Dan Kirby fought for his country in Vietnam, but first he went through the accelerated NCO candidate school, where graduates were known as Shake ‘N Bake sergeants.

Why did America fight the Vietnam War? The military suffered over 58,000 casualties, and America withdrew in defeat. What for? Historian Victor Davis Hanson explains.

American Dad – Vietnam War Reenactment

All credit goes to Fox and TBS and the Creators of American Dad

President Trump signed a proclamation into law that officially designates March 29 an annual national day of recognition for veterans of the Vietnam War.  It recognizes the day in 1973 when the bulk of U.S. troops left South Vietnam, and Hanoi released the remaining U.S. POWs.

“This makes it official, which pleases VFW,” said Carlos Fuentes, director of VFW’s National Legislative Service.  “Vietnam War veterans deserve to be recognized with their own official day.”

Public Law 115-15 – The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 – encourages citizens, businesses and other institutions to display the U.S. flag on March 29.  Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) co-authored the legislation.

According to statistics compiles by VFW magazine:

• 3,403,100 million personnel (including 514,300 offshore) served in the Southeast Asia Theater, which included Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and sailors in adjacent South China Sea water.
• 2,594,000 personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam from Jan. 1, 1965 to March 28, 1973.
• 303,704 personnel were wounded.
• 47,418 personnel died of hostile causes.
• 10,811 personnel died of non-hostile causes.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, as of March 29, a total of 1,580 U.S. military personnel and 31 civilians are still unaccounted for from the war.

Soldiers assigned to the 3rd Infantry Regiment, The Old Guard, conduct a change of guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
Please enjoy and respect those that have been lost and are “known but to God”.

As we celebrate the Memorial Day holiday let us not forget those who have made our country free!!

Just A Common Soldier, also known as A Soldier Died Today, is one of the most popular poems on the Internet. Written and published in 1987 by Canadian veteran and columnist A. Lawrence Vaincourt, it now appears in numerous anthologies, on thousands of websites and on July 4, 2008 it was carved into a marble monument at West Point, New York. This year marks the poem’s 25th anniversary.