Fraternity-Testvériség, 1966 (44. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1966-12-01 / 12. szám

FRATERNITY

3

THESE YOUNG AMERICANS

By Major Walter E. Parker

What will become of this younger generation? Their uninhibited forms of expression and so called liberal thinking astounds me. The frug has replaced the fox trot. The jerk

has replaced the jitterbug. And have you heard those horrible lyrics? What’s happened to the good old songs we used to sing?

Where are the boys and girls of yesterday? We used to be able to tell them apart. Now the girls don’t even wear pink. Who can tell Joan from John?

Tradition is “for the birds”. To dissent is to be “in”. Have you heard what this character Carmichael is saying? — What about those prophets of doom at Berkeley and those ivy league dissenters at Harvard? Have you seen the placards they carry? “Let’s make love — not war!” I admit it’s a different idea, but where is their patriotism?

I commanded a representative group made up of this younger generation in Vietnam. The 116th Assault Helicopter Company arrived at Phu-Loi in November 1965. We were filled with anxiety and apprehension . . . just plain scared.

We never heard of Phu-Loi and yet this was going to be our home for a year. Located 30 miles north of Saigon and on the southern border of the “Iron Triangle”, this abandoned Japanese airstrip was deep in Viet Cong infested territory. The area around the airstrip was open rice paddy country sprinkled with a few clusters of shacks which we promptly dignified by calling them villages. This was Phu-Loi.

Major Walter E. Parker