Vietnam Veterans Share Their Experiences in Documentary
By
KGNS News
Story Created:
Jul 6, 2012 at 6:34 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Apr 1, 2013
"Our nation is in a very patriotic mode. They're recognizing the sacrifices that the American soldier is doing."
Valentin Moreno says that's very different from when he served three tours in the Vietnam war. That's why after two years of planning, he's just days away from debuting his documentary "Vietnam heroes-welcome home veterans".
He says it's not only the soldiers who sacrifice for this country.
"The families that are attached to those soldiers, whether it be the wives, the kids, sacrifice their lives because they don't know whether their soldier is coming back."
Moreno says there are nearly 700,000 Vietnam veterans still living. In Laredo, there are just 3,000 which served as quite a hurdle when trying to find people willing to tell their story. Thirteen Vietnam veterans were willing to come forward to relive not the gory details, but what their everyday lives were like while fighting.
"Sometimes we shut off those memories. Even though we try very hard to remember, they just don't come out."
Another important topic Moreno sought out to change is the image he says many people have.
"We are sometimes portrayed by Hollywood as drug addicts, murderers, baby killers and rapists and I can assure you one thing, we are not that way."
Interviewing the 13 veterans for this documentary brought up a lot of emotions for Moreno and his fellow vets, Moreno says veterans still suffer from things everyday.
"People always talk about there's a healing process that you go through, then there's closure. Well I can assure you, those two words, healing and closure, don't work for us."
