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Seeking legacy of peace Photo by Steve Johnson Ashland's Steve Mason, national poet laureate of the Vietnam Veterans of America, says veterans still have a job to do: to join in the quest for lasting peace by sharing the truths they've learned. Veteran sees duty to find better answer than war Variety highlights holiday Poetry, parades and politicians will be featured in the last Veterans Day festivities of the century on Thursday. As with most holidays, there will be no school or mail deliveries. Banks, libraries and most government offices also will be closed. Events begin with two breakfasts: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the American Legion Hall, 73 Winburn Way, Ashland. Ham and eggs and pancakes. Cost is $3.50 for adults, $2 for children under 12. 9 a.m. open house and breakfast at the Crater Lake Post No. 1833 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, 47 N. Front St., Medford. Chipped beef on toast and scrambled eggs. The cost is $2 per person. There will also be entertainment, displays and concession booths at Alba Park in Medford beginning at 9 a.m. The annual ceremony at the Department of Veterans Affairs Domiciliary in White City begins at 10 a.m. Keynote speakers will be U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, and Hoon Sohn, the Consul General of South Korea. The annual Veterans Day Parade begins at 11 a.m., starting at the intersection of Second and Front streets. Marchers will proceed to Alba Park and finish in front of the Jackson County courthouse. The Ashland Symphony Orchestra will give a free concert at 7:30 p.m. at the Medford National Guard Armory, 1701 South Pacific Highway. The concert is dedicated to B Co., 186th Infantry, Oregon Army National Guard. The poetry of Steve Mason, national poet laureate of the Vietnam Veterans of America, will be presented beginning at 8 p.m. at the Unitarian Church, 87 Fourth St., Ashland. In addition to readings by Mason, an Ashland resident, others reading his material will include: Derrick Weeden and Ray Porter, Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Dale Luciano, director of the Theater Arts Department at Southern Oregon University; Peter Alzado, artistic director of the Actor's Theater; Lucianne Estes, actress and dance instructor; Rick Cornelius, Ashland High School English department; and Lee Carrau, founding member of The Ashland Community Theater. Music and song will also be presented. There is no admission fee, although donations will be taken for homeless veterans. By PAUL FATTIG Steve Mason longs for the day when there will be no more military veterans. It isn't because Mason lacks respect or appreciation for veterans as reveille for the last Veterans Day of the century approaches. Fact is, the former Army captain and decorated Vietnam War combat veteran has powerful feelings for those who have worn the uniform. "But I had always hoped that the legacy of the Vietnam veteran was that he would be this nation's last fighting man," said Mason, the national poet laureate of the Vietnam Veterans of America. Now Mason, whose poetry will be presented in salute of veterans at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Unitarian Church in Ashland, hopes the next century will find a human race that stops sending its young men and women off to war. "We should speak to the end of creating veterans by finding a more acceptable way of negotiating our differences," said Mason, a New York City native who has lived in Ashland since 1986. "There has got to be a viable way to settle differences among nations and between men without warfare," he added. He isn't optimistic he will win the battle to stop war. But he isn't shirking his duty. "One of the things we know about the next millennium is that, given science and technology, we will likely have the ability to heal a lot of problems," he said. "What we will not find a cure for is human nature. We must find a way to live together peacefully." Mason, 59, who speaks with the gravelly voice of a veteran drill instructor barking out a command, joined the Army in 1960. Rising to the rank of captain, he served with an infantry unit near what is now Ho Chi Minh City in 1966-67. "I was in Vietnam for one year and, like the rest, I spent about 13 years coming home," said the veteran who received a bronze star for bravery. He has written a trilogy of poetry books _ "Johnny's Song," "Warrior for Peace" and "The Human Being" _ about war and warriors. His are strong, personal words written from the point of view of one who has slogged and sweated in the mud and blood of that war. "I started writing poetry because I wanted to explain my war to me in terms that I could understand," he said. "I wanted the algebra of my mind to come up with some formula so I could work through this." Consider the poem, "The Wall Within": "My soul just did what most souls did. Just disappeared one afternoon when I was in a firefight. Just walked away in the scuffle like a Dunhill lighter off the deck of a redneck bar..." Veterans are not off duty simply because they've received their discharge papers, he said. "The most important thing about veterans is that they have seen the varmint," he said of those who experienced combat. "They have seen the truth. The truth is never simple. It is always complex. "They have a moral obligation to share that truth," he added. "Veterans surround all issues on all sides. But they have to recognize that each has a duty to speak their truth. They must be heard." That includes all living veterans of all wars, beginning in World War I, he said. "It's sad to me that it is called Veterans Day," he said. "It's sad because 81 years ago it was called Armistice Day." During what had been billed "the war to end all wars," nearly 117,000 Americans died between April 6, 1917, and Nov. 11, 1918. In comparison, some 58,000 Americans perished in the more than a decade that GIs fought in Vietnam. "Things were rough for the doughboys," he said of WWI. "They came home needing back pay. And they had wondered what it was they had won. The disillusionment was probably similar to that felt by all those who had fought in our wars." Unfortunately, that world war set the stage for the next world war two decades later, he said. "This is the last Veterans Day of this millennium," he said. "What I would like the veteran community to do, regardless of its opinion of the major issues of our time, is to speak to those issues." Veterans have both the responsibility and the right to take part in social debate to improve the world, he said. "I am personally offended that a veteran with a veteran's experience and a veteran's understanding of real life should limit his activities to putting out a flag on a particular day and riding on the back of a flatbed truck," he said. "I know it's an attempt to recognize his commitment. "But that commitment does not end with war," he added. "It ends only when there is lasting peace for his or her grandchild." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA