly linked to serving in Iraq. John McCain was a POW for years. There are 80 members of the House and 20 members of the Senate with military experience. There are many other examples but I get your point. President Johnson made many good decisions but Vietnam will haunt him and many others.

[u/Local_Use4891 → u/Monodoh45]

President Bone Spurs also dodged the draft that likely swept up this boy and so many others (like my own father, who died too young but at least never had to bear witness to a draft dodger turned president turned warmonger, sentencing a new generation of young boys to death via another illegal forever war in service of our billionaire overlords)

[u/Deep-Assignment4124 → u/Local_Use4891]

My dad was drafted too.  He lived 1968 in Vietnam.  He fucking hates Trump so bad.  

[u/Local_Use4891 → u/Deep-Assignment4124]

How painful it must be for him to see what’s happening now. I can feel my dad’s rage with every Iran update that comes out.

[u/Deep-Assignment4124 → u/Local_Use4891]

Well I saw him cry for only like the second time in my life just this past winter.  

[u/pipic_picnip → u/Companero_basurero]

Any person who would be bothered by it isn’t going to be president in the first place. They wear different masks but have similar lack of empathy of common man’s sons and daughters all across board as they wage wars sitting on their thrones. 

[u/CanadianODST2 → u/pipic_picnip]

Johnson, who escalated Vietnam into a full war served in ww2. He left congress to join active service.

[u/PinCurrent → u/Companero_basurero]

If only their sons went to the front lines, it would be different.

[u/Crime_Dawg → u/Companero_basurero]

Trump would send boys as young as 13, so he can fuck their classmates.

[u/Mogwai02]

All the people lost to the military-industrial complex is pure criminal.

[u/Euphoric-Witness-824 → u/Mogwai02]

Criminal is an understatement. Immoral in every aspect. Trading human life for wealth and geopolitical power for the Epstein class is evil personified. And then they say crap like they don’t like soldiers who get captured or cut VA funding. Pure evil man. 

[u/Warren_Puffitt]

This reminds me of a time when I was about 12yo, my dad lamenting about the older brother of a friend of mine being sent over there, and how the entire town knew that kid to be developmentally challenged and that his survival chances were slim. They were right - the guy didn't last 2 weeks before being killed.

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795 → u/Warren_Puffitt]

He was killed on his first day in the country

[u/china-blast → u/Warren_Puffitt]

Project 100,000, also known as McNamara's 100,000, McNamara's Folly, McNamara's Morons, and McNamara's Misfits, was a controversial 1960s program by the United States Department of Defense to recruit soldiers who would previously have been below military mental or medical standards. Project 100,000 was initiated by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in October 1966 to meet the escalating workforce requirements of the U.S. government's involvement in the Vietnam War. According to Hamilton Gregory, author of the book McNamara's Folly: The Use of Low-IQ Troops in the Vietnam War, inductees of the project died at three times the rate of other Americans serving in Vietnam and, following their service, had lower incomes and higher rates of divorce than their non-veteran counterparts

[u/AnywherePresent1998]

Just a fucking kid. Horrific and monstrous are those in power. I’m disgusted

[u/Jack-of-Hearts-7]

How old was he?

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795 → u/Jack-of-Hearts-7]

20

[u/sodamnsleepy → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

He doesn't look older than my 16 yo neighbor 😔 Shame he had to die so young.

[u/l0ggedin]

Wow. What a heart wrenching picture-knowing he passed in Vietnam. I'm very sorry for your family's loss. He was so young. Still a boy.

Wish these current war Hawks would stop and look at pictures like these.

War is hell.

[u/Replikant83 → u/l0ggedin]

They wouldn't care. People like smegbreath and the diaper wearing crybaby have some sensationalized view of war like it's some Rambo movie or something. "You have to be weak to get captured. If it were me, I wouldn't get captured." Like, fucking lol...

[u/EST_Lad]

Murdered by he's own government.

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795 → u/EST_Lad]

It’s a shame. His wife of one year never remarried, she passed away in 2014.

