Sam Gibbons: “As a Vietnam veteran and former fighter pilot, I stand in this well honored and privileged to speak out in support of…”

“As a Vietnam veteran and former fighter pilot, I stand in this well honored and privileged to speak out in support of this issue. Although many Americans have turned away from this sad chapter in our national history, this country cannot and it will not turn away from those young men and women who wrote that history with their blood, their pain, and their heroic sacrifices. I am proud, as I said, to join my fellow veterans of the Vietnam War and the rest of our country in honoring the service and the sacrifice of all these men and women wearing our Nation's uniform during that very trying time. Let us not forget to honor the families, those who sacrificed with the parent, the child, the brother or a sister off in a distant land defending their Nation, defending our freedom. Some are still in pain with loved ones still missing and unaccounted for but never forgotten. Honoring these men and women is the least we can do as we start a new millennium, as we start a new era.”