ADDRESS TO BISHOP HENDRICKEN SCHOOL
Providence, Rhode Island
November 3, 2006

Honored guests, distinguished faculty, Joseph Cichon, fortunate students and alumni of this incredible school, great parents and relatives of our valorous servicemen, Meridith and Jack Watts, members of the military, Justin McCabe and fellow Americans.

It is an unbounded joy to be here with you today! It all began four years ago when Justin McCabe, then a senior, found a tribute on the internet which I had posted for US Army Specialist 4th Class Bruce A. Clark, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, upon whom I had operated for grievous wounds on Thanksgiving morning 1968, at the 24th Evacuation Hospital, in Long Binh, Vietnam. Mr. Cichon's Vietnam project had begun with 51 names having been drawn from a combat helmet containing all 224 names of your brave Rhode Island brothers and sons who died in that war, then 34 years past. Now we honor all of them, and the final cohort.

While I was in active surgical practice in Monterey, California, it was my honor to meet and care for General Jimmy Doolittle, the famous Lt. Colonel who led a brave band of Army flyers off the pitching deck of the USS Hornet to the famous raid on Tokyo, immortalized in the book and movie, "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo". The year was 1942, and the United States was reeling from Pearl Harbor and a string of Pacific defeats. This was our brave first strike and Jimmy was awarded the Medal of Honor. Upon his 80th birthday, the entire 8,000 man US Army 7th Division stood at Fort Ord in formation to hear him speak. I was there. He rose, strode majestically to the podium, cocked his head, and said, "Thank you for coming. God bless you all." And he sat down. What a speech! That beat even Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

I cannot, however, sit down just yet, as I have some thoughts to share with you. After all, this is a 6,000 mile round trip, not a ten mile drive from Monterey to Fort Ord!

First, a few facts: 2,709,000 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam. Vietnam veterans represented 10% of their generation. Jim Davis was the first American to die in 'Nam – in 1958. The following presidents presided over this situation: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Gerald Ford. 58,148 were killed in this war, which Congress never had the courage to "Declare." Over 150,000 US were severely wounded, and 5,283 lost limbs. 11,000 of those killed were younger than 20 years old. 91% of Vietnam veterans are proud they served. Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds their non-veteran age group by 19%. The war began in 1958 and was "over" in 1975... 17 years. You can speculate on why and how. That is not for today but there were lessons to be learned, but nobody seems to remember.

All of you... all of you... deserve the highest praise for what you have completed. In addition, you all have gained from this project in great measure.

Let me tell you how:

You students found "boys" your own age who had been drafted, and did not complain or run away, performed battlefield heroics, faced death, saved lives and in the end, gave their own in a last unselfish measure of devotion. Those of us who served in Vietnam, or any war, for that matter, always say, "I am not a hero, I came home alive." And Jesus made it quite clear in his statement, "Greater love hath no man than he should lay down his life for another." These were boys whose love of country led them to serve, unconditionally, with no questions, because it was their duty. That is a lesson from Vietnam that you should carry with you for the rest of your lives. They went when the call came.

You in the faculty watched as this project fascinated your teen-agers, on the edge of being men, who could easily have buried themselves in sports, dating, video games and wasted time. You saw them grow. Your school received just praise and recognition in the Providence Journal for this undertaking, the beautiful work of investigative reporter Dave McCarthy, only cut a little short because of the disastrous night-club fire during those same days. Bishop Hendriken can hold its head high on this project, which I have seen imitated in other states, including neighboring Connecticut.

You, who are the surviving relatives, sisters, brothers and parents of the valiant 224, experienced the opening of old wounds, and new tears which had been held for three decades and often gained a new realization of the appreciation by today's generation for your lost loved one. Many of you met people that never would have entered your lives without this project and who enriched you greatly.

For example: Justin McCabe found Meredith Clark Watts in New Hampshire, and she and I had a nearly two-hour telephone conversation about my relationship with Bruce, how he regarded me, at age 35, as a father, and I him, at 21, as a son. She found out from me exactly how he was wounded... he had picked up a grenade that the soldier next to him had dropped... and who had become frozen, and tried to throw it to save him, but it was too late and it exploded. The other soldier lived. "No greater love... " She learned how I had kept Bruce in our hospital for nearly four weeks, stabilizing him for the long trip to Japan, and how I had accompanied him on the C-141 Starlifter, for a tearful goodbye at the modern 249th U.S. Army General Hospital in Tokyo. Recalling the farewell is devastating for me, so I will not repeat this brave soldier's final words to me that day.

