Whose War Was It?

Starting September 17th on PBS TV they will air a 10 part, 18 documentary from Ken Burns about the Vietnam War. Hopefully for a lot of Americans this documentary might put some of what the author of this article is describing in a better perspective. Old wounds and old feelings are hard to change as any GI can tell you.

Pawns in the game. A game which continues today at the behest of those who very rarely spill their own blood,but are more than willing to spill others. As they say in the old country,"What's best for thee may not be best for me." This same essay will be written by a descendant of some refugee ally from one of our continuing wars t

The usual American technique of blaming others for our failures, instead of owning them, and fixing them. tRump, and the Republicans are the perfect manifestations of this cowardly habit.

As a Vietnam veteran, I saw many occasions where the ARVN and their colleagues fought well and bravely. But none the less, the author is VERY wrong-headed in a major point. She said, "ARVN soldiers were made an easy and ready scapegoat for America’s losses.." as if there were American causes and it was America's war. We went to help the South Vietnamese, and in the end, they lost the war. Their lack of fighting will, their lack of effective civil government, and the number of their population who fought for the communists doomed the campaign from the beginning. The percentage of brave ARVN paled when compared to the number of brave Viet Cong and NVA, and that was one measure of defeat. When America withdrew, there was a large, well equipped ARVN army and air force. Two years later they lost every battle against their enemy, and their country collapsed.

This article explains the relationship between the ARVN and the Americans excellently. Good job Uyen Nguyen.

This needs telling. Thanks, Carie.

"Soldiers on both sides asked, Whose war is this? What are we fighting for?" I don't think that's correct. The Viet Cong had a very clear purpose: to rid their country of foreign invaders and stooge governments. Remember that the Vietnamese had previously forced out the French and the Japanese by the time the Americans arrived. For the Viet Cong, the war was less about Communism and more about national self-determination and patriotism. The ARVN, on the other hand, was riven with cynicism and doubt, because deep down they recognized their dependence upon foreign powers...and the fact that 80% of the South Vietnamese population supported the aims of the Viet Cong.

As a rear echelon company clerk at Long Bihn in '68/'69, I am convinced that the people who lost that war were us REMFs, who were 90% of the Americans in 'Nam. I still remember the lecture we got while we were still on the plane arriving in 'Nam. "Don't have anything to do with the black market! Charlie owns the black market!" Every career soldier I knew or knew of and more than a few draftees, was on the take. The Grunts never lost a fight. We didn't lose the war. The REMFs sold it.

What a moving account of the misunderstandings and misconceptions regarding the ARVN's contribution to the allied cause in Vietnam.

However, more than by the emotion behind the writer's attempt to correct historical wrongs, I was moved by the description of the families joining and feeding their conscripts (and American soldiers) behind the battle zones, Vietnamese soldiers holding hands when heading into battle: In short, the total, incomprehensible futility of war.

This Op-Ed should be a lesson to all, but the chances are slim that it is a lesson anyone will ever learn.

The ARVN soldiers were at a gross disadvantage because the "country" they were fighting for was an artificial colonial entity led by a revolving door of American-picked rulers who were dispensed at will. In a sense, the ARVN were little more than mercenary soldiers. The real Vietnam which had the hearts and minds of its soldiers and citizens was the "North" which was led by the nationalist leaders Ho Chi Minh and General Giap. Hanoi was the seat of Vietnamese national identity and thus ultimately of national victory.

Great article! Thanks Carie Uyen Nguyen!

Thank you for this article on a scarcely covered topic worthy of much more attention. I hope your dissertation will expand the scholarship. Is there anything in your research that might be applicable to operations in Afghanistan today?

www.thewaryouknow.com

OK, so how does one explain what happened after the US withdrew its troops?

One of the stark similar metrics of the war in Vietnam and Afghanistan is the dependency on US air power. The Vietnamese saw the power of combined action...maneuver and arty support on the ground combined with air power.

"Same-same" with Afghanistan with not only air power but medivac and other support services brought in by air.

And the end state will be the same, too.

Paktia/Khost 2003-4

Many kids drafted off the streets of Saigon wanted to fight no more than kids drafted off the streets of Chicago. The only problem with the author's view is with the war itself, as he says "They were allies fighting global communism." No, they were fighting their Vietnamese brothers and sisters, and Ho Chi Minh while a Communist was also a nationalist. A leader, who the by the CIA's own estimates, would get 80% of the vote in a free and open election.

An excellent piece. I look forward to Carie Uyen Nguyen's future contributions as she earns her doctorate and enters the academic world. Well researched oral history, such as her ongoing project, has great value.

Texas Tech is a center for fine research on Vietnam and has rich and growing archival material. I attended a very well constructed symposium there about a decade ago.

This moving and well-researched account remind me of a parable about a man who moved to a new town. He asked the town elder what the townspeople were like. The elder asked in return: "What were the people like in your old town?"

"They were wonderful neighbors," he replied.

The elder said: "You will find the same here."

Another person from another town moved in and asked the same question, as did the elder. "Oh, the person replied, "They were worthless and I hated being around them."

The elder said: "You will find the same here."

This moving account of the South Vietnamese soldiers' role in the Vietnam war reminds me of the challenges faced by black Union soldiers during our Civil War. African Americans had proven their courage during two previous conflicts, but white prejudice blotted those facts from the national memory. When President Lincoln offered them the opportunity to enlist, therefore, black Americans had to prove themselves all over again.

The heroic sacrifices of the 54th Massachusetts at Fort Wagner in July, 1863, did much to win over white opinion, especially among their comrades in the Union army. Saint-Gaudens later memorialized them in a bronze monument that stands in Boton across from the old State House. The monument, however, could not prevent the reemergence of white prejudice in the years after the war, as the memory of black contributions to the Union victory gradually eroded.

In both Vietnam and America, stereotypes shaped attitudes when personal experience did not intervene to expose the stupidity of racism.

as a member of the 25th infantry division during the period 1968-69 our outfit was stationed on the border of a Michelin rubber plantation near Dau Tieng. The plantation was a refugee for NVA and Viet Cong because of a policy that precluded B-52 strikes inside the plantation which was approximately 10km on a side. We would experience frequent bouts of mortar and rocket attack. In an effort to quell these attacks and suppress guerrilla movement inside the plantation
the americans constructed, by dint of strenuous effort, a series of bunkers that were to be manned by ARVN. After a few days the bunkers were abandoned and the rocket and mortar attacks continued.