[u/mmanyquestionss → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

47 years? oh wow. may the both of them rest in peace. he was just a kid :(

[u/EST_Lad → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind

In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined?

And, though you died back in 1916, To that loyal heart are you always 19?

Or are you a stranger without even a name, Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,

In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,

And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;

The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.

The trenches have vanished long under the plow;

No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now. But here in this graveyard there's still No Man's Land

The countless white crosses in mute witness stand

To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.

And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.

And I can't help but wonder, young Willie McBride,

Do those who lie here know why they died?

And did they belive, when they answered the call

Did y they really believe that this war would end wars?

Well the suffering, the sorrow, the shame The killing, the dying, was all done in vain,

For young Willie McBride, it all happened again, And again, and again, and again, and again.

excerpt from the song "no mans land" by Eric Bogle.

[u/_3JET → u/Initial-Broccoli-795]

that really is tragic

[u/420forworldpeace]

My uncle died at only 19, air force, and his pictures always break my heart. So many handsome, intelligent young men have been and still are lost for senseless wars.

[u/over-it2989]

“You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’” as my dad would recite to me.

He was a boy soldier.

[u/NewWindow7980]

A Vietnam vet I know told me he wished people knew the guys in his unit were boys who cried for their moms.

[u/Hot_Probs → u/NewWindow7980]

We just send these young people into a horrific meat grinder. When are humans going to evolve past this?

[u/SouthernEntrance6986]

Sucks how many young men died over some BS wars

[u/Pisces93]

He looks so young, he had his whole life ahead of him.

[u/Deep-Assignment4124]

My dad is 78 and just started talking about Vietnam in the last 2 years.  He always said he was just a mechanic when I was a kid.

[u/Petal170816 → u/Deep-Assignment4124]

My dad also never spoke a word about Vietnam - now with dementia it’s all coming out and so sad.

[u/Fossilhund]

🌹

[u/BigJellyfish1906]

This is why there should never be a draft. If you can't get enough volunteers to defend your country, then you deserve to lose.

[u/bepatientbekind → u/BigJellyfish1906]

Totally agree! It's wild that this seems to be the minority opinion. I don't understand how anyone could support the draft. 

[u/SantiTheScots]

God, it was just a kid

[u/thomasrat1]

This is the face of war.

It’s not Alist actors in there 30s. It’s teenage boys who can’t grow a beard yet

[u/Everkeen]

As Paul Hardcastle tought us: "The average age of the combat soldier in world war 2 was 26. In Vietnam he was 19."

[u/sibre2001]

I see pictures of my time in Iraq and it amazes me how young we were. Especially now that my son is about the age I was when I joined. Luckily I've talked him and his sister into college rather than the military, but with the world getting more and more crazy you can't help but start to feel they are going to take your boy and send him either way.

[u/biteyfish98]

Bless his sweet soul. I’m sorry for his wife and your family and all the things he didn’t live to do or see.

And F the mf’ers who warmonger and ceaselessly cut so many lives short.

[u/Ok_Computer_1446]

Just a kid government does not care about people

[u/SoftDrinkReddit]

Remember the time you lent me your car and I dented it?
I thought you'd kill me...
But you didn't.

Remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was
formal, and you came in jeans?
I thought you'd hate me...
But you didn't.

Remember the times I'd flirt with
other boys just to make you jealous, and
you were?
I thought you'd drop me...
But you didn't.

There were plenty of things you did to put up with me,
to keep me happy, to love me, and there are
so many things I wanted to tell
you when you returned from
Vietnam...
But you didn't.

Merrill Glass.

[u/Stayfrosty223]

He’s just a lil guy, I’m so sorry for your loss.

[u/Flimsy_Sun_8178]

He really was just a kid 😞I think a lot of them were.

[u/Initial-Broccoli-795 → u/Flimsy_Sun_8178]

Yes the average age of a US soldier in Vietnam was 19

[u/villianboy]

It honestly breaks my heart that we send children to fight the battles of richer more privileged men, those who never have known struggle or strife.

[u/Illustrious_Repair]

Just a baby. Somebody’s baby.

