I'm smiling read letter from my uncle who moved to Vietnam

[TEB]

After he retired from steel mill he was living in small town western Pennsylvania. Where we all grew up after his wife passed he started traveling and he decided to move to Vietnam about year half ago. And he’s doing ok financially he has his pension and in letter he says they have kool menthol cigarettes and miller beer.

And he added all humor it’s much nicer than the last time 67-68 13 months as riflemen in Marine corps. He rents a nice place rides his bicycle to market and the beach. He has friends another former American vet and numerous Vietnamese friends and what makes me smile is a bar he drinks at. Is owned by a former NVA officer and this is funny the bar is frequented by former Arvin and NVA soldiers.

He wants my brothers and I and the boys to come and visit after a vaccine is available. He wants to take us fishing in this river he says the fish our huge. The Vietnamese are peaceful and loving he said in town he lives in their so respectful to him and as he’s I think he 71. He even attends mass at times catholic service. Reading his letter I’m very happy for him he deserves happiness.

[underpants]

1. Riding a bike to the beach

Sounds like a great place to retire.

[farmbo]

2. What a remarkable life-journey.

Your Uncle sounds like he's found a home... while managing to avoid those nasty western Pa. winters!

[farmbo]

3. What a remarkable life-journey.

Your Uncle sounds like he's found a home... and has managed to avoid those nasty western Pa winters!

[Kaiserguy]

6. The nasties' thing in NW PA

is not the winters it's the Republicans who live here.

[Ohiogal]

4. So happy your uncle has found peace

Sounds like a wonderful life he has. In of all places, Vietnam.

You gonna go over there and catch some huge fish?

[gab13by13]

5. Happy story,

plus I heard that Vietnam did a better job controlling the virus than Trump did. We still have to deal with the Trump virus.
Maybe Vietnam has closed its border to America? I wouldn't blame them.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. Yes, a bit better...

By Associated Press
July 31, 2020 5:42 AM EDT

(HANOI, Vietnam) — Vietnamese state media reported on Friday the country’s first ever death of a person with the coronavirus as it struggles with a renewed outbreak after 99 days without any cases.

The Thanh Nien newspaper said a 70-year-old man died after contracting the disease while being treated for a kidney illness at a hospital in Da Nang where more than 90 cases have been reported over the past week.

[oldsoftie]

8. Most people dont realize that Vietnam would have been an ally if we'd ended WW2 correctly.

They were a French colony before the war. They fought the Japanese DURING the war. After the war they just wanted independence. But the Allies just HAD to try to give them back to France. And the rest is history. They looked for help where they could find it; which was from the communists. Since the 90s they've slowly been moving away from the totalitarian model & now are more capitalist.
They're more an ally now than anytime since 1945.

[mountain grammy]

15. Truth.

[JohnnyRingo]

9. My best friend moved there about 5 or 6 years ago.

He was from Eastern Ohio, so small world.

His parents died while he was living in California and left him some money. He figured he could stay there and be broke in a couple years, or move to where a dollar goes a long way. He got some bogus Kent State diploma online and now teaches his version of English to the Vietnamese and lives with a woman half his age.

He always was resourceful.

[wendyb-NC]

10. That sounds really good.

I've heard, that one can retire, and live in comfort for a lot less than here in the USA.

[marble falls]

11. AND your uncle has a book to write, too? That's a wonderful life and family you got there!

[FM123]

12. How wonderful!

This planet of ours is a great big place and there are still pockets of bliss out there, so glad your uncle found his.

[Aristus]

13. We were fools to ever get involved in Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh was a huge admirer of the United States, until we decided to go over there and blast everything that moves for no other reason than that we hadn't had a war in a while and the defense industries were getting restless.

I once heard a Vietnam veteran say: "Only a fool would choose to have a war in a country as beautiful as Vietnam."

I'm happy for your uncle. It sounds like he has found peace.

[mainer]

14. Vienam is a wonderful place

Peaceful, friendly, and beautiful. You should definitely go. The most dangerous thing you'll encounter there is the traffic if you're in a big city.

[Hulk]

16. If I could tolerate the humidity there...

It might be worth a visit. I spent the fall of '69 there, pounding the bush. We hit a land mine, and we both went home alive.

I'm getting re-evaluated for PTSD...something they never considered in the Vietnam era. I had real anger and depression issues that put a terrible strain on my family and ruined my first marriage. Started anti-depressants 22 tears ago. The VA just started charging me for the meds "because it wasn't service related". Fuck that! Flying back to the PNW in 11 days so I can have the video interview with a psychologist. They can ONLY interview in WA state, because she is only licensed to practice there.

I saw some pretty awful shit. Bodies mutilated, villages burned, children wounded by our careless actions, water boarding, and gave myself up for dead after a few months of that shit. Saw two lieutenants go home in body bags and a dozen friends. I knew I wasn't going home ever again. I still can see it all. I don't have nightmares or dreams about it any longer, but there were several times when I lucked out and just shouldn't have made it out alive. I'm hoping they can identify my experience as PTSD. If I am not identified as such, someone is going to have to tell me what PTSD is.

[TEB]

17. Good luck friend

Peace be with you
Our father and his well two of his brothers came home as well. Angry scarred in mind.

[SamIam715]

18. My son lives in Vietnam

Vung Tau and has been there almost 8 yrs. I've been visiting yearly since 2015 during the Tet holiday but had to cancel this last trip. He loves it there, teaches English to students ages 4 to corporate adults, although they shut down this year when the pandemic first struck, getting an immediate handle on it until just recently. A few cases out of Da Nang and they shut down again (learned from SARs a couple of years ago. It's a wonderful country and your uncle is right, peaceful, lovely people. It's great hearing a former Marine speak kindly of a country we once were at war with (the Vietnamese call it "the American War&quot .

I would love to know where your uncle lives as there is a huge number of Ex-pats who live in Vung Tau, a beautiful coastal town south of Saigon.

I hope to get back there some day soon, although I am the same age as your uncle and the last four years have aged me greatly 😳

[Dem forever]

19. The US government wanted to send me there and not for a vacation.

Yes back in 1970 the US government wanted to send me over there to kill these people
Good thing I had a high lottery # or I would have been forced to go. I knew back then this was a immoral war on this country. Then Iraq happened and here we go again . Under the republican rule we are always fighting these useless wars. The only war we should be fighting is the Covid 19 one. But little boy trump is just doing nothing to fight this virus. Just like He did in Vietnam. He didn’t go but not for moral reasons but because he was a coward. A bully that is a coward today. BUNKER BOY DON should be his new name and I hope it sticks.

[DashOneBravo]

20. I'm glad he found some peace.

And I’ve met a bunch of those older dudes who found more things in common with the people they were fighting. They often have the same complaints about generals and politicians.