There is no way to sugarcoat the realities of war. Like most of the serious things of life, it is rooted in paradox. It is always the result of the failures of humanity, greed, the lust for power, or the manipulation of the people by many forms of lies.
And yet, those who are called upon to defend the innocent often conduct themselves with the highest forms of courage and self-sacrifice for the good of others, both those who are in the field with them and for those whom they will never know.
This video is of a country-western song that was written in honor of the men of the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the battle that they found themselves in on November 8th, 1965, against a larger force of Viet Cong.
Singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson introduces a couple of the heroes of that day, including a medic who would be the first Black soldier to receive the Medal of Honor since the Spanish-American War in 1898 for his actions that day. He also introduces some of those who were wounded and survived that day. But it is those killed in action, whose faces you will see throughout the video, that are at the center of this tribute.
Kristofferson then introduces the song that finishes this video. Watch, listen, and remember. This was only the beginning of our major involvement in the Vietnam War. Let them represent all those who served and those who sacrificed their all in service to the country during that long war.
We will not forget!