He Was a Trooper.... In So Many Ways

  
This is my cousin Jackie Lynn Miller and I, the right photograph taken just about a year ago. Jackie was an Army man, Troop A, 9th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Between 1969 and 1975, Jackie participated in over 200 missions in Vietnam and Cambodia. He was the recipient of two Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars, eight Air Medals, three Army Commendation Medals, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, US Defense Medal, and Combat Infantry Badge. 

Jackie came home to a job with International Harvester and a country largely indifferent to his service. He also brought back a body that had been liberally sprayed time after time with Agent Orange. It took a long time for the US Government and the VA to recognize that fact, far longer than it took the cancer to take its hold. 

Jackie spent his recent days in his quiet den on my Aunts place along side Horseshoe Lake in Olive Branch Illinois with his television, his DVD's, his "Big Dog" and his memories. He also carried that wound that didn't heal. Jackie's fight and the war ended late Saturday night, surrounded by his loving family. 

I'll be making my way up to Tamms, IL to accompany my mother to Jackie's funeral.  He will be interred with full military honors alongside his father Jack at the Mound City National Cemetery. 

Remember my cousin Jackie Miller and the sacrifices he made. Remember my Aunt Lucille as she begins this new chapter of life without her son. Remember his sons, Billy and Richie.  Remember our veterans who never came home, and remember the ones who did, but left so much over there.

Learn more about the effects of Agent Orange at 
Project Agent Orange
Aspen Institute Agent Orange in Vietnam Program
http://www.vietnow.com/agent-orange-veterans-health-issues/

Learn more about the effects of PTSD at  
Effects of PTSD on Vietnam Veterans
National Institutes of Health Study of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

If you know a Vietnam Veteran who needs help, please learn more at
VA Benefits available for Vietnam Veterans

Halfway down the trail to Hell,

In a shady meadow green

Are the Souls of all dead troopers camped,

Near a good old-time canteen.

And this eternal resting place

Is known as Fiddlers' Green.

Marching past, straight through to Hell

The Infantry are seen.

Accompanied by the Engineers,

Artillery and Marines,

For none but the shades of Cavalrymen

Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.

Though some go curving down the trail

To seek a warmer scene.

No trooper ever gets to Hell

Ere he's emptied his canteen.

And so rides back to drink again

With friends at Fiddlers' Green.

And so when man and horse go down

Beneath a saber keen,

Or in a roaring charge of fierce melee

You stop a bullet clean,

And the hostiles come to get your scalp,

Just empty your canteen,

And put your pistol to your head

And go to Fiddlers' Green.

 

Ride Safe and With Purpose....

SMB