Welcome Home: Vietnam Veterans Day

Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day from Agent Orange Legacy by Sharon L. Perry, Founder and Dee Reyes, Co-founder

(WASHINGTON DC) - Today I Welcome Home my husband, Reuben 'Bud' Charles Perry, III, because he didn't live to see it (Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day) for himself.

Bud Perry aboard U.S.S. Dynamic MSO 432

I also Welcome Home all Vietnam veterans who came home and those whom have died from exposure to Agent Orange or physical & emotional wounds as a result of their service in Vietnam & to their country.

WELCOME HOME...I know what you went through.  I know how you were all cut so deep.  I know that our country abandoned you, all of you.  I know cause I lived it with my husband of 27 years.

I watched him struggle to lead a normal life but it was always just out of reach.  I watched him fall victim to nightmares and shadows which haunted him for the rest of his life.  I helped him when he fell to the ground in a heap while having severe flashbacks.  I witnessed his despair and fear when he would shrink into a corner or hid under the desk.

Our family lived a virtual roller coaster of highs and lows depending upon what triggered his suffering.  We survived but he did not.

AOVVM online memorial honoring our veterans and their children lost to Agent Orange at this link>>>https://www.facebook.com/aovvm

Anti-Vietnam War protest sign, c. 1973

Whether you supported the war effort or not...these veterans absorbed the trauma from the battlefield on your behalf, America.  The families, including my family have, and some continue to, serve(d) as a buffer.  The veterans' family provides a buffer between the trauma the soldier experienced and the rest of the country.  You, America have enjoyed the benefits and abandoned these veterans in their hour of need.

Agent Orange Legacy

Now many of their children and grandchildren, not only suffer from secondary PTSD, they struggle to live normal lives.  Many are born with birth defects, suffer from chronic illnesses including autoimmune and rare diseases,  Because of their birth defects and illnesses they live at or below the poverty line.  Here in America, supposedly the richest country in the world, children of veterans and in some cases their grandchildren, live in poverty.

FLASHBACKS

FLASHBACKS by Danielle Reyes
I see that faraway thousand mile stare in your eyes, the craziness that lies within.
I want to run, I want to hide, I'm scared for my life.
In the blink of an eye, the person I know is gone, you scream, you cry.
You get angry and at the moment I don't know why.
I don't understand, I cannot comprehend, the tormented hell that you have been in.
For I am only a child.
"WHERE ARE MY GUNS!" you scream.
You cannot find them, I try not to blink an eye, so you will not suspect, I took them; to protect us all, to save your life.
The relentless search continues, then you realize I took them.
You turn to me filled with this rage that is now directed at me.
The interrogation begins to no avail.
I will not give in, you've not broken me, I am already broken.
I shut down, terrified, I want to cry, at moments I wish I would die.
I can not endure another moment in this hell, this horror that I was born into.
This is my existence, this is my hell.

By Danielle Reyes, daughter of Vietnam veteran, Reuben 'Bud' Charles Perry, III and co-founder of Agent Orange Legacy.
copyright 2008

America, you failed these veterans once, now's your chance.  Don't fail them a second time.  Please take a moment and TAKE ACTION now.  

1) IMMEDIATE RELEASE: VVA to Pull Out All Stops to Enact New Toxic Exposure Legislation 

• http://www.agentorangelegacy.blogspot.com/2013/11/immediate-release-vva-to-pull-out-all.html  

   “Tragically, these wounds may be passed on genetically to the progeny of our nation’s warriors, as we are well acquainted with having been exposed to Agent Orange.”

  “Therefore we welcome the introduction of S.1602, the Toxic Exposure Research and Military Family Support Act of 2013, which has just been introduced by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).  This legislation would establish within the Department of Veterans Affairs a national center for the diagnosis, treatment, and research of the health conditions of the progeny of veterans exposed to toxic substances during their service in the Armed Forces, and to provide diagnostic treatment and care to them,” said John Rowan, National President of Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA)

   

2) BDRC ‘Children Center’ PETITION SIGN THE PETITION AND LEARN MORE AT THIS LINK

• http://agentorangelegacy.blogspot.com/2013/05/children-center-petition.html

Today, America you have a chance to honor our Vietnam veterans by contacting your legislator and support:

• S.1602, the Toxic Exposure Research and Military Family Support Act of 2013 at this direct link>>>http://capwiz.com/vva/home/ 

Thank you Vietnam Veterans for your service and sacrifice.  Remember our fallen, always and forever, for they have paid the ultimate price.