Paul D. Shinkman, wtop.com
My father never talked about his Vietnam service very much.
As a career diplomat, he was not bashful in discussing his public diplomacy work at embassies and interest stations around the globe. After retiring from the Foreign Service, he started contracting for Harley Davidson, serving as a government liaison and helped negotiate distributing HOGs throughout southeastern Asia.
He was openly proud of this, too.
He was an avid biker for most of his adult life, and my exposure to the strong brotherhood of Harley riders — many of whom are veterans — was about the closest I came to his proud history in the Army.
Growing up, we would frequently attend Harley Owners Group camping rallies where I’d meet many other returned warriors, usually also of the Vietnam War, who talked about their painful experiences both in the rice paddies, and following what they thought would be a welcome return home.
But my father never did.
I have not served in the military, so I cannot truly understand what he or the countless millions of his compatriots have experienced. However, observing his solemn approach to that chapter of his life — very much compartmentalized from his role as a diplomat, and loving father and husband — will remain with me much more closely than stories ever could.
He died in 2008, and I worry that many of the burdens he carried independently will lay with him in Rock Creek Cemetery.
But I take great solace in knowing there are many more who have answered his same call to service, who equally deserve our honoring them.
As Americans, with blessings of which most other people on Earth can only dream, we must, as Lincoln said, “take increased devotion to that cause” for which so many of our countrymen and women have stood up to protect, and for which many of whom “gave the last full measure of devotion.”
Please join me in honoring our nation’s veterans by adding a picture of a family member or friend, and a story if you can, to WTOP’s Veterans Day Gallery.
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