My Vietnam Apology
By Reverend Bhagavan Friend

Regarding "Fonda and the Vets" by Sharon Hughes, I respectfully disagree. I think that the Vet's act of spitting on Jane Fonda was more than appropriate, it was, by comparison to her crimes against American solders, an act of kindness.

Few people including myself, a reformed former war protestor and now a Republican, have any idea of what it is like to be locked in a cage for days on end where you can't stand up or sit down, or beaten until you wish you were dead, or tortured in any of the many other ways that our boys who were imprisoned by the Communists in Vietnam were brutally abused, in no small part due to the malicious or ignorant actions of Jane Fonda and dupes like myself. And, today, liberals, many of the same liberals that forced America to abandon Cambodia and cleared the way for the Khymer Rouge to slaughter over a million innocent Cambodians, have the audacity to scream "abuse" over the treatment of captured killers in our prison camps, because they were shown in silly positions in their underwear!

Words are cheap. I have apologized to my entire local Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 53 face-to-face (one of the hardest things I have ever done) and been accepted by them as an Associate Member. I will spend the rest of my life atoning for the ignorant and stupid wrong that I did back then. In fact, I founded our local Redondo Beach Memorial Day Parade and ran it for two years before passing over to our local Marine Corps ROTC, which is running it this year.

I, also, just finished building an "Empty Chair" Memorial to all of America 's Fallen Soldiers of all wars and all services in my front yard (see picture). When I was pouring the concrete for the base the Empty Chair sits upon, I sliced my finger and poured my own blood into it - a minor symbolic sacrifice in "solidarity" with all of those who have spilt their blood and given their lives for you and me and America and, yes, even Jane Fonda. And, as expected, I am taking some heat from the local anti-war liberals, but that's all part of atonement. I am not bragging about my accomplishments, they pale into insignificance alongside of the contribution of every lowest rank "grunt" that ever served in our Military. I just want "Jane" and others to know that atonement does not come through words alone, but must be accompanied by commensurate actions.

Maybe, when Vietnam Veterans and the rest of us see Jane doing something concrete to atone for her wrong doing and the pain and suffering and death that she helped to caused, just maybe we will see some forgiveness. Until then, being spit upon is just too damn good for her.

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