#Frederick Hart

[jamesusilljournal]

Ex Nihilo, Frederick Hart, 1984

[juniuscallidus]

[rabbitcruiser]

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was held in Washington, D.C. on March 26, 1982  

[courtera]

"Luce…I chose us."

[chippedcupwrites]

Sansa Stark┃the living painting

John Millais. The Martyr of the Solway. 1871. │ Gabriel von Max. Young woman with flowers in her hair. │ Sophie Gengembre Anderson. Portrait of a Young Girl. │ James Carroll Beckwith. The Embroiderer. │ Arthur Hughes. Juliet and her Nurse. 1867–1872. │ Thomas Benjamin Kennington. Contemplation. │ Alexandre Cabanel. Fallen Angel. 1847. │ Frederick Sandys. Helen of Troy. 1867. │ Ruth Sanderson. Arthur and Guinevere. │ Paul Delaroche. The Execution of Lady Jane Grey. 1833. │ Johannes Vermeer. Girl with a Pearl Earring. 1665. │ Stephen Phillips. Nancy Price as Calypso in Ulysses. 1902. │ P. J. Lynch. Eithlinn, Daughter of Balor. 2000. │ Charles Allen Winter. Portrait of a Woman. 1919. │ William Oxer. Amor Aeternus. 2022. │ George Romney. Emma Hart as Miranda. 1786. │ Bertalan Székely. Red Haired Girl. 1875. │ John Roddam Spencer Stanhope. Thoughts of the Past. 1859. │ Jean-Jacques Henner. Head Of A Young Girl In A Blue Dress. │ John William Waterhouse. Ophelia. 1910. │ Rudolf Kosow, Geheimnisvoll. │

[minnesotafollower]

The Prayer Jesus Taught: ”Give us this day, our daily bread” 

On March 12, 2023, Rev. Dr. Tim Hart-Andersen, the Senior Pastor at Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian Church, delivered the third of his five sermons on different passages of the Lord’s Prayer.[1] This sermon was on a portion of the third sentence (in bold) of that Prayer: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.…

[chaifootsteps]

What drives me most insane about all the discourse (or lack of discourse) around Hazbin is people trying to act like Angel Dust is the first ever sex worker character portrayed in media as an actual *character.* To say nothing of the fact that he's an utterly HORRIBLE representation. If anything it reinforces the idea of sex work as some bottom of the barrel hail mary for the desperate and horny. Which...no.

You want to know what most sex workers are like??? People. They're like *people.* People with interests and identities outside of their profession. They also have a lot in common with Therapists in that people go to them for comfort and sometimes literally a shoulder to cry on. The old cliche of a guy hiring a hooker only to cry about his problems isnt just for laughs. Listening to people and comforting them is a HUGE part of sex work. SO many sex workers are incredibly kind and emotionally intelligent people and not all of them only resorted to sex work out of desperation.

Angel? He's basically just a sassy, mean, gay twink stereotype rolled together with a ceaselessly horny, drug addled, asshole. Just because we're meant to feel bad for him doesnt make him a good representation.

You know some shows/movies that DO have positive rep? Bobs Burgers, Bless The Harts , GLOW, Firefly, Moulin Rouge, fucking Independence Day and yes I mean the one from 1996, and Sweet Charity which is from the goddamn 60s.

And these are just a fraction of the examples out there.

As a rule (and this is for everyone, not just the dickriders) just because YOU haven't seen/heard of something before doesnt mean it hasn't been done. Stop making all these broad judgements based on your own very narrow experience and do some research, good lord...

Dont even get me started on people trying to applaud the show for queer rep when it's literally just a Yaoi Hentai with musical numbers and twice the exploitation.

I pray to god John Waters never finds out about Hazbin because I don't need the poor man finding out all the work he did for queer culture and media has been set back decades by one spoiled rich white bitch.

And yes, Vivienne is white. Having South /Central American heritage does not automatically mean you aren't white. White is complexion, not a goddamn nationality. If you look and act white enough, you'll get treated like a white person, and Viv is about as white as they come. She grew up in goddamn bourgie-ass Frederick, Maryland. We see you, Viv.

