Appreciation comes late for Vietnam veteran

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Bob Solomon says he has been thanked by a stranger twice – and it’s more than words. Solomon has found two $20 bills taped to his windshield along with a note thanking him for being a Vietnam veteran. (Amy Satterwhite photos)

After 33 years, Bob Solomon finally got a thank you — two of them, actually.

The Vietnam veteran who served three tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Navy was surprised to leave USA Gym and find a $20 bill taped to his windshield with duct tape a couple months ago.

While Solomon dismissed it as a one-time event that he appreciated, he was again surprised this week to find the same message taped to his truck. Along with the money and written on the tape was a simple message that only said, “Thank you, Vietnam vet.”

Whoever left the note and the money was clued in by Solomon’s license plate, which identifies him as a Vietnam veteran.

“One night my wife and I got out and we came to the truck. I got in and looked up at my windshield and there was something taped to my windshield so I reached out and got it around and it was done just like this one. It said the very same thing on it and there was a $20 bill rolled up in it,” he said.

Although the cash is nice, the words are music to Solomon’s ears. After serving on various boats in the rivers of Vietnam from 1967 to 1970, he knew homecoming wasn’t going to be much fun.

While a far cry from U.S. Army soldiers who were spit upon when they returned to the United States after serving in Vietnam, Solomon had heard radio and read newspaper reports of protesters burning flags and calling veterans of the war “baby killers.” He never got a thank you.

“It feels special,” he said. “I support our troops and our president and what’s going on because I don’t think you can support the troops enough,” he added of the war in Iraq. “When we came back from Vietnam, we didn’t get these kind of ‘thank yous’ that they seem to be getting now and I think they’re deserving of what they’re getting. They need more than what they’re getting.”

As for coming forward with the note, he said while he appreciated it initially, he didn’t think others would be interested. After the second time someone taped the note to his windshield, however, he thought it might be a good idea to let others know someone out there cares about what they did. He is planning to save the note and bill in a scrapbook.

“I just thought this might be something to kind of let some of those old vets know that there’s still somebody out there that’s thanking us for it,” he added.