42 Years Later

42 Years Later

Tom Saal, retired 1st Lieutenant, U.S Marine Corps, steps foot in Vietnam 42 years after leaving combat wounded in a helicopter.  After stepping on a landmine, Saal was transported to a hospital in DaNang (that was under fire at the time), to Japan for surgery, and on to Bethesda Naval Hospital. 

Tom is also a poet; he wrote this before we left.

"Our Journey Together"

As we move closer to this journey of healing,

may we each be aware of our wishes and of our desires,

of our wish to reconcile, of our desire to forgive,

so that our minds and hearts might be restored,

so that our souls may once again become one with our bodies.

Let us ask our Higher Power,

our source of our spirituality,

to become one with each of us present here this evening.

Those of us going on this journey are searching.

Some of us are searching for ourselves

or a part of ourselves which has been lost.

We are traveling to reconcile the effects of war,

or to help those affected as a result of war's traumas,

or simply to attempt an understanding of who we really are.

Please, may we work together as one during the next few weeks,

to work together in peace and harmony.

May we travel together

so that this journey might be an initiation into a new life,

a life of continued recovery,

a life of forgiveness,

of a healing of our souls, of our minds,

and of our complete selves.