'We Love You'

"We Love You"

New view of the Viet Nam vet

The young man in the wheelchair began speaking softly, but then his voice turned bitter. His tone and words hushed the crowd at the city hall ceremony in Manhattan marking the beginning of Viet Nam Veterans Week. "You people ran a number on us," declared Robert Muller, 33, a former Marine lieutenant who lost the use of his legs in Viet Nam combat when a bullet shattered his spine. "Your guilt, your hang-ups., your uneasiness made it socially unacceptable to mention the fact that we were Viet Nam veterans." Pounding his knee with a clenched fist, he accused most Americans of regarding G.I.s who fought in Indochina as "Lieut. Calley types, crazed psychos or dummies that couldn't find their way to Canada. That really hurts when you remember the pride we had. We fought hard and we fought well."

Muller's bitterness reflected the widespread and justified feeling among the nation's 8.8 million Viet Nam-era veterans, especially the 2.8 million who served in Southeast Asia, that they have been treated much less sympathetically and generously than servicemen from previous wars. There are growing signs, however, that the national mood is changing. The standing ovation that Muller's tough talk received in Manhattan was one indication of that.

So was Jimmy Carter's moving speech at last week's White House ceremony observing Veterans Week. To an East Room audience composed mostly of Vieit Nam vets, including Muller, Carter said that "the nation is ready to change its heart, its mind and its attitude about the men who had fought in the war.'' After admitting that not enough has been done "to respect, honor, recognize and reward [your] special heroism," the President said: "We love you for what you were and what you stood for--and we love you for what you are and what you stand for."

Welcome as they are, warm words alone will not satisfy the vets. Various groups, such as the Ad Hoc Committee of Viet Nam Veterans, are organizing to fight harder for better education benefits, job training, health and readjustment programs. Muller, who is executive director of the Council of Viet Nam Veterans and the emerging spokesman for the movement, wants vets in more key Government positions. He notes that "only five of the 700 'policy' posts filled by Carter have gone to Vietvets." There is also growing concern in the Government about veterans' allegations that Agent Orange, a defoliant used during the war, might have inflicted serious injuries on servicemen exposed to it.

Agreeing that more must be done to aid the veterans of Viet Nam, Carter has pledged to support extending the G.I. Bill of Rights and promised to push for special vocational rehabilitation programs for the disabled. Capitol Hill too has been demonstrating a new attitude toward the vets. One reason may be that the number of Viet Nam veterans in Congress now totals 19. Last week, after having rejected a somewhat similar Senate bill four times in the past eight years, the House voted 342 to 0 to appropriate $16 million for psychological, alcoholic and drug counseling for Viet Nam veterans.

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