I honor the Vietnam veterans today. These were young men, who, at the behest of their country, picked up a gun and put their lives in the line of fire. Their courage and sacrifice is no less significant than that of any other generation.
Twenty years after the war was over, Vietnam veterans began to speak out. They were the first generation to break the silence, and tell the American people about war and how it affected them. They told us of the nightmares, of courage and fear, of the confusion of not knowing who the enemy was, of doubts about the war they were sent to fight.
They weren't the first generation to have these feelings. They were the first to speak up.
I was privileged to be around to hear those stories. In 1987 I produced a public television program about American Indian Vietnam veterans.
Here's a quote from Harold Barse, from my documentary Warriors

Indian people have recognized that war changes people. For centuries and centuries and centuries, they've known this. So when you send a person to war, something happens to him out there. But- they are not held in any low esteem. It's recognized that- these people did something that is completely against the law of the universe. They stepped into total turmoil, disruption. And they did this for their people.

I want to thank the Vietnam veterans for all they've survived. I want to thank them for putting themselves on the line for us. I want to thank them for teaching us what it truly means to be human.