By Jim Daly

The other night when I wasn’t sleeping, I was watching late night television. As I surfed the channels I stumbled upon a Viet Nam movie: “We Were Soldiers.” I made the mistake of watching the rest of it.

It is a 2002 American war film directed by Randall Wallace and starring Mel Gibson. It is based on the book “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young” (1992) by Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L. Galloway. It dramatizes the Battle of Ia Drang on November 14, 1965.

At the end of the movie, after the fighting is over, Lt. Col. Moore says out loud to himself: “I’ll never forgive myself.” The embedded reporter, Joe Galloway overheard the comment and asked: “For what?” Col. Moore said: “For my men who died here, and I didn’t.”

I don’t know about anyone else who has participated in combat, and lost their comrades, but I feel exactly that way. And every time I think about it, I cry just like I did that night and have many other times since I was in Viet Nam.

I lost a lot of friends and comrades in Viet Nam. I heard once that 33 of the 67 members of my Boot Camp platoon did not get home. I often wonder: Why? Why did they die? Why did I come home?

I often contemplate my life and many other questions. I have had a good life. I was not always good, but I have been blessed.

I am truly blessed. I came home. I know that many did not. Thousands did not, from many wars. Good men. Honest, fair, hard-working, men with families, friends, and careers. Men who were better than I. Men that would have been more productive members of society than I have been. Men who should have lived.

I also think about the men that I killed. Who were they? Did they have family? A wife? Kids? Parents? Did the family ever know what happened to him? What would he have done in life after the war?

People who have not experienced it cannot conceive of this pain, of living with this guilt or any of the other conditions some veterans live with. I don’t know that anyone can that has not experienced it.

I often remember my friends and others who died in Viet Nam. I think of all the U.S. servicemen who have died in all combat. I thank God for them. I contemplate their service to their country. My country. Our country. I remember and honor them. I wonder how I could do more to honor them.

To honor our veterans I am a Life Member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars as well as the Viet Nam Veterans of America. I am an accredited Veterans Service Officer assisting in getting veterans their benefits. I write for The Daily World — a monthly Opinion page piece on Veterans and patriotic issues, and I’m a regular on KBKW Coffee Talk with Doug McDowell discussing Veterans issues. I speak at schools and civic events and organizations when asked. I attend the local Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies.

What do you do to honor our Veterans?

Every day I thank God for allowing me to come home and make a life for myself. To build a family, a career. To contribute to my community and my country. I love this country, the greatest and best in the world.

I am a Christian so I know that I am forgiven, but I know exactly what Col. Moore meant. I’ll never forgive myself, either.

Please Remember: Many of our young men and women have sacrificed greatly around the world, to protect our country, our rights and freedoms, our allies, and the Flag of the United States of America. I am proud to have been one of them, and would gladly defend this great country again today or any day.

Jim Daly, a retired captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, is a member of the Aberdeen Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 224 and its Veterans Service Officer. He is also a member of the Vietnam Veterans of America.