The Official Voice of Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. ®
An organization chartered by the U.S. Congress
October/November 2004 POLICY FOR LETTERS Letters
We welcome letters to the editor for publication in The VVA Veteran. We are interested in your criticism as well as your praise. Letters may be edited for purposes of clarity or space. Regrettably, because of the volume of mail we receive, we are unable to acknowledge or return unpublished material.
MEMORIES
I was on the Evans when the accident happened on June 3, 1969. I was the after lookout. Your article in the January/February issue, "Forgotten Tragedy: Death on The Evans," brought back a lot of memories. It was a really great article.
Martin Van Wingen
Via e-mail
A VIETNAM VETERAN
In a tapestry of made-up minds, honest reporters live at risk. Gloria Emerson ("Arts of War," August-September) was such a reporter in Vietnam and in Gaza. She wrote with a scalpel dipped in ink, every detail in her fiction and non-fiction perfect. Gloria was as funny as she was literate. Like her protagonist in Loving Graham Greene, she was ironic, endearingly irritating, ferociously liberal, fanatically loyal to friends, and crazy- brave enough to become a Vietnam veteran. Like her work, her life paid tribute to the power of the word to inspire action in the face of despair. Thank God we will always have her with us.
Bill Crandell
Washington, D.C.
LARGE TRIBUTE
I wish so much that I could have gone to Gloria Emerson's memorial service. I've got great Gloria stories to tell. If you read my section in Winners and Losers, you'll recognize me as that "large, affable fellow." She was such a sweetheart and she loved us all. She loved her Vietnam veterans.
God Bless you, Gloria. I know that you are with the rest of our brothers. I just hope God allows smoking in heaven. My prayers for you, girl.
Randy "Doc" Barnes
A THANK YOU
This is a thank you from Paul and Donna-Marie Crowell, VVA North Carolina State Council President and AVVA Associate Liaison, their son-in-law Mark, and granddaughters Stephanie and Jennifer Sandmann, who are associate members of Chapter 654.
We thank everyone for their prayers, phone calls, e-mails, cards, plants, flowers, and support during our time of need and sorrow. It was and is appreciated that so many people cared.
Our daughter, Theresa Sandmann, associate liaison and AVVA member of Chapter 654 in Jacksonville, North Carolina, passed away on September 7 at home at the age of 37 years from cancer. She put up a strong fight for almost four years, battling her cancer. She fought through two major surgeries.
Theresa is missed so very much. She was a dedicated and hard worker for VVA and AVVA. She is not in pain anymore. She is at rest. Again, thank you for your support.
Paul and Donna-Marie Crowell
Via e-mail
MISTAKE CORRECTED
I visited your web site for the first time and read an article. I was in 9th grade when I went from war supporter to being against the war. I am an Army brat. I never believed what the soldiers were doing was wrong. I believed that our government was wrong. My mistake was not telling you that when you came home.
I was one of the silent ones. Now I would like to tell you "Thank You" for all you did. I am sorry that I did not speak out when you came home.
Linda S. Duree
Dodge City, Kansas
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION
Thanks for a great job on the magazine and the great articles. If it had not been for your article on diabetes, I would not have asked my doctor to test me for it. Sure enough, we caught it early and I'm not on insulin. Again thanks to you and staff on a job well done.
David Jimenez
San Angelo, Texas
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