Dear Editor.
Thirty five years ago I was in Vietnam as a United States Marine fighting against the Communist Forces of the North Vietnamese Army. Many people in our country still don’t know the history of the Vietnam War and the facts that beside our 60,000 deaths, we killed more than two million Vietnamese. The US and their allies dumped more bombs on Vietnam than we did during World War II. Not to mention, the thousands of tons of Dioxin commonly known as “Agent Orange” that we dumped on our servicemen and the Vietnamese population.
To this day thousands of American veterans of the Vietnam War (including myself) suffer from the more than 41 recognized diseases and debilitating affects of Agent Orange. This contamination is also a problem for the Vietnamese who receive little or no help from the US government to mitigate these conditions.
During the past year, I have been twice invited to the United Nations to meet with representatives of the Veterans Association of Vietnam, a group which represents 1.8 million of the veterans who fought for Vietnam during the war. David Cline, Jersey City resident and President of the Veterans for Peace and myself were warmly received as fellow veterans by the Vietnamese. We discussed different aspects of the war and how we have lived our lives since and how we could now help one another.
We received a briefing on the current conditions in Vietman, and we received more information on “Friendship Village,” a residential/hospital project 10 miles outside of Hanoi that was initiated by American and other veterans of the Vietnam War to assist children and others who are still suffering the affects of the war.
At the site of Friendship Village over 200 children and 30 veterans spend up to two years receiving medical care for their war related condtions. Friendship Village has been one way that American veterans of the Vietnam War can help to heal the scars of war and help the healing process on both sides.
After 35 years, I have been invited to return to Vietnam and visit the Friendship Village. I have accepted this invitation and plan to take 200 or 300 hundred pounds of medical supplies to the children at Friendship Village. They are in dire need of any medical supplies they can acquire. If you would like to contribute to this campaign please send constributions to the Jaime Vazquez Vietnam Project, 274 Fifth Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302 or call me at 201-832-1395.
Thirty five years ago I went from Jersey City to Vietnam to kill Vietnamese. This time I go as a humanitarian and veteran for peace to bring healing and reconciliation, for myself, other veterans and the Vietnamese people. If you would like to help this project please contact me. The children of Vietnam and I will be very grateful. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jaime Vazquez
Vietnam Veteran