MEMORIAL DAY 1998
      "The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."  Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg November 19, 1863

      Lincoln's words on that battlefield so long ago are still appropriate for those of our brothers who made the ultimate sacrifice. Today Memorial Day has become just another four day weekend with few who stop to consider the meaning of the day.

      We want you to know that your brothers have not and will not ever forget how you helped the rest of us survive.  We all watched out for each other,  but I guess we did not do as good a job watching over you as you did for us.  We all scattered when we got home,  but we are now reunited again.  We have had twelve reunions since 1986 and have located 17,000 of the 21,000 that served with the Blackhorse Regiment.  We have had as many as two thousand at a reunion to honor you.

      As time passes,  the history of the war is being rewritten.  The men of the Blackhorse Regiment have been cited by military historians as being one of the top combat units of the Vietnam War.  We can all be proud.  Proud to know that we accomplished something good.

      The times have changed and we veterans are more respected by our countrymen now.  People have come to understand that the media and the anti-war factions distorted the facts.  Those who protested and evaded the draft have more psychological problems than the vets.  Their guilt runs deep.  They must have all vanished from the earth because I have not meet one in decades.  Ashamed of their actions,  they have retreated to the closet.

      The media and others still mention that we lost in Vietnam.  But we know better.  Our guys left three years before the fall of Saigon and the rest of the combat troops left a year after that.  How could you lose a war when you weren’t there?   As Chaplain Vernon Nevil said at our memorial service at the Indianapolis reunion, “ Nobody - nobody - whips the 11th Armored Cav”.

      Our stand against aggression in Vietnam and around the world saved many countries from becoming dominated by communists and made it unnecessary to have to fight on our own soil.  It ultimately caused the collapse of the USSR and the removal of the Berlin Wall.  Even Vietnam is feeling the pressure and begs to become part of the world of capitalism.  Others will follow.

      Rest assured my brothers,  through your courage,  we prevailed.
       

      “ALLONS”

       
                                                                                        Eric L. Newton
                                                                                        68-69  Troop K