Vietnam Divided American, but Brought This Couple Together Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply.
When Flower Power Met Combat Steel and Fell in Love
Vietnam divided America but this pair of opposites came together
Illustration: Sean McCabe (Source: Courtesy: Emaus) , marching for peace and wielding a protest sign. Getty Images/AARP You can to , a free e-newsletter published every two weeks. If you have feedback or a story idea then please . My future husband supported Richard Nixon, was flying in a helicopter over rice paddies and clutched an M16. That the likes of the two of us should meet and fall in love was nowhere in my consciousness. If a fortune-teller had shown me this future, I would have demanded a refund. But there we were, several years later, at a party where neither of us belonged. The men, mostly airline pilots, were of no interest to me. Instead, my heart riveted to the tall, wiry guy with a sexy beard. That tall, handsome man insists he had his eyes on a striking blonde until I intervened. There was no denying what brought us together: that animal magnetism that makes two people unable to sleep, eat or think unless they are with each other. Within weeks we were a couple. And we began to learn about each other’s lives. He doled out his war experiences in snippets, tiny morsels he fed me whenever I persisted. But it wasn’t an easy topic for him to discuss. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Upon , he had walked off the plane and into the bathroom, where he took off his uniform and stuffed it into the trash. He walked out a civilian, pushing his war experiences to the far corners of his mind to gather cobwebs. He is still a civilian, but the memories couldn’t stay buried forever. They came rushing forward after he was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor attributed to Agent Orange. One day during his recuperation, he asked me if I wanted to go to the bar for a drink. That cramped, smoky room was not my idea of a good time. But after years of subjecting him to poetry readings, vintage markets and incense to keep the spiritual balance in our home, I figured I owed him this much. AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Flowers & Gifts 25% off sitewide and 30% off select items See more Flowers & Gifts offers > I sipped my martini and listened. The bond he had with this complete stranger was stronger than the ones I had made with fellow protesters, whom I lost touch with decades ago. Our lives were so different back in that era, we could have lived on adjoining planets. While I was dabbling in illicit substances and swaying to psychedelic music with longhaired boys I thought were the finest my country could offer, my husband was sleeping rough in Southeast Asia among soldiers who truly were the best of America. I was spending my weekends painting peace signs on love beads and partying. He was flying into Firebase T-Bone from Da Nang while stationed with XXIV Corps. Riding in my car to the beach, I sang along with shouting, “I ain’t no senator’s son.” My husband later told me that he had sat on a sandbag letting “Brown Sugar” from carry him away to sweeter surroundings. We did have something in common. I didn’t understand much about the war I was protesting and the men dying in it. He knew very little about the war he was fighting or those marching against it. I wouldn’t change anything. We took different paths to our destination: each other. I’m still a liberal. When I look in the mirror, that hippie chick, her curly hair now white, smiles back at me, surprised yet pleased with how our life has been. My husband remains a proud conservative. Our votes cancel each other out. But after 43 years of marriage, nothing can cancel out our love. You can to , a free e-newsletter published every two weeks. If you have feedback or a story idea then please . Janie Emaus is the author of two books with a third to be published in early 2023. Her essays, stories and articles have been published in numerous magazines, anthologies and online publicatiuons. She lives in Southern California with her husband, a veteran of the Vietnam War. More about her work can be found at . MORE FROM AARP Veteran Report AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Flights & Vacation Packages offers > See more Finances offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS