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| VVA899 SCHOLARSHIP WINNER 2008 |
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| DAN THOMPSON |
2008 VVA 899 Scholarship Winner
Dan Thompson
Click here to read Dan's essay and term paper, "The Scars of Vietnam." A Great read Dan!
| Welcoming the Troops at Fort Dix |
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| Taken by NY Times May 11, 2008 |
NEW YORK TIMES PUBLICATION MAY 11,
2008
Jersey
With Echoes of Their
War, Veterans Greet Iraq Soldiers
By KEVBY KEVIN COYNE Published: May 11, 2008
Fort Dix
THE old soldiers squared their shoulders
and arranged themselves in line, a dozen strong, as a bus rounded the corner carrying what they had once been themselves:
Americans in uniform, at the end of a long journey back from a distant war whose burdens have been shared unequally at home.
The Iraq veterans stepped out, and the Vietnam veterans offered what they wish someone had once offered them. “Welcome home,” Michael Engi said, firmly gripping the
hands of the weary, sunburned soldiers who clattered off the bus in combat fatigues, M-16s slung over their shoulders, and
continued along the line. “Glad
to have you back,” said Donald Smieszek, 61, who has two Purple Hearts, one from Good Friday in 1967, when half his
company was killed on a patrol outside An Hoa. “Welcome home, Sarge,” said George Tosh, 69, who lost both legs on his second tour of duty in Vietnam in 1968 when
he was leading a patrol back to base camp near Da Nang and stepped on a land mine. For thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan each year, their first steps back
in the United States are on the sandy soil of this old army base that sprawls across the pines of southern New Jersey —
the same base that Mr. Engi reported to in 1969 from his home in nearby Bordentown, when he was 19 and on his way to Vietnam;
and that he returns to several times each week, to welcome home another flight of soldiers. Sometimes only a handful of members of the group he leads, Vietnam
Veterans of America Chapter 899, can make it, and sometimes as many as 20 do; but since December 2004, he has tried to make
sure that no soldiers come home the way he did in 1970: to no one. “They’ve been doing it long before I was here, and they’ll be doing it after I’m
gone,” said Capt. Ben King, commander for the last year of Bravo Company, Mobilization Readiness Battalion, which processed
77 returning Army Reserve and National Guard units in 2007, a total of 5,381 soldiers. (Fort Dix has bustled in recent years as the busiest training, departure
and return base for the Reserve and Guard units the current wars have depended so heavily upon.) “They just talk to
them to make them feel like people again instead of soldiers.” A second bus unloaded, and then, a few minutes later, the third and final one of the day —
60 soldiers in all whose plane had just landed at adjacent McGuire Air Force Base, most of them members of the 535th Military
Police Battalion who had spent nine months guarding 4,000 detainees at an internment facility near the Baghdad airport. As
the soldiers made their way along the line of Vietnam veterans, a few of the handshakes became embraces. “If we don’t come out, who’s going to be here?”
asked Mr. Engi, 59, a retired Burlington County sheriff’s officer who enlisted in the Army after high school and served with the 13th Artillery
Battalion in the central highlands of Vietnam. “Nobody, and we know how that felt.” Many of his fellow veterans have harsh memories of homecomings similar to Mr.
Engi’s: the long flight across the Pacific; arriving at Fort Lewis, Wash., to find antiwar protesters at the gate; a
steak dinner, a new Class A uniform and, a few hours later, a ticket home on a commercial flight loaded with civilians who
sometimes glared and muttered curses. “No
matter how unpopular the war might be, you have to recognize that these soldiers are your next-door neighbors, your brothers
and sisters,” Mr. Engi said. “We’re not here for any political agenda; we’re not here for anybody’s
agenda. We’re here for the soldiers.” Soldiers travel mostly in units now — instead of going home by themselves when their tours ended, as they did
during the Vietnam War — and after the reception line the new arrivals trooped into the red-brick auditorium where the
U.S.O. was serving hot dogs, and Captain King’s unit was ready with the first of many briefings. They would remain at
Fort Dix for seven days, demobilizing, before returning to their unit’s home, in Garner, N.C. They rose as one and applauded
as the Vietnam
veterans were introduced, and Mr. Engi stood before them to speak. “We’re proud of what you guys did, how you stepped up to the plate, just like we did
when it was our turn,” Mr. Engi said, and he gestured toward his fellow Vietnam veterans. He got another standing ovation when he
finished, and the young soldiers drifted off to turn in their weapons and find their barracks. “We get more out of it than they do,” Mr. Smieszek said
as he helped clean up. He and the other Vietnam veterans also return two evenings each week to visit wounded soldiers at the Warrior Transition
Unit here. “It’s better than any parade or anything.” Among the returning soldiers, one lingered: Command Sgt. Maj. Jim Parker, 57, who had embraced his
fellow Vietnam
veterans when he got off the bus. “It’s getting to be kind of a thing that older soldiers do now,” he said,
and he was grateful for the welcome. “Everybody wants to know they’re appreciated.” He was an Army Ranger in Vietnam from 1971 to 1972, and then a reservist in Afghanistan in 2004 before
his deployment to Iraq. He and Mr. Engi, it turned out, had left for Vietnam from the same base they had returned to today, and they stood
talking for a while in the warm spring sun, not quite all the way home yet, but closer.
Click here to read the "Jersey Guys" article in the VVA Veteran about our chapter.
Great video no matter what your politics by Newt Gingrich, check it out, its an eye opener.
| December 11, 2007 Easing the Pain see below |
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| Christmas Party for our Deployed Military families |
Posted on Sat, Dec. 15, 2007
Easing pain
of war's separationBy Edward Colimore Inquirer Staff Writer
Where's Daddy? When is he coming home? Why are you putting up the Christmas tree instead of
him? For Sylvia Melendez, the most difficult moments in her family's separation are when her 9-year-old son and 5-year-old
daughter unexpectedly ask about their Army sergeant father serving in Iraq. "I tell the kids that Daddy is working
and he'll be home as soon as he can," said Melendez, 31, of Northeast Philadelphia. "There have been some tears."
Though the holidays are "more challenging" this year, Melendez has found support and understanding from other
service families who know what it's like to miss a loved one. This week, she joined scores of military spouses
and children gathered for a "Hearts Apart" holiday party at the Fort Dix Youth Center. They were joined by soldiers
and their families who had recently been reunited after deployments and others soon to be separated. "It's
been sad and emotional, but having activities like this makes it easier," said Melendez, who regularly speaks with and
e-mails her husband Angel, stationed in Tikrit. The party, Hearts Apart meetings and other family-related programs
help create "a feeling of community and family," said Amada Espinoza, manager of the relocation program for the
fort's Army Community Service. "We support each other," Espinoza said as she greeted soldiers and their
relatives. Especially this time of year, you need the camaraderie of "others in the same boat," said guest
Rosie Case, whose husband Jonathan, an Army chief warrant officer, is in Balad, Iraq. "Nobody is ever really prepared
for this. You just do it," said Case, 36, of Point Pleasant. "I get somewhat emotional if I hear a song like 'I'll
Be Home for Christmas.' I have moments of being weepy, but I'm mostly fine." Case gave her husband an
early Christmas present during a phone call in which she announced he was going to be a father. "He was quiet for a while
and then said, 'Holy cow!' " she said. "He's thrilled." The 36-year-old former Apache helicopter
pilot, who now flies a C-12 passenger plane, is due home in May after nearly eight months away. The baby is expected in July.
"It's nice to know you're not alone," Case said. "I used to hear people talk about soldiers
and their families, but I didn't know anyone in the military. Now, I'm one of those family members." Spouses
and children "have to adapt," said Jessica Simes, of Browns Mills, whose husband, Tyrone, is an Air Force loadmaster
who regularly flies over Iraq. "This is a tough time. You go to as many holiday gatherings as you can to distract the
kids. You give them gifts and toys," said Simes, 26, a relocation support assistant at the Army Community Service Center,
and mother of two boys, ages 4 and 5. "We cling together," she said. "We rely on our friends a lot more.
We just deal with it. We don't really have any choice." The pain of separation is sharp even when the Stateside
spouse is also in the military. "Every day is difficult," said Claudia Bell, a senior master in the Air Force Reserve,
who helps oversee the transport of patients. Her husband, Air Force Staff Sgt. Rance Bell, is a loadmaster who flies between
Qatar and Iraq. "I feel for the soldiers who don't come back, or come back without arms and legs," said
Bell, 54, of Burlington Township. "Every day that passes is a day my husband is OK. "You take it a day at
a time," she said. "They're serving a wonderful cause. There is no price on freedom." As the military
family members ate, commiserated and encouraged one another, a company of young people from the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn,
Essex County, performed Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa songs. Hugs for Children, Inc., a nonprofit based in Randolph
Township, Morris County, arranged for the entertainment, food and gifts for the kids. The group also provides gifts at Army
bases at Fort Campbell, Ky., and Fort Bragg, N.C. It was Hugs' fifth year at Fort Dix, said founder Elzbieta Ravin. She
was joined by Sandra Bongart, a child advocate and cosmetologist at Adorn Beauty Center and Spa in Bordentown, which uses
"therapy dogs" to help special-needs children get through haircuts. Bongart brought four dogs to the party for the
children to play with. "They're for stress management," she said, as the kids cuddled the dogs on the
floor. Michael Engi, president the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 899, brought a surprise, too: $1,500 worth of
commissary gift certificates - $25 for each family. "The lower-ranking enlisted men don't have the money that
the officers make," Engi said. "They have wives and kids here. This helps them buy the things they need. "None
of us ever forgot how we were treated when we came home, so we welcome the troops. That's why we do things for their families."
Lyn Hayes, 36, whose husband Frank, an Army chief warrant officer, served in Iraq last year, has found that fort events
such as the party help families "build relationships." Hayes used to live in Lower Merion, but she moved
into military housing on the base because she was lonely - even with six children, 7 to 18 years old. "There are
more services available and neighbors know what you're going through," she said. "You don't feel isolated.
Before I even moved in, one neighbor brought over a plate of cookies." For her part, Sylvia Melendez has vowed
to give her children the best holiday she can. "But next Christmas will be better, because Angel will be home,"
she said. "He's already making plans for it. He wants to take us to Hawaii."
Contact
staff writer Edward Colimore at 856-779-3833 or ecolimore@phillynews.com. To comment, or to ask a question, go to http://go.philly.com/askcolimore.
Below
Gallery is of our 25th Anniversary Trip to Washington, DC and National Convention in Springfield, Illinois. Just click
on the picture to enlarge. Many thanks to our brothers & sisters from VVA Chapter 510. Your hospitality,
camaraderie and kindness will always be remembered.
You guys were the best!
Vietnam vets give what they never gotThe
Inquirer
By Edward Colimore
Inquirer Staff WriteVietnam vets from New Jersey have
ready handshakes to greet troops returning from Iraq at Fort Dix. | |
For the last year, they saw the Iraq war up close;
some fought gun battles with the enemy, and all were far from home and the comforts of family. Then,
after a marathon flight, the troops were back again yesterday, tired, excited, hungry, and still loaded down with their M-16s
and military gear. They did not expect anyone to notice. But at
the journey's end, Michael Engi and fellow Vietnam veterans were waiting. They are always there for the troops coming
home from Iraq and Afghanistan. At 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning - any time of the
day or night - it does not matter. They drop what they are doing and head to Fort Dix to greet the soldiers and offer warm
handshakes. As 150 troops piled off buses at the Mobilization and Demobilization
Briefing Center, more than a dozen Vietnam veterans formed a receiving line to give a welcome they did not receive decades
ago. One veteran played the haunting melody of "The Minstrel Boy" on the bagpipes. Curt Anderson of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 899 plays the bagpipes as troops returning from
Iraq get off buses at Fort Dix. Yesterday, he played "The Minstrel Boy." | |
As 150 troops piled off buses at the Mobilization and
Demobilization Briefing Center, more than a dozen Vietnam veterans formed a receiving line to give a welcome they did not
receive decades ago. One veteran played the haunting melody of "The Minstrel Boy" on the bagpipes. "Welcome home! Welcome back!" a beaming Engi said over and over as the soldiers moved past him. Many lit up with smiles. Some teared up. America's newest veterans - scores of them from Pennsylvania, Delaware
and other states - were surprised and touched by the gesture. One of them took the American flag
patch from his uniform and handed it to a Vietnam-era veteran, Dexter Hawkins of Browns Mills, as a way of saying thanks.
"They become overwhelmed with emotion," said Engi, 59, of Bordentown,
president of New Jersey Chapter 899 of the Vietnam Veterans of America. "They're just glad to see someone understands.
You see handshakes and hugs. They can't thank us enough." The Vietnam veterans form a reception
line, something they have been doing, at any time day or night, for three years. | |
"They become overwhelmed with emotion," said
Engi, 59, of Bordentown, president of New Jersey Chapter 899 of the Vietnam Veterans of America. "They're just glad
to see someone understands. You see handshakes and hugs. They can't thank us enough." Army
Reserve Sgt. Tim Simon, 22, of Franklin, Pa., who just returned from al-Qayyarrah, Iraq, and who serves in the 298th Transportation
Company, said: "This means a lot because of what they went through. It feels good." The
Vietnam veterans have been going to Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base for more than three years to offer encouragement and
advice. They said they felt an emotional kinship with the troops forged by the shared experience of war. But something cathartic happened along the way. Engi and his comrades said they got as much from the meetings as
the troops did, maybe more. "By welcoming them home, we were getting welcomed home, too,
and we never had that," said Engi, a former Burlington County sheriff's officer who organized the welcome-home events
and recruited other veterans. "Every time we go out there, it's the same thing. We get as much from these guys as
we give them. It's better than any parade we could have ever had." Hawkins, who served
in the Air Force from 1966 to 1989, added: "If I had a son who went to war, it would tear me up [if he returned without
a greeting]. I came home and was treated badly. It just wasn't right." Curt Anderson,
a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War who played the bagpipes yesterday, said the welcome-home ceremonies were "a bit like
closure for us. "It's good for both sides," Anderson, 53, of Willingboro said.
"It's giving something we never got. It helps make you whole." Tom Jellick, 75,
of Wrightstown, the second vice president of Chapter 899 and the group's chaplain, said he recalled "how lonesome
it was when I left for Vietnam and how bad the reception was when I got back." An Air Force
tech sergeant, he also recalled loading aircraft with ammunition and unloading bodies. "That bothered me more than anything
else," Jellick said. "Some of the bags had only pieces and the blood was leaking out. "So
when I first started coming out here [to welcome the troops home], I was emotional. I cried. They got their welcome, and I
didn't get mine. Some folks would get so emotional they'd have to walk around the corner. Now, we're pros at it.
It's like having a treatment at the psychiatrist. I feel I'm doing something, and I'm feeling better." Moments before the buses arrived yesterday, Engi asked his fellow Vietnam veterans "to raise your hands if you
want to reenlist. They're looking for a few good men." Then buses began pulling up. "Here they come," he
said. Engi recruited veterans in Chapter 899 for arrival and departure ceremonies at Fort Dix
and McGuire. The veterans also spend hours at the medical hold unit, where soldiers are treated for minor injuries as well
as post-traumatic stress disorder. They bring chili and other food and talk and play pool or cards with the troops. "I wanted them to know someone cares," said Engi, a former sergeant who served with an artillery unit in
Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 and who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Engi said he and
other veterans tell the troops what worked for them, especially those affected by trauma disorder. Each group that arrives
is different, depending on the role they had, and the levels of combat they experienced. "We
get standing ovations from the troops all the time," he said. "We don't want them to be forgotten. Somebody
has to speak up for them." Army Sgt. Emmanuel Maxwell, 25, a member of the 24th Quartermaster
unit from Fort Lewis, Wash., felt buoyed after the reception. "It's always good to get
a welcome home. I wasn't expecting it." Army Maj. Marla Seeman, 48, of Harrington, Del.,
a member of the Delaware National Guard 198th Signal Battalion from New Castle, Del., said she was "honored that they
[Vietnam veterans] would do this for us. It was wonderful." One soldier probably had the
best perspective of any. Sgt. Maj. Robert Wilson, 57, of Bear, Del., had fought in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 and remembered
"going over and coming back by myself.
"I turned 20 in Vietnam and 57 in
Iraq," he said. "It couldn't be any better than to be welcomed by these guys. I hope they get what they want
out of this. There is a different feeling today than there was during Vietnam."
URL:
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20070917_Vietnam_vets_give_what_they_never_got.html
Response
posted:
Dear Public,
I am the
Subject person of this article in Military.com and would like to comment on the responses I have read here today.
I was amazed that the article would appear here but I am glad it did. More people need to know that good is being done all
over the world, we just don't often see it, just like in Iraq. It seems the media in general tends to focus on the bad things that happen only because
it sells. I have been at every returning flight of soldiers from Iraq in the past 3 years and I can tell you what they tell me, "don't believe everything
the media says". The same was true in Vietnam. Maybe it's not done intentionally
but by reporting all the bloody news and not the good that is done, gives an automatic bias or slant on what the truth may
be.
Many of you have applauded our efforts to give these Hero's the welcome we never had. To those I say thank
you. My reason for starting this was not for recognition. Most of us do not want parades, it's too late for that now.
I thought about going to them but the scars are too deep. It's not that we don't appreciate the effort, it's more
of that we just can't.
Even so, we recognize what is the right thing to do and so those of us who can, try
to make sure what happened does not happen to this generation. Somehow we must learn to separate the politics from the mission.
It's hard because they go hand in hand somehow.
Not all of us were drafted, the truth is about 60% of us volunteered
to go. I didn't kill any babies like John Kerry said, and never heard of anyone else. In any War you are going to have
incidents that just happen. War in itself brings out survival instincts built into every one of us. I know that innocent people
get killed in every war as I am sure did in Vietnam.
We do what we do
today because I saw no other veteran's group doing it and I felt it would really have the most meaning and set the strongest
example if it came from us. The Vietnam veterans. I believe it is a mission that
is working. It is working because it is the only thing that makes us feel better about our service to our Country. As simple
as it is, it gets back to what I was taught in Sunday School as a child, "do unto others", and I know it works.
We have gone into this mission to help the current generation who volunteered, to make them feel their efforts and pain is
appreciated and it has come back to us.
We see it in their eyes, we feel it in the hand shake,
the hugs and the tears. No words are necessary for these thoughts of war, nor can there be. What one human being can
do to another still haunts every one of us who has been to these Wars and will never go away.
Again, I thank you
all for your comments. If you would like to help or join us, you can. Our organization is not limited to being a Veteran to
join. For more information please look at our website below.
Sincerely,
Michael Engi
Chapter 899 President
www.vva899.org
Welcome mission
Burlington County Times
The country's
treatment of its Vietnam veterans represents a chapter of history many Americans wish they could forget — especially
the veterans themselves.
Celebratory parades? Forget it. Words of thanks from a grateful nation?
These battle-weary men and women were lucky if protesters didn't spit on them in the streets. Anti-war
feelings ran high in the 1960s and early 1970s, spilling over into the shabby treatment many returning combat vets experienced
when their tours of duty ended. Thomas Jellick is chaplain for the Bordentown Township chapter
of the Vietnam Veterans of America. “My worst day in combat was coming home,” Jellick
remembers, echoing the grim emotions he and his buddies experienced in that divisive and painful era. Members
of his organization are determined that history won't repeat itself. And they've turned that determination into action. Flight after returning flight, day or night, the local veterans meet the buses carrying soldiers arriving back at
Fort Dix with two enormous words they themselves longed to hear. “Welcome
home.” Such a simple phrase. Such a wonderful gesture. Chapter
President Michael Engi sums up his group's goals succinctly: Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan should not encounter
the same scorn and contempt they did nearly four decades ago. To the credit of most Americans,
the sentiment growing against the war in Iraq has not translated into animosity toward the men and women fighting it. Although they deal with injuries beyond imagination, both physical and emotional, today's returning vets do not
face the hostility that greeted their Vietnam-era counterparts. Far from it, as the Bordentown
group is so generously demonstrating. For these older vets, supporting the troops is more than
a catchphrase on a magnetic bumper sticker. It's a promise to their comrades that their service
has meaning and will never be forgotten.