My wife, Jean, (who served with me as an operating room nurse) and I had been shocked, when visiting the Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC in 1986, we saw his name on Panel 34W, line 47. What had happened? I spent 16 years not knowing how or where he had died. Meredith told me how he had made it to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, but had died January 21, 1969. That helped close the circle. Meredith and I have communicated often since then, and I am honored to finally meet her in person. Please stand, Meredith and Jack Watts, so that we may salute you.

Then, I was asked to contribute to a book to be titled, What Do You Stand For? which would include authors such as Arnold Palmer, Sparky Anderson, the Dalai Lama, Mario Cuomo, Steve Allen, Ken Burns, Joe Paterno, John Wooden, and many others. Immediately, I thought of the Bruce Clark story, and so that was my submission to the anthology... and every review I have read, and the hundreds of letters that I have received are completely moved by the story of that brave young man from Cumberland. People take inspiration from the stories of the Rhode Island 224 and all of you should be extremely proud.

As a result of the book, and a wonderful web-site run by a former Australian Medivac Chopper Pilot from the Royal Australian Air Corps, Tony Pahl of Adelaide, the Bruce Clark story is known around the world, and can be found on opening pages of many military division and brigade websites. Anthony recently received the highest Australian award, the Order of Australia, for his work, and this past summer, it was our pleasure to entertain him at our home in California. The Bishop Hendricken project has helped spread the word.

From all over America, indeed, the world, people have read this story and the story of the Bishop Hendricken project, and I have been re-united with six former soldiers upon whom I operated in Vietnam. You can only imagine what it is like to welcome a brother and patient coming up your driveway, after nearly forty years: Rocky Tybo, severely wounded in the femoral artery and abdomen, went home to raise five children and become Supt. of Schools in Twin Falls, Idaho; Dennis Haines, shot twice in the head, now chairman of building and construction projects at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, winner of the 2004 "Images of Bravery Award"; Clayton Peterson of Washington State, who had been zipped into a body bag, which was seen to move, and sent to our operating room for a carotid artery repair. His current book, "A True Life after Death Story" is inspiring. All of these, and more, are in my life thanks to your project. And, with us today, coming up from Florida, is another former 24th Evac patient, recipient of the Purple Heart, Andy Brigante, who fought with the 9th Infantry Division. Andy, please stand that we might recognize you... and as Vietnam Vets say in greeting, "Welcome home, brother!"

Meredith Clark wrote me these words in 2003. "Often, when tragedy happens, the question that is asked is, 'Why?' Instead I believe we ought to ask, 'What?' One such 'what' was my motivation to support Christian agencies that minister to the physical need of people."

She continues, "I was influenced by a letter Bruce wrote from Vietnam telling my parents of his concern for the plight of the South Vietnamese. My prayer is that in retelling Bruce's story other people will also be touched and ask, 'What good will God cause to come out of this heartbreak?'"

It reminds me of the email letter I received last year. A mother wrote President George Washington to ask, "Why did my son have to die at Yorktown?" and he answered, "To gain our Freedom" and another mother wrote President Lincoln to ask, "Why did my son have to die at Gettysburg?" and he answered, "To Save the Union" and two thousand years ago, a mother asked in prayer, "Why did my son have to die on the Cross?", and the answer was, "That we might have Eternal Life." We cannot understand some things; we just have to do our best to make good arise from bad. It can be done.

And what about me? I will read my passage from "What Do You Stand For?", but first, I honestly must tell you that all unselfish and kind life virtues are never completely met, but, the intentions must first be there in order to accomplish anything.

"In honor of the memory of those who died, I have tried to elevate my standards of absolute integrity to meet their expectations. I treasure life, children, honesty, valor, duty, country, and family; and my God, all things that Bruce and the 58,000 other names on the Wall never got to practice or experience for very long. I cannot dishonor their sacrifice by living my own life in a manner unworthy of their suffering."

