The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 10, 1984, Page Page 17, Image 17
Intercampus
Memories of Vie
X j
uamiui ut; rurgoi
Recently, I was looking through the televisio
newspaper and 1 noticed that a 12-part series 01
War is being r~broadcast. I thought, it is good
forget. And at t' same time, I remembered a pi
ten some months back on the war. It was a p
own perspectives, my own remembrance.
The huee erav stnnp stood amiH tart fpw
memories of the past. Names had been carved
? names of dead men. Dead men, not heroes
huge slab was a monument to a war that never v
that never existed.
This monument, this hunk of rock, was a na
tempt to honor the dead of a war that that natic
port and that left its survivors still living this nij
Vietnam.
1 remember Vietnam. As a teenager, I vvouh
newscasters on the 6 p.m. news read off the day
I thought that event was so ordinary; killing in v
uncanny ordinariness that was accepted and
nn/^tn/'l A I tf?r rno/i i > r? tlin /?o r 11 o I r t r I irt tUn
r^nvi ivuu, 15 inv, v.a.^utni) ii:>i, iiiv. iiwv
then show the other side of the war, the longand
the rebellious college students carrying thei
test that said we shouldn't be over there. But
for better or worse, we were there, and like gc
we would stay there until the job was done, no
the job would never be done.
The war had a personal meaning for me. My
Vietnam, and my family, like many others, wa
resignation for that news, praying all the tim<
never come. I remember the uneasy feeling
strange car in the driveway and the deafening ?
the house when the phone rang. But, luckily
that news never came. Yes, I remember it mostl
* #
ment of its victims by us good Americans.
Those who did walk out of Vietnam h;
welcome home. Maybe unlike soldiers of wars
home to cheers and parades, the Vietnam sold
to the deadening silence of a nation that had tur
its own kind. And just as those soldiers of t
wars, the Vietnam soldier fought his war, too.
nocent people slaughtered, his friends blown
endless line 01 ooay oags waning iu oc Miipj
way, being shipped home in a body bag may
best way out of the jungle.
The dead soldier was escorted to his final re
military guard and pallbearers, but the soldier '
of the maze of Vietnam would never have a fin
He would always be shifting sand in constant
This lack of a hero's welcome was a sign ol
height of the Vietnam War came during the
rebellious time when people were promoting
over the horrors of war. Many Americans didi
involvement in the war and, therefore, they dii
war's participants.
There really didn't have to be parades tho
tended hand would have been enough.
But how could we understand the precisic
another human being? How could we understj
day by the rule of kill or be killed? How cc
M-16 rifle with hands that knew only a pea
The answers are that we couldn't know unles
but we could have understood that a lot of g<
through hell to preserve some kind of order ir
with disorder. We could have, but we didn't
1 remember Vietnam, and the newscaster';
outstreched hands offered to the prisoners of
off the planes. 1 remember the salutes and I
standing at attention. And 1 remember thin
how proud the politicians must be feeling with
negotiations. And I remember the silent tea
who didn't get that handshake or that sail
because so many forgot.
If my recollections seem fragmented, the
intentional because that was Vietnam ? a fra
historical trash swept under the rug. In writi
couldn't help but remember the words car'
' '""" ?U?? , ?..?,iMan, V.-?rl/ Harhr*r Thf? U
iiuiit uiui Maiiu^ in iim i ui 11 - of
the Statue of Liberty read: "Give me your
died masses yearning to be free." America
holds freedom above all else, yet we have
precious of gifts from those who dared to figl
War. We have robbed them of their freedc
from the guilt of being part of that war.
If that huge piece of gray stone which stan<
to the Vietnam era veteran is anything at all,
us that now all those casualty lists and bod
have names and identities. And if those indiv
ed out of the jungle serve any purpose at all
to pray no other such confrontation happt
who fought in Vietnam won't fight for the <
cd its back.
1 remember Vietnam. I don't think any o
forget, just as we can't afford to forget I
Holocaust or any other atrocity which left
scar of war on its victims.
Univ
Wl
<
mam |
II
n section of a '
n the Vietnam I
that we don't
ece I had writiece
about my
and too late HLjV
into the stone
because this
vas and heroes ?
mm
tion's vain at
m did not sup- HI g
ihtmare called
i watch as the
's casualty list.
wartime had an ^ r
strangely ex- ^ ^ \ 3
^scastcr would
haired hippies ^1 \ '
r signs of pro- ^
we were there,
>od Americans
t realizing that
k ,h ^
brother was in
^2 Interfraten
s surrea oy a ^
silence through
for my family, hsj
ly for the treat- c.rj
ad no heroes'
past who came ^
lier came home
ned its back on ?*
I L* ~ *
iic paM luujfiu ^ >?
He has seen inapart,
and ihe
)ed home. In a f~*
have been the ^ -j
<c
sting place by a
who walked out
al resting place.
mo,ion- TU Sorority Rus
I the times. The J
1960s. H was a Orientation
peace and love
l't support U.S.
dn't support the
ugh; just an ex- OnPIl HoUSf
>n art ol killing Round I
*nd living day to
mid we hold an ROUnd II . .
icetul existence?
s we were there, PTCfCTCnCC
ood people went
\ a country filled Bid Day . . .
5 account of the
war as they got Registration de;
[he honor guard ,
king at the time who are interes
i such productive or ca[] 777-2322
rs oi the soldier
jte. 1 remember
fragmentation is
gmented piece of FrHtCmitV F
ng this column 1 J
>ed into another i Orientation
/ords on the base
tired, your hud- Open Hous
is a country that r
taken that most
ht in the Vietnam
)m to be free ? I Invitation T
Is as a monument
it is a reminder to
y count numbers
/iduals who walk
it is to remind us
:ns because those g y (1
country that turn- -_^1
f us can afford to
Hiroshima or the
the unremovable
I no uany Deacon
rersity of Tennessee
3 o oooooooooooo
2
0 Famous Chkken'n Biscuits
? TRY !
o and BO- O
t~ ~? ?? _______
o j Baked Bo-Tater
o S only 99<t
O J served with whipped
Q j margarine (toppings extra)
/~N I Limit 1 |tor oustonior
I Kxpiros August .'{1. 1HS J
Q| ^
oooooooooooooc
^AYKAK2AXA(DZ\
le University of South Ca
nity Council and Panhelle
present:
aterijity aijd So
l?usl? 1984
h
August 21 Russe
6:30 Upperclassmen
8:00 Freshmen
adline for sorority rush is Monday, Ai
ted can sign-up at the Student Activit
1UI IUUIL iiiiunnaiiuii,
Lush
Aiicrii<;f
? ? A. A V4 ^ V4 U W V 1*1(1
e August 27-28 ....
)ays
R?EKS AD?
oooooooooo?
lo
1425 SUMTER 2
(CORNER SUMTER 0
& HAMPTON)
Now convenient to ^
USC Campus! O
o
SALAD BAR ?
li ?/J^o: O
; o
Good at
1425 Sumter Street ! O
I ?
Famous Chicken n Biscuits O
! ni
)OOOOOOOQOOP
e0l<Vo,..
%
T~
rolina's <5
:nic Association 5=,
m
N4
rs/i
rority
* I
OO
August 21-29
'11 House Ballroom
August 22-23
August 24-25
August 26-27
.... August 28
.... August 29
jgust 20 by 5 p.m. Ladies
ies Center, Russell House
August 26-31
. . . . Location TBA
. . . McBryde Quad
and Whaley Street
August 29-31
LIFE!