{"id":2513,"date":"2024-02-01T11:11:43","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T16:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2024-02-01T11:11:46","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T16:11:46","slug":"vietnam-war-veteran-a-biography-of-queens-native-john-rowan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/eternal\/vietnam-war-veteran-a-biography-of-queens-native-john-rowan","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam War Veteran: A Biography of Queens Native John Rowan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Queens native John Rowan has made his way from a Vietnam War veteran to an active public figure. He fought to improve the lives of veterans and the community as a whole. Read more about the distinguished New Yorker’s life path on queensyes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Childhood and education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our hero was born on September 18, 1945 in Queens. He studied at the Brooklyn Technical High School and Baruch College, although he did not graduate. He studied the Indonesian language at the Defense Language Institute but was disappointed in the opportunities and prospects of his work as an Indonesian linguist. Therefore, he mastered Vietnamese later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military service<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1965, during the Vietnam War, Rowan joined the US Air Force as a linguist. Rowan flew over North Vietnam. Together with his colleagues, he listened to enemy messages and translated them into English. This helped to obtain strategically important data and direct American pilots, warning them of danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vietnam War lasted from 1959 to 1975 and is considered the longest war in US history. The confrontation started in the 1940s when the communists fought against the French colonialists. In 1954, France partitioned Vietnam, which had been its colony before and during World War II. Then, the communists led by Ho Chi Minh, who were based in the north, defeated the French. The Geneva Declaration was signed, dividing the country into a communist north and a pro-American south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1955, the US observed communist expansion. They influenced South Vietnam to refuse to comply with the terms of the previous agreements. This led to a confrontation. North Vietnam was supported by the USSR and China. South Vietnam got help from the USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, etc. The American leadership, sending its military to Asia, was afraid of the rapid spread of communism. If this ideology won in one country, it would rapidly spread to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Although the USA had the most developed economy and powerful armed forces after World War II, North Vietnam won the war. More than 58,000 Americans were killed or went missing during the conflict. According to historians, more than half a million American soldiers and officers were stationed on the territory of Vietnam at the peak of the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main reasons for the defeat of the USA included lack of financial support from Congress, battles in the infernal jungle, anti-war protests, low morale, as well as corruption and unpopularity of the government of South Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social activities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After the war, Rowan studied political science at Queen’s College and urban affairs at Hunter College. He was passionate about serving people and began working with local New York legislators and networking with veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1978, John became a member of the non-profit corporation Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA). VVA’s mission is to advance the full range of issues important to veterans, create a new identity for the soldiers and change public opinion of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VVA is committed to achieving full access to quality health care for veterans, determining the full range of injuries and diseases that lead to disability during military service, bringing state institutions to account for non-compliance with laws providing for mandatory health care for veterans, creating a positive public perception of soldiers, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rowan raised public awareness of the high rate of post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans. As one of the earliest and most active members of the VVA, he understood the seriousness of veterans’ problems, from PTSD and substance abuse to family and financial difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This corporation was close to the Barack Obama administration. Virginia Secretary Eric Shinseki and Obama himself agreed to support upfront funding for Virginia’s health care system. This topic has been a priority for several years. One of the most important initiatives of the VVA is the creation of the Veterans Health Council. Its main goal is to improve the quality of life and health of soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They used online resources to find hundreds of thousands of veterans who were injured while serving in Vietnam, Korea, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. They received the right to treatment and were able to claim compensation for expenses due to disability, as well as a pension and various benefits. Many veterans did not even know about their rights and the financial compensation provided for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John also worked with the Vietnamese Veterans Association to search for missing American soldiers who died in Vietnam. In addition, until 2002, he worked as an investigator in the NY City Comptroller\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Queens native John Rowan has made his way from a Vietnam War veteran to an active public figure. He fought to improve the lives of veterans and the community as a whole. Read more about the distinguished New Yorker’s life path on queensyes.com. Childhood and education Our hero was born on September 18, 1945 in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":2309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[498],"tags":[874,878,881,867,876,879,872,875,880,873,877],"motype":[491],"moformat":[89],"moimportance":[104],"class_list":{"0":"post-2513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"tag-john-rowan","9":"tag-military-history","10":"tag-queens-native","11":"tag-us-army","12":"tag-us-military-history","15":"tag-veteran-rowan","16":"tag-vietnam-veterans-of-america-2","17":"tag-vietnam-war","18":"tag-vietnam-war-veteran","19":"motype-eternal","20":"moformat-vlasna","21":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2514,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions\/2514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensyes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}