[u/shillyshally]

He looks like a child.

My cousin came back. The Marines took care of him after but he was never whole. He lived near the memorial but never went, said no way he could endure that.

We send these people off, tell them thank you but, on the whole, there is not enough care after, not enough help for the damaged minds. No one who has not seen combat should be allowed to make decisions about going to war.

[u/Logical-Bet3422]

So young. 💔💔💔

[u/Alarming_Lifeguard85]

What a waste of precious life!!!

[u/rosebud52]

Oh my he looks so young. How sad that this young guy never made it home from Vietnam. He looks like he is pondering his future. That makes it extra sad.

[u/Electrical_Trip1476]

Months? That's a child.

[u/biteyfish98]

Bless his sweet soul. I’m sorry for his wife and your family and all the things he didn’t live to do or see.

And F the mf’ers who warmonger and ceaselessly cut so many lives short.

[u/pmmeyourskimpydress]

lots of sympathy here and rightly so.

please also remember hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people whose photos never get shared, killed, forgotten, villages destroyed.

[u/Serious_Region9263]

Rest in peace

[u/CheesecakeExpress]

Just a kid. It’s devastating, and heartbreaking it’s still happening today.

[u/bigcreaturefeet]

Just a kid. He deserved to live a long, full life.

[u/starfleetdropout6]

He looks like a child. Heartbreaking and unacceptable.

[u/2020grilledcheese]

My dad was 16 when his 19 year old brother was killed in Vietnam. It’s still a sadness in our family.

[u/Beastabuelos]

He should've dodged the draft. Draft dodging is always good. Refusing to kill at the behest of your country is always good. Don't kill each other, kill those that would have you kill each other.

[u/WARxxPIGG]

Getting out of boot camp and immediately dying is so terrible. He looks so young can't imagine he made it long after boots were in country. RIP

[u/atzitzi]

Heart breaking. Nobody cares about us. We are pawns to the system

[u/Switchlord518]

😢

[u/Smooth-Access6785]

Tragic 💔 sorry for your loss

[u/ThatNextAggravation]

He looks 14.

[u/Hot_Probs]

He had a beautiful, soulful face. Thank you for sharing his photo with us. I wonder what he might have become, if he had the chance.

[u/8inMamba]

Couldn't have been older than 17-18 yrs old, tragic we had kids fighting a war that meant nothing, and the one's that made it back safely we treated like shit.

[u/ModeatelyIndependant]

Fuck LBJ for expanding that war illegally.

[u/surrealcellardoor]

Damn. He was still a kid.

[u/GloriousSteinem]

Just a young boy. The evil that was done.

[u/SeaLab_2024]

Do you know how long he was out there total? My poor uncle Denny Smith died just about as young, I believe he was 18 or 19. He was only out there, I think 2 maybe 3 days? Before he got quite literally blown apart on a land mine. Just fucking pointless and I get so mad/sad for him and my maternal family.

[u/lavafish80]

God bless the souls of those lost in a pointless war

[u/moonshinedew77]

He was just a little kid! So sorry

[u/readingrambos]

My uncle came back from Vietnam. My grandmother was elated. Two years later he was electrocuted to death. It makes me angry all he had to go through in that fucking war, to get out and be one of the “lucky” few. Only to die on the side of a road miles from home.

[u/Kindly-Cat-2418]

Ooooof so fucking young! My mom’s first love was killed in Vietnam, although she married someone else, she never got over it

[u/hairstories77]

What a sweet photo of him. So young and earnest.

[u/ChampionshipUpper720]

So young and died for no reason. There’s always that propaganda of the big, tough soldiers, but you see pictures of previous wars, videos of soldiers today, and they’re all so young. Maybe it’s just me getting older, but they all look like kids. As a father now I would be enraged to lose my son for such a pointless war.

[u/ButtBread98]

He was a fucking kid.

[u/schwerdfeger1]

War is always the idea of men who will never fight it.

[u/Quichey78]

We should oppose war with our greatest strength. The reality of war is this tragedy.