This poem by W.H. Auden is inscribed at the grave of the Gallant Unknown Warrior in Great Britain's Westminster Abbey. I believe this best expresses this concept.

To save your world, you asked this man to die,
Would this man, could he see you now, ask 'Why?

Finally, to you Bishop Hendriken students and recent graduates: Regardless of your political position, you must understand that our great nation is engaged in a new and deadly war, which may last well into your middle years. We cannot even guess as to the outcome. It is not a "given" that once again, we will prevail. Our oceans and even our skies and borders are no longer protective. You may be asked to serve, or worse, you and your families may become victims of attacks of great violence in our own country. Currently, the great debate really resembles that which went before all of America's wars: in 1775, barely half of Americans supported breaking from England; at the outset of the Civil War and during the dark early days, less than half-supported the concept of Union; and until Pearl Harbor, America was asleep, and even after, many resented "becoming involved." Few understood the battle for Korean democracy, which claimed another 57,000 American lives. Franklin Roosevelt once mused, "You cannot judge a war until thirty years later."

This time is no different. We cannot see the future, but we face a determined enemy, the name of which is radical Islam, which translated means "to submit" or "to bring into submission". It is YOU that must be brought into submission. Ultimately, this is the new/old battle of religions, which pits Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and peace-loving Muslims against radical Islam, the numbers of which are unknown, but their recruitment pool has grown over the past twenty years to 1.5 billion Muslims world-wide, with several million here in the USA. The goal of those who wish to kill us is not to change our way of life, to take our homes, RVs, TVs, boats and property, so much as it is to take away our Faith in Jesus Christ. Someday, they may have atomic weapons, but for now, they have suicide bombers, which an authority no less than General Colin Powell stated were "more numerous, more deadly, more terrifying and infinitely cheaper than an atomic bomb, and there is no hesitation to use them."

Do you remember last August when the two Fox journalists were released from captivity in Iraq after they renounced Christianity with knives at their throats, having sworn allegiance to Islam? How would I react? I do not know, but I remember well Simon Peter who, to save his life, three times denied he knew Jesus that night in the Garden. Did you know that in the keynote speech of the International Islamic Conference held in England, back in 1990, the leading mullah said prophetically, "If we win London for Islam, it will not be difficult to win the entire Western world." Trust me, this has just begun, and it matters little where you live or who your president is, as attacks have occurred in Bali, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Israel, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Japan, Indonesia, Russia, Great Britain and on 9/11, the United States of America, just to touch upon the most notorious of the many, most of which we have already forgotten.

I bring these thoughts to you, during this address on Vietnam, because we can no longer remain in denial... from our top elected officials on down. We are at a critical point in history: "Crunch time." It could be May of 1939 when the Paris nightclubs hummed with laughter and the clink of glasses, buy six weeks later, Hitler stood under the Arc de Triumphe, shaking his swagger stick. Or it could be 1942, after Pearl Harbor, with the dark and bloody defeats in the Pacific coming one after another, until finally in 1944, we managed to send brave men to the beaches of Normandy. Or it could be 1974, when we abandoned Vietnam after years of fruitless struggle for a cause we still do not understand. Or it could be 1959 when James Davis was the first American to die in Vietnam, with 16 more years of death to come.

Or it could be something entirely different, and unimaginably worse.

No matter what the historic parallels, I believe we, and particularly your generation, will be called to task. I believe in the valor and goodness of the American spirit, which surfaced in phone calls from doomed 9/11 planes on their way into buildings and fields... "Tell my children I love them", and, "I don't know if we'll make it out. I love you and I love the kids," and, after saying the Lord's Prayer with a Verizon operator, Todd Beamer on United Flight 93, uttered the valiant, "OK, Let's Roll!"

You have written, studied, and read about the men and interviewed their survivors in your project. You all were greatly moved and to a man were amazed and humbled that kids your own age had done great things, and had sacrificed so much. You may be tested, but you will meet the challenge. Remember this project, and in peace or conflict, rededicate your lives to the best there is, to your country and to your fellow man, in their honor, and never forget these words, "Even as you have done this kindness for the least of these, my brothers, you have done it also unto me." It is your time to stand up. God bless you all.

Thank you for the honor of letting me share this with you.

©Copyright 2006 by John N. Baldwin, MD FACS
Twain Harte, CA