Honestly, at the moment, I think my favorite fictional depiction of a sex worker is Tuca from Tuca & Bertie in that brief window of time she dabbled in it. Did it because she liked it and was good at it, no stereotypical Valentino-esque pimp in the picture, her clients were all regular people too, and she did it online which is something you don't often see in media. Viv could never have written something that grounded and adult.

[doyoucopypod]

also what are the pronouns of the characters i need to yap but need to do so correctly

I have answered this on this page before, but I’m going to use this as an excuse to also add in the season two pals!!

Season One:

Alex Taylor- he/they

Reese Williams- she/they

Addison Quinn- she/her

Liam Thomas- he/they

Frederick Miller- they/them

Blake Bennett- he/they

[REDACTED] -she/her

Season Two:

Dakota Maxwell- he/they/she

Marshall McFarland- they/them

Eden Hart- they/she

Sarah Davis- she/her

Clyde O’Connor- he/him

Alan Dufour- he/him

[aq2003]

because nobody asked here is some deranged rambling/commentary about bbc3 audio drama twelfth night bc i listened to it again to jot down the timestamps and i am annoying (sorry). this is sort of long so i have hidden it under the readmore

going off the point i made in the previous post about rearranging 1.1 to be after 1.2 but the delicious foreshadowing in "will you go hunt, my lord?" "what, cesario?" "the hart" that occurs when it's viola/cesario talking to orsino rather than curio

also by rearranging 1.1 and 1.2 this means the audience is first told that both olivia's father and brother are dead, and then we see valentine reporting on olivia shutting herself in just to grieve her brother. almost like everything orsino knows about olivia is secondhand, incomplete information from his messengers

viola forgetting to make her voice deeper when talking to orsino for a second before catching herself is such a great detail. i like how you still get the sense of "disguise" without any visuals to accompany it

her voice gets a little higher when orsino is up close to her anyway

funeral bells ringing when we first meet olivia. she lost her family!! leave her alone guys!!

this may just be me but i feel like olivia's and malvolio's voices complement each other soooo well. they both have this "serious mature grounded" vibe when they're introduced + they're talking to feste. and of course this is true to the text cuz of olivia's line in 3.4 "he is sad and civil and suits well for a servant with my fortunes"

this also means that olivia and malvolio feel like a more proper match for each other. they sound like they're about the same age, their personalities gel w one another. it makes malvolio genuinely thinking that the letter is real + he has a chance w/ her a lot more believable (and sad)

"what kind o’ man is he?" "...why..... of mankind?" "what manner of man?" just trust me on this one when i say the way this is played makes me truth for autistic malvolio. malvolio being confused by what she's asking but trying to give her an answer anyway, and olivia emphasizing the clarification like this kind of miscommunication has happened a bunch of times

viola and olivia in 1.5 have chemistryyyyy. viola/cesario is putting on The Moves for her, and i think is EXACTLY how this scene should always be played. pulling open the curtains and opening the window!!! lifting olivia's veil!!! letting in the light!!! (what a metaphor). making her laugh by poking fun at toby and malvolio!!! swooping into her life and leaving her breathless w their sheer audacity!!!!!

basically, shoutout to naomi frederick who so clearly plays viola as being Very Into Olivia Herself rather than just being a mouthpiece for orsino and doing it for him. i can REALLY believe why olivia falls for her

the fact that "malvolio has to outrun viola on horseback" is explicitly not how 2.2 is staged in the text it's just they want to emphasize that this version of malvolio is so committed to doing anything for olivia no matter what

"you might have saved me my pains to have taken [the ring] away yourself" is now SO much more funny lmao

the fact malvolio gives viola the ring, viola throws it back, and THEN malvolio throws it down on the ground (as opposed to him just throwing it down on the ground like in the text) pleaseeeeee he doesn't get paid enough for this

the satisfied way viola says "i am the man" like she takes pride in the fact that she won olivia over and her only regret about it is "but we're both girls.... :(" mx bisexual disaster.......

