Regarding J. Mark Jackson's fine Nov. 11 op-ed "What does it mean to be a veteran?":
I could relate to virtually every comment he made, including the part about his son taking the oath as a service member; mine did, too.
There was one comment, however, that I simply could not relate to, and that was the part about his family’s dinner being paid for by a table of teenage girls. There were no gestures of “thank you” for us when we returned home from Vietnam.Even my own (former) mother-in-lawcriticized me because of the numerous Vietnamese civilian casualties she saw reported on the nightly news.We were not hailed as “heroes” but instead treated with contempt and disdain by a largelythankless citizenship.
I am forever grateful to our citizens today for theirgenuine gratitude to our veterans of the Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan wars.When you see a Vietnam veteran today with a hat proudly displaying his or her service there, I ask that you do what all Vietnam veterans do when they see each other: Say “Welcome Home!” — something we never got then.It is never too late to show them at least that much respect.
Steven Crittenden, Stafford
