Watching the compelling documentary, The Vietnam War by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, brought back memories of my time in Vietnam in 1967-1968.
I was in the ROTC program at Middlebury College (class of 1961) and upon graduation was commissioned a second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. In my 6-1/2 years in the Army, I served at Fort Devens, MA, Germany, Fort Eustis, VA, Okinawa, and Vietnam.
This compelling documentary put in context for me my small part in the Vietnam War. I was a U.S. Army Transportation captain stationed in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, from 1967-68, during the Tet Offensive. My job was to arrange transport of supplies from our Saigon depot via air and water to our troops in the field.
War is a spectacular show when watched from afar, but as the documentary shows, not so much up close. During the Tet Offensive, I remember the B-52 carpet bombing that shook the earth; I watched from a rooftop as our helicopter gunships strafed the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. I could hear explosions throughout Saigon as the Viet Cong attacked police stations and other government buildings. The U.S. military used Korean and Australian civilian workers who were housed in unprotected housing throughout Saigon. Many were killed by the Viet Cong.
I attended Suffolk Law School in Boston after the war at a time when the Boston/Cambridge area was a hotbed of anti-Vietnam activity. The Kent State shooting happened then. Many of my fellow classmates were attending law school to avoid the draft and often, and not so kiddingly, called me Captain America whenever The New York Times reported on the war.
In 2006, I visited Vietnam with my wife Judi Iranyi. Our itinerary took us to Ho Chi Minh City, My Tho, Tay Ninh, Vinh Trang, Minh City, Hue, Hoi An, Halong Bay, and Hanoi. During the war, I did not appreciate what a beautiful country Vietnam is with its 2,000 mile coastline, jungles, beaches, and mountains and hills.
During our visit, we met a group of French veterans of the Vietnam War — remember France’s defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954? After learning that I too was a Vietnam veteran, they insisted on a group photo. There is an irony there someplace.
While we were in Vietnam, an Agent Orange Conference was taking place. The U.S. military dumped 19 million gallons of agent orange/dioxins in Vietnam. At least 2.1 million were victims of the toxins while another 4.8 million were indirectly effected. We saw photos of some of the victims in the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. The highly toxic dioxins effected those sprayed, and caused birth defects in their children.
Each of our three guides asked if this was our first trip to Vietnam. I told our first guide that I was a Vietnam veteran, stationed in Saigon in 1967-68. Our guide told us that he was in the South Vietnamese army and was stationed with the U.S. Marines in Danang. After the U.S. defeat, he tried twice to escape, but was caught both times. He spent 2-1/2 years in prison. He is now an independent tour guide. He then proceeded to point out some of the U.S. occupation sites, most of which have since been torn down to build office buildings and housing. Our Hue/Hoi An guide asked me if I had left any children behind, a bit of an indelicate question in front of my wife. I said no. Later we learned that he would have offered to assist me in finding these children if I had said yes. Our Hanoi/Halong Bay guide told us her father was in the North Vietnamese army and lost his leg in a land mine explosion. He still suffers pain.
Our visit to Saigon’s War Remnants Museum was a sobering highlight of our trip. As stated in the Museum’s brochure: “The role of the unique museum . . . is to preserve and display exhibits on war crimes and aftermaths [of] foreign aggressive forces caused [to] Vietnamese people.” The photos are both gruesome and compelling. One section called “Requiem,” contains a collection of photos taken by 134 war reporters -- from 11 different countries -- killed during the Vietnam War. The Epilogue to this section states in part: “[A] war in which so many died for illusions, and foolish causes, and mad dreams.”
Thirty years later, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in his book In Retrospect: The Tragedies and Lessons of Vietnam admitted we were wrong about Vietnam. Will we ever get a similar admission or apology about the Iraq, Afghanistan, Libyan, and Syrian wars?
While in Vietnam, we picked up an English translation of a book called The Sorrows of War by Bao Ninh, a veteran of North Vietnam’s Youth Brigade. Of the five hundred who went to war with the brigade in 1969, he is one of only ten who survived. His book has been compared to Erich Remarque’s All Quiet On the Western Front. A compelling read. Bao Ninh is featured in The Vietnam War.
True the documentary is from an American point of view. The documentary holds out hope to a new generation of Americans that we might learn from history, given 18 hours of contrary evidence.
In the end The Vietnam War is a lament for those Americans, North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians, who died needlessly in this unnecessary war.