Veterans bike through Vietnam to help heal wounds of war

[unhappycamper]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/04/16/3152025/veterans-bike-through-vietnam.html?sp=/99/296/331/354/



Wounded Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans Gabe Monreal (left) and Yancy Baer (right) bicycle through central Vietnam as part of a recent six-day, 320-mile trip to raise money for Vietnam veterans who want to return for the first time since the war, but cannot afford to make the trip.

Veterans bike through Vietnam to help heal wounds of war
By Charlie Reed and Drew Brown
McClatchy Foreign StaffApril 16, 2014

HUE, Vietnam — Whenever Army Maj. Yancy Baer deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan _ and when he came home the last time in 2009 to face the amputation of a leg _ Vietnam veterans were always there to greet him and lend their support.

Baer is now returning the favor. He and six other cyclists, including three other wounded Afghanistan and Iraq war vets, completed a 320-mile journey earlier this month through the former battlefields of central Vietnam.

Their mission: to raise money for Vietnam veterans who want to return to this southeast Asian country for the first time since the war but can’t afford to make the trip.

“If it wasn’t for Vietnam vets standing up and lobbying for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, I truly believe we wouldn’t have the care or the warm homecoming that most of us have experienced,” said Baer, 42, of Choctaw, Okla. “It’s a shame their generation didn’t support them the same way.”