i did make a bunch of "what the hell is wrong with you maria lol" posts but i will say that her actions do make more sense with how she's played here in 2.3 ie when she comes up to tell them that olivia/malvolio wants them to quiet down she's laughing and joining in with their singing anyway bc they're having such a good time (rather than like. she and malvolio are both fed up with them but malvolio is meaner about it and this suddenly makes her decide to plot his downfall)

it makes that bit where malvolio is like "maria if you care about olivia at all you will stop fucking tolerating this nonsense" hit that much harder bc he's extending his threat to toby towards her too. i don't think he's just making it up, i think he's putting his foot down for olivia bc she doesn't have the heart to do it herself but Lmao he really IS the kid that reminds the teacher that there's homework due today

viola suddenly stopping the music as she stares straight at orsino and goes "of your complexion". i can Hear the look in her eyes as she says this.

like godddd i love this viola so much

orsino going on his whole tirade about how women don't have the same capacity for love as men do, to viola's face, while the ocean roars in the background?? saying "[my love] is all as hungry as the sea?" OUCH.

because when viola says "i know too well what love women to men may owe", she isn't just talking about her love for orsino. she's also talking about her grief over her brother

and this makes SUCHHH a great segway into viola/cesario talking about their "sister". she's still grieving sebastian!! the memory of him is haunting her and she's tried to push it down but the (indirect) accusation that she had nothing in her heart for him is bringing it all back

AND THIS IS WHY THEY MOVED 2.1 TO RIGHT AFTER THIS... TO SHOW BOTH VIOLA AND SEBASTIAN GRIEVING THE OTHER BACK TO BACK... AUGHHHH IT'S SO PERFECT

i have yelled about malvolio in 2.5 in the tags here already but my god. can someone please help him

"'tis but fortune, all is fortune" he says after immediately tripping and falling on his face. it suddenly makes the line sarcastic and malvolio is dwelling on his general unluckiness lmao. and then he says that part about olivia potentially being in love with him to make himself feel better

"revolve... revolve? no." He exists in an audio-only format and he cannot do a little spin. this is so sad

the fact you can HEAR the happy tears streaming down his face by the end esp from the breathless way he says "i thank my stars, i am happy!!!!" truly hilarious and embarrassing and heartbreaking all at once!!! i am being killed to death listening to this!!!!!

"a ring in chase of you... so did I abuse myself, my servant, and, i fear me, you" olivia girl whatever you're paying malvolio it isn't enough

THE WAY THEY PLAY THE WHOLE "THEN THINK YOU RIGHT I AM NOT WHAT I AM" AS VIOLA ASSUMING THAT OLIVIA KNOWS SHE'S A GIRL AND EXPECTING A CONFRONTATION BUT INSTEAD SHE CONFESSES HER LOVE IS SOOOO LMAOOOOOOOOOOO

viola vs her internalized homophobia coming off as cesario going "sorry olivia i am gay" kills me every time. this isn't a commentary on the adaptation i think this is probably one of the funniest moments in the play just in general

3.4 makes me want to hit my head against a wall btw get them both out of there

the sound effect after malvolio says "yellow in my legs" makes me think he pulled up a chair and put a leg up on it. which would be super funny if i wasn't trying to not listen to what's happening rn

the "sweet roman hand" was originally malvolio talking about olivia's handwriting but here he says it after she slaps him djhgwjhgjwfbwmfw

malvolio struggling to pronounce the word "slough" has made ME forget how the word is supposed to actually be pronounced, btw

"souls and bodies hath he divorced three" "THREE??" "three!"

THE FUCKING FENCING SOUND EFFECTS KILL ME SO MUCH 😭😭😭😭😭

the only real complaint i have w this adaptation is that antonio is not nearly as down bad for sebastian as he should be. they even cut out his "beauteous evil" lines. this is so sad

andrew: i should fight cesario [gets beat up] damn cesario got hands

why did they do that to malvolio man

my heart cracked in two at the first "sir topas?" and genuinely every line delivery david did after that made me want to cry. i have a problem

they had to cut out feste and malvolio arguing about pythagoras because this malvolio is nowhere There enough to do anything but scream and beg for help like he keeps repeating it's so dark and i'm in hell and i'm not crazy and please give me candle pen ink and paper bc He's Been There Long Enough That He's Losing His Perception Of Reality And Feste's Gaslighting Is Not Helping

really like how malvolio and sebastian are contrasted by splitting 4.2 into two parts. something something class difference

