April 2015

April 2015 marks the end of two horrific blots on American history. April 9th was commemorated as the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, as General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General U. S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.
Today, April 30, marks the end of the Vietnam War, a tragic war that tore America apart at the seams. Vietnam can perhaps be best described as a long and senseless war that tore families and numerous nations apart. The 20-year long war that began in 1955 claimed between 1.5 and 3.6 million people, with fully half of the casualties being civilians.
America's involvement began in 1955, one year after the French were badly beaten at Dien Bien Phu. Depending upon which side of history you like, American involvement was either a great effort, or a fool's journey. By the conclusion of the war on April 30, 1975, over 58,000 Americans died and countless thousands more were injured. Many of those injuries didn't show up until years later, as Agent Orange began taking its toll on soldiers who had been in areas where Operation Ranch Hand, a massive spraying of a defoliant, was employed. The results were thousands of cases of cancer caused by this military operation.
Walking a couple of the cemeteries in the area on April 9th to visit the graves of some of our local Civil War Veterans, many thoughts go through one's mind. What were their first thoughts when Lee's surrender was announced to the troops? Might they have been thankfully this war was finally over? For some of these local veterans, it was four long years of hoping to get back home to their families and farms. There were no doubt many worries, would it be too late to get the spring crops in, how will the family have changed, what does the future hold for us now?
What did those area soldiers who were attached to Sherman's Army on his famed March to the Sea think when they marched in the Grand Review to huge cheering crowds? These tough and battered soldiers who, unlike many of their counterparts, marched, not in new uniforms, but their tattered, battle-worn uniforms. The night before the Grand Review, the quartermasters company arrived at Sherman's camp outside of Washington with wagonloads of new uniforms, which Sherman turned down, telling the quartermasters, ^my men will march in Grand Review as they marched to the sea