A note from Megan Whitworth: Veteran’s Day is a day we take to remember the brave men and women who have fought for our freedom and defended our liberties. I am the daughter of a veteran, Robert Stephen Ault. My father served for four years in the United States Air Force and bravely fought along other men and women during the Vietnam War. I am grateful to be his daughter and for the service he gave. I grew up listening to his memories and can recall how proud he was of the service he gave. We would not be the land of the free without each of our service men and women. In honor of this beloved day, I would like to share my father’s statement on why he reported to the Phu Cat Air Force Base, located in South Vietnam on Dec. 4, 1970. He wrote this on Nov. 29, 1977, three years after his service was complete.
I received orders from the United States Air Force to be assigned to the 12th Combat Support Group, Phu Cat Air Base, Republic of Vietnam. I was to be there on Dec. 4, 1970. And on that day I did arrive in Vietnam. The United States was engaged in an undeclared war.
This is my statement on why I went and fought in this war, which so many people were against it. I believe that North Vietnam was and has now at the present time of this writing attempted to dominate and to deprive another of his free agency (meaning the country and the people of South Vietnam), and that South Vietnam being a weaker nation was being unjustly crushed by a strong and ruthless North Vietnam.
I, Robert Stephen Ault, being loyal to my country and my God in the protection of free men everywhere
did enter and protect my life and the life of my fellow man. However, at no time did I knowingly cause injury or death to the enemy. I feel that to “deprive an intelligent human being of his free agency is to commit the crime of the ages. So fundamental in man’s progress is his inherent right to choose, that the Lord would defend it even at the price of war. Without freedom of thought, freedom of choice, freedom of action within lawful bounds, man cannot progress…. The greatest responsibility of the state is to guard the lives, and to protect the property and rights of its citizens: And if the state is obligated to protect its citizens from lawlessness with its boundaries, it is equally obligated to protect them from lawless encroachments from without — whether the attacking criminals be individuals or nations.”
These words I believe even as if they were said by my own lips, however this quote was said by David O. McKay.
I believe that war should be renounce and proclaim peace. We should seek peace by peaceful negotiation and adjustment, even when this fails to enter war on the offense is wrong. I believe as Moroni said,“And thus he was preparing to support their liberty, their lands, their wives, and their children, and their peace, and that they might live unto the Lord their God, and that they might maintain that which was called by their enemies the cause of Christians.”
When I was in Vietnam I was there “in memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children.”
This is my statement for why and if called upon again that I, Robert Stephen Ault, would enter into war.