sebastian is thinking to himself "what the fuck is happening, am i actually just insane" and then there's an immediate cut to the second part of 4.2 where we know malvolio is feeling the same way. But like. in an "exact opposite nightmare situation" kind of way

sorry the way malvolio says "ay, good fool". i need david to pay for my god damn emotional damages

we now cut from this horror scene to sebastian getting it on with this woman that he just met

the genuine pity in olivia's voice when talking to malvolio…….which obviously does not make the situation better for him in any way…………

sorry it is so fucking crazy to me that malvolio made the (true!) observation that feste can't do anything unless people laugh at him and give him money and feste takes it SO personally that he decides to psychologically torture him

potentially a weakness of the adaptation in itself for doing all this but i was not lying when i said that at the end of listening to it i couldn't feel anything except for abject despair at what happened to malvolio. none of this is funny!!!! oh my fucking god!!!!!

However what i did gain from this is that malvolio is my bleebo blorbo and i have several more emotions about him

anyway

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Frederick Hart in front of the completed clay for The Creation Sculpture, Ex Nihilo. 1978-84, Washington National Cathedral

* * * *

"Being a realized immortal for a breath’ is an interesting expression. Usually one considers immortals to be permanently immortal. When one`s original spirit awakens, even if only for a breath, that moment is out of time and can be called immortal. At one time when I had an experience like this about 15 years ago, a connection with an experience I had when I was 5 or 6 years old occurred. I had completely forgotten about this experience and suddenly it returned and felt very vivid and alive, and I understood that this experience had been a deep moment of awakening. These moments are eternal moments that time cannot erase, although one can become disconnected from them.

Forever is composed of Nows."

~ Emily Dickinson

[alive on all channels]

[eddieredmayneargentinablog]

Video: Eddie Redmayne l The Day of the Jackal Premiere interview l Frederick Forsyth Thriller.

Eddie Redmayne is interviewed for Sky's The Day of the Jackal, starring Eddie Redmayne, Lashana Lynch, Úrsula Corberó, Charles Dance, Richard Dormer, Chukwudi Iwuji, Lia Williams, Khalid Abdalla, Eleanor Matsuura, Jonjo O'Neill, Nick Blood, Sule Rimi and Florisa Kamara.

Colin Hart and Ethan Hart were on the red carpet.

Plot: The adaptation is based on the seminal novel by Frederick Forsyth and the subsequent award-winning 1973 film from Universal Pictures. It follows an unrivalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, (Eddie Redmayne) makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana Lynch) who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.

The series is coming to Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the UK and Peacock in the US on November 7th.

Related post.

📸 My screenshots.

[readyforevolution]

What to the Slave is this Fourth of July

“Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation’s sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation’s jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the 'lame man leap as an hart.

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”

Frederick Douglass

[victusinveritas]

Lest We Forget...Entire Frederick Douglass Speech on the Fourth of July, delivered July 5, 1852 in Rochester New York. (Note particularly the last paragraph). Usually, portions of the speech are quoted. This is the entire address. He was 34 years old when he made the speech..

=====================

The speech is below the cut, because I'm not going to force you to read it, just strongly encourage.

"Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you, that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation (Babylon) whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin.

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!"

To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.

My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July.

Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity, which is outraged, in the name of liberty, which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery -- the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate - I will not excuse." I will use the severest language I can command, and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother Abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more and denounce less, would you persuade more and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slave-holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment.

What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments, forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man!

For the present it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; that we are engaged in all the enterprises common to other men -- digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave -- we are called upon to prove that we are men?

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? How should I look today in the presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What! Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? No - I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may - I cannot. The time for such argument is past.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.

What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.

Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival."

[rabbitcruiser]

National Vietnam War Veterans Day

We commemorate those who fought in the Vietnam War on National Vietnam War Veterans Day, March 29. There’s no doubt that the Vietnam War was one of the most brutal. In fact, there were over three million Vietnam War casualties during the years of battle. It was known as the Second Indochina War to Americans, and considering its long fighting time and brutality, National Vietnam War Veterans Day was created to honor all the Vietnam veterans who fought during its time.

