Now that the election is behind us, I’d like to offer an important bipartisan proposal: Let’s put politics behind us this Veterans Day to honor all of those who’ve ever donned a uniform to defend our country. Their selfless sacrifice allows us to form a more perfect union and to endure in the face of adversity.
This Veterans Day, when I lift up my prayer of thanks for our men and women in uniform, I’ll be thinking of one in particular: Marine Corps Master Sgt. Dan Kamanao.
When Sgt. Dan first arrived in Vietnam, his commanding officers told him to keep his head down – literally. Still a couple weeks shy of his 18th birthday, he was technically too young for combat.
To say he grew up fast as a Marine in Vietnam would be an understatement. Like so many others, he soon found himself deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
After sustaining wounds in one battle, they loaded him onto a medevac for evacuation. But his chopper took incoming fire and crashed.
That left only one Marine to stop the onrushing enemy: a wounded Sgt. Dan.
To the Viet Cong, it probably looked like an easy kill. Here was a downed chopper defended only by a lone Marine armed with a couple of M16s and a few grenades.
But they didn’t know Sgt. Dan.
For nearly an hour he ignored his own injuries, returned fire, held their position, and sustained more wounds in the process, displaying the extraordinary valor of those who live by the words “Semper Fidelis.”
Finally, rescue choppers thundered in over the horizon. They cleared a landing zone and rescued Sgt. Dan and the other survivors just before they were overrun by the Viet Cong.
Ask Sgt. Dan about that battle today and he just shrugs. He was doing his job, he says, adding that he was honored to serve.
I was privileged to hear first-hand about Sgt. Dan’s heroism in June when CityServe, Voice of the Veteran, and the Las Vegas Raider held the first-ever “Day of Gratitude” at Allegiant Stadium—the largest event in Nevada's history to honor thousands of veterans, active duty military, and their families.
At the Day of Gratitude, Sgt. Dan shared that after his fourth tour of duty, he and his comrades returned home to the United States and received a brutal reception.
Anti-war activists could never fathom the living hell those military members had survived.
All Vietnam vets ever wanted was for a grateful nation to say, “Welcome home.” But they never received that homecoming.
“Fifty-nine years ago,” said an emotional Sgt. Dan, “I landed on the shores of Vietnam, a scared 17-year-old Marine grunt. Four years later, I finally left.
“When I returned, I was one of those veterans who was spit on. Until today, I could never forget how hurt I felt,” he said.
In many respects, that was the worst wound of all.
But finally, at a stadium in Las Vegas nearly six decades later, Sgt. Dan and his fellow vets finally received their long-awaited homecoming.
“Thank you all from all of us,” Sgt. Dan told the crowd that rose to its feet to give the Vietnam vets an enthusiastic round of applause. “We love you. We thank you.”
Marine Master Sgt. Kamanao’s commitment to helping his fellow warriors never waned. Since leaving the armed forces, he has helped literally thousands of fellow vets complete the paperwork necessary to qualify for VA benefits. Even after returning home to be spat upon and called a baby killer, Sgt. Dan’s passion to serve endured.
That humble heroism leads me to pose a tough question. Are we really doing a better job today caring for our veterans of wars in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan than we did for our vets after Vietnam?
I ask that because the statistics are alarming and indefensible. We have about 18 million veterans and 1.3 million active-duty service members today. The Veterans Administration estimates that right now, over 48,000 homeless vets are living out on the street. As they self-medicate, their rates of drug and alcohol addiction is staggering. One study estimated that since 9/11, the number of veteran casualties by suicide – over 30,000 – is four times that of U.S. military deaths on the battlefield.
Let that sink in. It’s not service on the front lines that’s primarily killing our military service members. It’s what happens after they come home.
That’s why, this Veterans Day, I am challenging every American to put politics and every other priority aside and find a way to thank those who stood ready to give what Abraham Lincoln called the “last true measure of devotion.”
I can’t fathom what it’s like to endure the pain of war, and the heartache that settles in afterwards. But many others like Sgt. Dan have told us what it’s like.
So, it’s time to listen. And it’s time to do something about it.
Dave Donaldson is the co-founder and CEO of CityServe International, a non-profit relief organization headquartered in Bakersfield, California.