I attended my second JROTC event at Emmerich Manual High School a couple weeks ago. The first year I went we met in an auditorium and I sat on a real nice cushiony chair. This year we met in the gymnasium and I got to enjoy the feel of the wooden bleachers. I like the gym much better because as I looked around I knew I was sitting in a what was a pretty prominent place in it's heyday. For those non Hoosiers Dick and Tom Van Arsdale played basketball at Manual and are Hoosier legends. They played at Indiana University and then in the NBA for the Pheonix Suns. Today the gym is in use but not for basketball. Today the gym was being used for a JROTC event.
Last school year Jim's Wife who is our school parent liaison approached me and asked me if I knew any veterans. She told me her son was very active in the JROTC and his battalion was holding an event to honor veterans. The battalion commander requested that each cadet bring a guest that was a veteran to the event. Jim's Wife said that her family didn't know any veterans so she thought she'd ask me if I knew any. I told her I know a veteran and she promptly asked if I thought this person would attend the event as her son's guest. I said to her I'd be glad to go. She looked at me and said you're a veteran. I said yes, Vietnam. She thank me several times and then left to contact her son. As she was leaving she said her son was going to be so excited.
It was a couple of days after agreeing to attend the event that it hit me. I have absolutely nothing to wear that would show that I am a Vietnam veteran. My military dress greens are around somewhere but I weighed about a hundred and sixty pounds when I left Vietnam so they would be just a tad too small. My field jacket was confiscated by my brother. The one item I truly wished I still had was my bush hat but it disappeared and my combat boots just wore out. So now what. I finally got an idea. I'll go to the Army/Navy surplus store and pick up a baseball cap the says Vietnam Veteran on it.
Now it gets interesting as I don't think I can wear the hat. It's been forty plus years since I left Vietnam and to the best of my recollection I've never put anything on my body that would show that I'm a Vietnam Veteran. When I arrive at the store I found what I needed and put it on. It fits and I immediately take it off and make the purchase. The clerk at the store asks if I'd like a bag and I said yes. The hat stayed in that bag until the day of the JROTC event. On the day of the event as I was pulling into the parking lot at Manual High School I saw Jim's Wife and family so I parked near them and reached into the bag and put the hat on.
The guest speaker at the event was a Vietnam veteran. He spoke about his service to our country and what it meant to him. He also spoke about how he was treated when he was in an airport in the United States as he was heading home. I'm going to keep this brief. He said these two words "baby killers" and then mentioned the lack of a parade. Those two words defined the 54,000+ men and women who died in that war plus hundreds of thousands of others who served our country in that war. It's been over forty years since I left Chu Lai and just hearing those two words causes my anger emotion to rise.
There were two alumni speakers this year. Both were JROTC members at Manual High School. The first speaker was a young lady that served as the Battalion Commander. For those not familiar with the military this young lady was the highest ranking officer in the JROTC. In the program guide it mentioned that she also served in the Indiana National Guard as a combat medic. When I read that I thought why would you chose that military occupation. For those of you without combat experience I'll explain the responsibility of a combat medic. You are basically an infantry man with more stuff to carry around. After the event I spoke with this young lady and asked her about her choice of military occupation. She told me she wanted to be a nurse and thought the National Guard would be a good place to start her training. She also mentioned that she just graduated from nursing school.
The second speaker is the one that really caught my attention. This gentleman was a member of the graduation class of 1964. In the program guide it stated he was a four year member of the JROTC. I can't confirm this but if you do the math it appears that Emmerich Manual High School has had an active JROTC program for fifty three years. I've been a resident of Indianapolis right at thirty three years and at no time can a recall the local media recognizing this wonderful accomplishment. What I do recall is news articles about Emmerich Manual High School failures. Sadly what sells newspapers and increase the papers profitably is stories of failure. Maybe one day that will change.
I'm going to close my JROTC story with a quote from George Washington that was on the back of the program guide. "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.". Please keep that in mind when talking to or about veterans. Especially the ones who either risked their lives or lost their lives in Vietnam.
Almost forgot. I still have that hat and I wear it proudly.
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