(C)2004 The Roanoke
Times
Thursday, December 30, 2004
1173rd takes off for
Kuwait
By Mike Allen
981-3149
After a wait into the early morning, the Virginia Army National
Guard soldiers left New Jersey.
McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. - The catchphrase
of the night was "Hurry up and wait," repeated often by resigned soldiers bound for the war in Iraq, anxious to
get on their plane in hopes they could at last get some sleep.
Staff Sgt. Robert
Harrie, 33, of Bowling Green, Va., described the mode of operations as "Getting ready to get ready" after he and
other soldiers were told to line up to board buses, then ordered to sit down again.
Though
they sat into the wee hours of the morning in an Air Force terminal - almost identical to a civilian terminal, with the exception
of the camouflage uniforms and rifles - eventually, their wait did end. By Wednesday morning, all the members of the Virginia
Army National Guard's 1173rd Transportation Company had lifted off for Kuwait.
More
than half of the company, about 115 soldiers, boarded a chartered commercial airliner about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. The remainder,
about 55, left about 6:30 a.m., said David Moore, a spokesman with the Fort Dix, N.J., public affairs office. The 1173rd's
commanding officer, Capt. Mike Waterman, has said the unit will undergo about three more weeks of training in Kuwait before
likely being stationed in north-central Iraq.
Based out of Rocky Mount and Martinsville,
the 1173rd includes soldiers from other units, including Roanoke's 229th Chemical Company.
One of those soldiers, Sgt. Todd Hancock of Ferrum, joked that he was headed for "a one-year paid vacation"
while waiting to check his carry-on bag. "A tax-free paid vacation," added Chief Warrant
Officer Dennis Berry, 42, a Verizon cable technician who lives in Roanoke.
Berry was
one of many in the company who had nearly been deployed before. He felt that his previous close call will make it a little
easier for his family to deal with his absence. "They already kind of know what kind of rhythm, groove on their side
they have to do to keep the day-to-day thing going."
Many of the soldiers used
the wait in the terminal as an opportunity to call loved ones on cellphones. Spc. Carolyn Kibogy, 25, spoke with her boyfriend
in Maryland more than once. "He's having a hard time," she said. Kibogy, who emigrated from Kenya when she was
19, has relatives in Roanoke.
"It's a sad feeling to leave when you don't
know what to expect," she said. "I left home and now I'm leaving home again."
Pvt. Earl Ritchie used an Army-issued calling card to talk to his mother in Coeburn. At 19, Ritchie is the youngest
soldier in the unit. "Mama ain't too happy" about his going to war, he said. "I'm
nervous but excited," he said. "It's a new start on life, new opportunities. It'll make me mature a lot,
that's for sure. I'm gonna do a lot of growing up."
As the dark comedy
film "Dogma" played on the big-screen TV, another young soldier, Pfc. Tiffany Barbour, 20, a sophomore at Averett
University in Danville, tried to explain the movie's plot to another soldier. "I've seen every Kevin Smith movie,"
she said. She's a big fan of both Smith's movies and comic books, she said.
Barbour
joined the National Guard this year "for college, in all honesty." Because she knew some members of the 1173rd had
been deployed before, the company's call to active duty in August caught her by surprise, she said. "I'm not
pleased, I won't lie," she said. "I would rather be at school right now, or home with my family."
As the hours rolled past midnight, some of the soldiers took catnaps. Others used computers beside the television
to send e-mails.
Upstairs in the cantina, volunteers from the Bordentown,
N.J., chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America helped the USO, handing out hot dogs and chili for the departing troops. "We've
all been through what they're getting ready to go through, and it's kind of an unspoken camaraderie," said Michael
Engi, the chapter's second vice president. He showed off a jacket with the organization's motto: "Never again
will one generation of veterans abandon another." The cantina
volunteers watched as the plane that would take the 1173rd overseas pulled in on the tarmac.
Pfc. Malia Dent, 22, of Roanoke watched "Dogma" with Barbour. Delays in boarding the buses meant
they got to see the movie through to the end, though both had seen it before.
