It’s been said that Vietnam veterans are often overlooked, and that’s true according to Henry Morgan of the Oakey Ridge Community.

Or at least he felt that way until Pleasant Home first grader Tristan Harrison, the grandson of a longtime friend, penned him a letter, thanking Morgan for his service.

The letter, and the thought behind it, was enough to make him cry, he said.

“We all know how Vietnam vets were treated when we came home,” he said. “We didn’t get a ticker tape parade or anything. There were no ‘thank yous.’

“When I got that letter in the mail, it really got to me,” he said. “It was from a friend of mine’s grandson. I’m sure the teacher wrote it on the board, and they just copied it down, but it got to me, I tell you.”

All first grade students at PHS sent out handwritten invitations to the school’s Veterans Day program on Thursday. Morgan said he was unable to make it to the program because of health issues related to his military service.

Morgan, who served one tour in Vietnam, is a second-generation soldier. His father, Henry Bishop Morgan was a World War II veteran; his son, Michael, is a major serving in the National Guard in Montgomery.

He said he’s proud to come from a military family.

“I’m sitting here right now, and it’s tough on me when I think about all the people – friends – that died over there,” he said. “I get choked up and can’t hardly talk.

“This family has three generations that have fought for our country and it makes me proud.

“Makes me proud, too, that little boy thought of us veterans, too,” he said.