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[Andy]

Vietnam remembered.

Our county is putting on a month plus of events to remember Vietnam. About half of the activities will take place in our town. Classes of high school kids (some may be required to attend) and of course the general public are invited to several events. Things get started on April 13th and end with the Memorial Day Parade.

On May 15th there will be a an exhibition of poems, short stories and art at a well know gallery. The exibition will last for 2 weeks. The works will be from artists and writers who are Vietnam War Veterans will be based on personal experiences. On the 19th there will be a reception so that the general public can meet the contributors.

On the 24th the organization will show a film to depict the war. The movie that was chosen was PLATOON. The showing will be preceded by a number of vets protesting the movie. I know Oliver Stone met with Vietnam Vets and admitted it was all fiction. Does anyone know where we can get specific information about Stone?s meeting with the Vets when he made those admissions?

May 26th could be interesting. There will be a panel discussion with a moderator (John Katzenback of the NY Times) and hopefully four Vietnam Vets. So far they have one guy who was the John Dean organizer for our area who attends all the anti war and anti Nuke rallies. A second man who helped build the Buddhist Peace Pagoda in Amherst Ma, who is also a died in the wool pacifist. This guy will be showing his art work, mostly a lot of dead civilians. We don't have a fourth, a person who will submit poems, stories or art and is willing to be on the panel, but yesterday I was asked and accepted the offer to share a few short stories for the gallery and be at the May 26th discussion.

Don?t worry, I will not say, ?Free bullets, $.10 a beer, and lots of available ladies.? This area of the country requires a lot more political tact than that. If anyone has any reasonably sane suggestions, mostly regarding the fact that we were not all addicts who raped women and gleefully removed the body parts of enemy and civilian men, I?d like to hear from you. My take will be we were a reflection of our time and the vast majority did what we were called upon to do. A post or PM would be fine.

Stay healthy,
Andy