A mental illness
specialist with Fedora & Associates, Dent said she was happy to finally be going overseas. She has wanted to serve her
country, she said. "It's something that I've wanted to do, so I could have good stories to tell my grandchildren
one day." The second time the soldiers were told to line up, about 1:30 a.m., it wasn't
a false alarm. As they marched out to the waiting buses, staff at the terminal lined up to shake their hands and wish them
well. Then the doors closed, and they were gone.
(C)2004 The
Roanoke Times
Tuesday, January 1, 2008 The Trentonian |
| Posted on Tue, Aug 21, 2007
| Vietnam vets ensure returning vets get ‘Welcome home’
| By RICK MURRAY
| BORDENTOWN — Vietnam veteran Mike Engi
doesn’t remember being spat upon. But the cries of “Baby Killer!’’ still ring in his ears, and he
remembers “feeling like I had two heads” when he was with some fellow Americans after the war. That’s why Engi, president of Chapter 899 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and 20 other vets from a Bordentown
group always head out to Fort Dix and McGuire AFB whenever service men and women are returning home from Iraq or Afghanistan. “We make sure that every soldier coming home gets a welcome and handshake,” said Engi. “And those
handshakes, when they see who we are, those handshakes turn into smiles, hugs and even tears. They know where we’ve
been.” Engi, an Army artillery sergeant in his days in the central highlands
of Vietnam, vowed to make sure the soldiers and sailors of today felt appreciated when they got home. “My friends
died for that cause (Vietnam) and the rest of us got spat on,” said Engi, 58. “And that is something that should
never happen again.” Engi, whose group also sees off military personnel,
has been doing this for three years. Sometimes the chapter gets short notice of arrivals and departures, he said, “but
we do it all hours of the day and night, depending on how many people are available.” Chapter 899 is also involved in helping military families cope while their loved ones are away at war, or after the
soldiers, sailors or Marines get home. “We have parties throughout the
year for the kids, where everything is free,” Engi said. “We give them DVDs and make popcorn and bring soda and
have like a little picnic.” Last Christmas, the chapter handed out many $25 gift certificates. “It’s for food at the commissary, not for things like cigarettes or anything,” he said, noting
the parties are held on base at Dix in cooperation with the Family Support program run by Army Community Services. They also stage birthday parties for kids at the Fort Dix gym. As with all their other functions, the beneficiaries
can be associated with any branch of the service that happens to have a billet at Dix or McGuire. Another program the chapter has started within the last two years, he said, is the Monday visits to the Medical Replacement
Battalion at Dix. “That is the warrior transition station, which is for
soldiers wounded in Iraq or while training to go to Iraq,” he said. “They can stay there two months to a year
and they’re troops who are at least 30 percent disabled.” The hospitalized
have come to look forward to Chapter 899ers showing with the group’s speciality, “chili and hoagie. We try to
bring things they can’t get in the mess hall,” Engi said. A victim
of Vietnam-related “Agent Orange” ailments himself, Engi said many of the returning soldiers of today are suffering
from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And some of them are unwilling to talk to psychiatrists or doctors about it because they
fear losing their security clearance, Engi said. “They feel that if they
tell someone they have a mental or stress problem from combat, they might lose their careers.” He said Chapter 899 tries
to steer such heroes in a positive direction for dealing with PTSD. “We
have one guy, a Marine who lost his legs,” he said. “He goes out to Fort Dix to welcome guys home and he shows
them that even though you’ve got extremities missing, you can still live a productive life after combat. “A lot of the war wounded have trouble looking into the future and coping with reality,” said Engi. “By
just being there, and just listening,” his guys help to heal a lot of old wounds within themselves. “I usually tell people I get more psychologically out of welcoming the soldiers home than any parade ever could
give me. These guys treat us with such respect. A lot of people don’t realize what a simple welcome home can mean to
somebody.” The VVA Chapter 899 could use donations of cash to help finance
its family support and other military support activities. Send donations to VVA 889 at P.O. 263 Bordentown, N.J. 08505. The
chapter’s Web site is VVA899.org. |
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