History of National Vietnam War Veterans Day

The Vietnam War has a long history. It was one of the longest wars involving America. Starting in 1955, the war went on until 1975, making it the second-longest war, aside from the ongoing Afghanistan War. Over 2.7 million Americans served during this war In 1973. All combat and support units withdrew from Vietnam following the war, but it continued to have an impact on many of the families and people affected by the war.

National Vietnam War Veterans Day is acknowledged on March 29 every year, honoring anyone who served during its 20-year time. Since respect and combat support wasn’t immediately given to those who served after the war ended because of the number of deaths, the day was founded in 2017 to finally offer that respect to everyone involved.

Understanding that it wasn’t the soldiers’ choices to go to war, U.S. Senators Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., introduced the legislation proposing the anniversary of the withdrawal of military units from South Vietnam as the date. It was President Donald Trump who signed the Act on March 29, calling for U.S. flags to be flown on this day to honor everyone who served during this time, whether they were in Vietnam or not.

Every year since it was founded in 2017, this national day has continued to be recognized on March 29. Aside from honoring those who fought, four other parts of this day that are meant to be highlighted are the service of the Armed Forces and support organizations during the war; the wartime contributions at home; the advancements in technology, science, and medicine; and the contributions by American allies.

National Vietnam War Veterans Day  timeline

2007 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War

Congress incorporates language in H.R. 4986 authorizing this, which is then signed into law in 2008.

May 28, 2012 Vietnam War Commemoration on Memorial Day

The commemoration is held at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

2012 President Obama Proclaims Vietnam Veterans Day

This leads to the 2017 legislation outlining March 29 as National Vietnam War Veterans Day.

2016 The Vietnam Veterans Day Coalition Seeks Legislation

They outline the history and timeline to ask for Vietnam War Veterans Day to be one of the first legislations passed during the U.S. 115th Congress.

National Vietnam War Veterans Day FAQs

How many Vietnam War veterans are still alive?

The U.S. estimates that about 610,000 people who fought during the time of the war are still alive today.

How old are the Vietnam War veterans today?

Ages range between 55 and 97, but the median is 68 years old.

Is National Vietnam War Veterans Day a federal holiday?

National Vietnam War Veterans Day is a U.S. holiday observed annually on March 29.

How to Honor National Vietnam War Veterans Day

Donate money to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund

Talk to any family members who may have been a part of it

Thank a Vietnam veteran!

Check out their Facebook page on this day where you can watch a live stream and read messages of thanks and, if you can, donate a bit toward the Fund to help those who are still alive after the war and may need support from organizations such as this. If you can’t donate, visit a memorial or volunteer at a commemoration.

Whether they were on the frontline or not, you may have parents or grandparents that served or were directly or indirectly involved in this wartime. Not everyone is comfortable talking about their time in the war, but some people enjoy sharing what they went through as a way to vent and cope. Listen to your parents’ or grandparents’ stories — you may learn something interesting about them.

Not only is this a good way to reach out to someone new and start a positive relationship, but they’ll absolutely appreciate you taking the time to thank them for their effort 50 years ago.

5 Facts About The Vietnam War

The average age of soldiers was 19

The Medal of Honor was awarded 258 times

The U.S. spent over $140 billion on the Vietnam War

500,000 people attended the anti-war rally

It isn’t called the Vietnam War in Vietnam

This is a big difference from the average age of 26 in WWII.

This is the highest military decoration.

In today’s economy, that’s about $1 trillion!

There were many all over the world, but this one took place in Washington, D.C. in 1969.

Instead, it is called the American War.

Why we love National Vietnam War Veterans Day

It recognizes everyone

It altered society’s perception

It gives veterans a chance to share their experience

This day is special because it doesn’t just recognize soldiers who fought in it, it recognizes anyone who was involved. Whether it’s the families who struggled back home, those working the support lines, or even other soldiers stationed elsewhere during the same time, this day is to appreciate everyone.

When soldiers first returned, people were not respectful toward them. War is drastic on the economy, but many who were involved had no choice but to go, and they deserve the respect and recognition for that. This national day changed that negative view.

It’s not easy to talk about the war, especially if you were a soldier. You probably witnessed a lot of terrible things. But a national day like this gives people an opportunity to share their experiences and teach the world a lesson on why wars should be avoided in the future.

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