My mothers name was Georgia May. The rainy day she walked down her driveway to her rural mailbox and found my brother’s Purple Heart amd Bronze Star Medals hanging from the mailbox in a soggy package, was the day that Gold Star Viet Nam mother went to war herself, with me by her side.
We just wanted the truth about how he really died. Why did he come home in a glass sealed coffin? If he really just contracted jungle fever, fell over and died while on a combat mission, as they said he did, why did he get the Purple Heart and Bronze Star? And why were these medals left hanging on rural mailbox in the rain?
Long story short, it was a long, grueling private war with no media attention, and no victory. We will never know the truth.
Her life more or less ended then, for she could never move on from this horror, and she died at age 63, still asking “Why?”
If I only could, I’d be at Cindy’s side now. I’d follow her to jail, or to Washington, or through whatever other possible hell these terrible people could make for her.
Enough. There has been enough human sacrifice to the Gods of greed, power and political corruption.
Stand firm, Cindy Sheehan. You are standing for Georia May, and for all of us, present and past, who know the true cost of war.
I salute you.
Posted in honor of my Gold Star Mother, Georgia May Mohler, and my brother, Pvt. Jerry Ray Beebe.
scribe, I salute your mother and your brother. My heart goes out to you. I can barely say I do understand. It is hard enough to loose a child, let alone in an ugly war. This I do understand! God bless you and her spirit. Hugs.
I like to think that Mom’s spirit is in Crawford right now,along with hoards of other mother-sprits, and they’ve all got Cindys back!
scribe, I have a feeling you are right on with that one! hugs
Thank you, scribe, for sharing this. I almost made it through the day without weeping. Not that I mind a bit, you understand!
I will hold the memory of your mother and brother in my heart.
will take your story to Cindy when I see her next.
I’d be honored if you did that, Bri. Tell her Georgia May is with her, and so am I.
It will be my honor.
My condolences for the loss of your mother, and of your brother so long ago.
There are ways to get additional information concerning his service. For example, there is a casualty record for him here:
http://www.no-quarter.org/code/details.cgi?IDNO=16975668
That record indicates that he died of wounds received in hostile action (which would explain the Purple Heart); however, the “Reason”, which generally gives more information, simply states “Other Causes” without further explanantion.
Do you have any infformation as to his unit in Vietnam? It should be on the Purple Heart citation. If you can get that info, I may be able to point you in the direction of websites/blogs which are specific to that unit, and you might be able to find some of the folks who served with him, and get the straight story.
Is the record accurate – he was only in-country a month when he died? So damn sad.
Thank you, Wayward. Yes, it’s accurate; he was flown in to replace a dead soldier and died within a month. He wouldn’t had had to even go: it took him three tries to get in: he was rejected twice due to high blood pressure. He dieted and worked out until he finally got it range and was accepted. It was his lifelong dream,to be soldier and fight for his country.
The hardest part for me, was receiving, after his death, a letter from him, in which he shared his abject horror at what he was being expected to do there. I never shared that letter with my Mom. I suspect that for him, had he lived, he never would have known another peaceful day.
I have let go of this now, and have found a measure of peace with it all. Or at least I had, until forced to relive it all. If it is this hard for us Nam families to see it happening again, I can only imagine how horrendously hard it must be for so many vets who were actually there. I send my heart’s caring to them all,too.
I fully understand the need to make peace with the memories. I’ll be around here and dKos if you ever need help.
Will humans on this planet ever have enough of war?
The rhetorical question is one I ask of the Universe in an unending stream of questions. Let it be now, let it begin now that we will heed Chief Joseph’s words. . .”I will fight no more, forever.”
And I often hear the 60’s fervent question: What if they gave a war and no one showed up?
It makes me sick to my very soul. Scribe, the sacrifice of your family and the deep pains, so like so many families. . .Let it stop NOW and let us fight no more, forever.
Dear Shirl…we can’t let it make our souls sick: we have to keep on keeping on, telling the stories over and over and over, and doing what we can to balance the scales; something you do so well, every day you live.
I don’t even know what to say to a sorrow so vast-I’m sorry is so little but the best I can do. I can’t imagine your mother’s pain or yours, but I’m glad she had you by her side. I wish people who think of war as a game or a sport or a political move or a noble endeavor could feel that pain for just long enough to learn how wrong they are.
I find it true that time blunts the sharpest sorrow, and allows needed healing. What pain remains then, can be handled, and sometimes channeled into something good. And some of us, like Cindy, can really do this up in style!
My sympathies are with you. Closure is important, and hard to find sometimes.
Peace