I saw them come off the plane. Some were on crutches, all were emaciated. The families waited. And I saw the wives and children running to meet them.

We used to have the Vietnam War with supper. We’d see Dan Rather, reporting from the endless battles, film of the dead and dying, and the string of ears, displayed on the ground for a body count of enemies killed.

We’ve all lived through a lot of hard times. But that war is the war that shaped the way the following generations consider war.

We counted the cost as kids we sat next to in school came home to be

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