10 January 1968 [from Honolulu]:
“I most certainly made a wise decision to come over here…. The weather is great; quite a difference from V.N. or the U.S.”
The year-long journey had ended quickly. In 12 hours, a flight out of Vietnam transported Rasmussen from the perils and trials of a war zone to a peaceful paradise 6,000 miles away. In April 1967, massive anti-war demonstrations had begun in the U.S., and in 1968 the protests moved to the gates of the White House and to the fall presidential election. They continued during the presidencies of Richard Nixon until the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973. The unjustified disrespect that would be given to Vietnam War veterans did not evolve, however, until some time after Lt. Rasmussen was discharged. Early Vietnam veterans, however, had enough on their minds—the memories that they carried home with them.