Vietnam premium 2018 by More Content Now / Gannett

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ON THE COVER The Vietnam War was a military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from Nov. 1, 1955, to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. It was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by anticommunist nations. [WIKIPEDIA]

Those who served

Leaving a legacy

Vietnam era timeline

Share your story

Songs of protest

Opinion: Peace 50 years later

Three F-5A aircraft, armed with 750-pound bombs, are shown in the revetment area at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, Jan. 31, 1966. [U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO]

“In Vietnam everyone knew everyone and what job they had. When they got home they were all the same (veterans), but they did not all have an equal experience. Their silence carried a message.” Meredith Lair, historian

Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 — any veteran who served on active duty during the official time frame of the Vietnam War (1961-1975). nderstanding the Vietnam War is an almost Anyone who served in the military during the war insurmountable task, but let’s look at one key faced the possibility of being sent to Vietnam, though. fact that many people do not know: The major“Maybe they didn’t risk their lives but they risked riskity of military personnel played support roles. ing their lives,” said Meredith Lair, a Vietnam War his“The conventional wisdom was that everybody cartorian at George Mason University and author of “Armed ried a rifle, patrolled the jungle and faced death daily, with Abundance: Consumerism and Soldiering in the but that’s false,” said WilVietnam War,” which liam Shkurti, who served examines the non-combat as an artillery officer in experiences of American a remote area about 300 soldiers in Vietnam. yards from the CamboBack at home over the dian border in fall 1970. decades, veterans themOnly about one out selves may have helped of seven were combat camouflage the roles they troops, said historian Chris played during the war. Appy, history profes“In Vietnam everyone sor at University of Masknew everyone and what sachusetts Amherst. job they had. When they got “Six out of seven served home they were all the same on bases. They worked in (veterans), but they did not intelligence. They were A Marine gets his wounds treated during operations in Hue, all have an equal experience. 1968, during the Vietnam War. [PHOTO BY UNDETERMINED U.S MILITARY clerk typists, cooks, drivTheir silence carried a mesPHOTOGRAPHER / PUBLIC DOMAIN] ers. They were the rear sage” and concealed the fact echelon. The guys with that many veterans served the gear in the rear. The guys with the beer with in the rear echelon and not in combat capacity, Lair said. hot food and hot showers,” Appy said. Combat veterans offered “a truly unique and special They proudly served their country, but were contribution” to the war, but that “doesn’t mean it wasn’t derided by combat troops as “REMFs” or “rear echa sacrifice” for people who served as support, Lair said. elon mother (insert expletive here),” Appy said. “They gave up their lives back home. They left their Additionally, not all Vietnam-era veterans served families to fight in a war that wasn’t popular. Life at in-country. They were also stationed in Germany, home goes on without them, and it must have been difJapan, Thailand, Philippines, Korea, Guam and the ficult to navigate when they returned,” she said. continental United States. Some people feel the term No matter where veterans served in Vietnam, they were a “Vietnam veteran” should refer only to those who close witness to danger. They lived in an apprehensive state. served in Vietnam, but the U.S. government defines “Being a noncombatant doesn’t mean they didn’t feel them all as “Vietnam-era veterans” according to the scared, that there wasn’t a looming sense of danger even on By Melissa Erickson More Content Now

Those who

SERVED

More military personnel played support roles than combat ones. Here are a few of their stories

“There weren’t enough NCOs (non-commissioned officers), not enough support or spare parts. Morale was bad, and there were racial problems.”

the biggest bases that were considered safer areas,” Lair said. To make it even more complicated, just what is a combat veteran? “Is it just the guy with the gun? Is it if you might be in danger of a mortar attack versus projecting violence and delivering it to the enemy? There are different degrees of experience. At any moment all hell could break loose,” Lair said.

William Shkurti, of his service in Germany before being sent to Vietnam

Easy to tell who was who During the war, in-country combat and support troops could be identified on sight, said author Timothy Lomperis, who served two tours of duty in Vietnam in the Army and Defense Intelligence Agency. “We wore different “When we got home, everybody uniforms. They wore was the same,” said Lomperis, a “Saigon warrior who served fatigues and carried in a support capacity at MACV M16s. The fatigues (U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam), also known as were faded and had ‘mafia HQ’ or ‘Pentagon East.’” rips. They wore dirty “We wore different uniforms. They wore fatigues and carboots and dog tags ried M16s. The fatigues were hanging around their faded and had rips. They wore dirty boots and dog tags hangnecks. I worked in ing around their necks. I worked an air-conditioned in an air-conditioned office and wore khakis, starched shirts, office and wore khaspit-shined shoes and a belt with kis, starched shirts, a shiny brass buckle. I didn’t spit-shined shoes and carry a gun,” Lomperis said. When support servicemen a belt with a shiny crossed paths with combat troops, brass buckle. I didn’t “We felt guilty. It was painful to even be around them. Their lot carry a gun.” was really rugged,” Lomperis said. Timothy Lomperis, who The experience that most people served in a support capacity likely associate with Vietnam is the horror and deprivation of war, so it’s ironic that that wasn’t the real experience of most Vietnam veterans, Lair said. “It’s important for people to know they exist. So many popular movies feature the combat side of war — ground combat or maybe the air war. So many servicemen came home and saw how the story (of the Vietnam War) was being told. Their story got eliminated. The entire emphasis is on the narrow combat experience,” Lair said. During the war, “these men felt like they were part of the military endeavor, but it’s not what the public celebrates. The question became: When will someone tell what my war was like?” Lair said. Many veterans struggled with feeling

William Shkurti at Fire Support Lanyard, Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam, January 1971. [COURTESY WILLIAM SHKURTI]

that their experience didn’t measure up. “I talked to many men who felt sheepish that they didn’t have those (combat) stories to share,” Lair said. Germany, Vietnam, United States After graduating from Ohio State University in 1968, William Shkurti said, “I knew I was going to be drafted so I enlisted. I was thinking I would have a better chance of determining where I would be sent.” That’s not how the military works, though. After completing Field Artillery Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Shkurti was sent to Germany — not Vietnam. He was with the 3rd Infantry Division in Schweinfurt. “Boy, I thought I had it made,” Shkurti said with a small laugh. “I thought it would be easy, but it was actually tough,” said Shkurti, who served as a fire direction officer and supervised a six-person team. His unit in Germany lacked the leadership and necessities to get their job done, he said. “There weren’t enough NCOs (non-commissioned officers), not enough support or spare parts. Morale was bad, and there were racial problems,” Shkurti said. Drug abuse, overdoses, crime and traffic accidents led to several deaths within his unit.

Eventually Shkurti was sent to Vietnam and served as an artillery officer with B Battery 2 / 35th Artillery at Fire Support Base Lanyard on the Cambodian border in 1970-71. Situated in a remote area with the enemy about 300 yards away over the border, Shkurti’s unit was constantly in harm’s way. “I expected it would be worse in Vietnam, but it was a more satisfying experience,” Shkurti said. His unit lost more men to overdose and traffic accidents in Germany than to combat in Vietnam. Another difference was the sense of solidarity he felt. “Knowing that the threat is so close by is an incentive for people to work together. You pull together under a common enemy,” Shkurti said. In Germany the U.S. military was protecting West Germany against the threat of Russian invasion, “but it wasn’t imminent,” Shkurti said. While older Germans were friendly, younger ones were hostile and aloof, Shkurti said. “It’s ironic because we were there to protect them. You would think (serving in Germany) would be a great duty, but it wasn’t.” At the end of his service, Shkurti was an executive officer with the 6th Armored Cavalry at Fort Meade, Maryland. Most of his time was spent protecting government buildings from Vietnam War protesters. After completing his enlistment, Shkurti returned to Ohio State University to earn a master’s degree in public administration. He served as budget director for the state of Ohio from 1985 to 1987. He now is an adjunct professor in the John Glenn College of Public Service. In retirement he wrote “Soldiering On in a Dying War” focusing on the Vietnam drawdown and “The Ohio State University in the Sixties.” Reflecting back, “I’m more skeptical whether a war of choice can help defend a country in the long run. I’m also more respectful of what servicepeople endure. They deserve our respect. Ask me or any other serviceperson and they will tell you they are proud of their service,” Shkurti said. ‘Whup, whup, whup’ For military intelligence officer Timothy Lomperis, the constant “whup, whup, whup” of helicopters flying overhead is one of many things that stand out in his mind about the time he spent helping make critical war decisions in Saigon serving under Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, from 1968 to 1972. “The sky swarmed with helicopters. One would fly overhead about every 60 seconds,” remembers the professor emeritus of political science at Saint Louis University. Lomperis served two tours of duty in Vietnam in the Army and Defense Intelligence Agency. He was awarded the U.S. Bronze Star and the Vietnamese Army Staff Medal First Class and is the author of four books

about Vietnam including “The War Everyone Lost — and Won.” Huge streams of paperwork came through military intelligence offices that allowed Lomperis a “bird’s eye view of the war and how it functioned. The challenge was figuring out what the enemy would do. It’s kind of like playing goalie for a soccer team. You’re in the hot seat. If you call it wrong, thousands of people could end up being killed,” he said. People don’t understand how consequential the decisions were that were being made at headquarters, he said. “We would take orders from Washington and from the five information streams (personnel, intelligence, operations, logistics and political implications) and use all that information to create an order of the day,” Lomperis said. He remembers his commanding officer Abrams as “a political genius who turned the war around.” Saigon was considered relatively safe, but life wasn’t easy and violence erupted. “The big problem was that Saigon was Sodom and Gomorrah. There were more prostitutes than bureaucrats, and every kind of club and bar from high-class to low-class. Country western music blared all over Saigon,” Lomperis said. As opposed to the “goldbug society,” or service personnel who were not interested in meeting locals and learning about Vietnam, Lomperis sought out opportunities to get off the base and interact with the Vietnamese. “The rule was to always go out in groups of two or three, but I often went by myself unarmed. There were Viet Cong all over the place, but if you were street-smart you stayed safe,” Lomperis said. He never carried a gun because if he was shot, the enemy soldier could have claimed it was self-defense, he said. In addition to meeting locals, walks off-base could provide valuable intelligence. He was friendly with “street urchins” who would badger him for chocolate and other small treats. They would tell him not to go down certain streets because it wasn’t safe, “so you would know something was brewing there,” Lomperis said. He could take that information back to the base. “It was a game of cat and mouse” that almost turned deadly when he was “nearly killed by some drunk Vietnamese soldiers,” Lomperis said. Today, he cautions people not to draw quick lessons from the war. “Vietnam has come to symbolize certain things that aren’t necessarily true. If you dig into it, it becomes a very grey war,” he said. Homefront experience One of the biggest lessos Dr. Buddy C. Thornton learned from his military service was “Always live for the day. Tomorrow is too unpredictable, especially during deployment,” he said.

In 1972 Thornton enlisted in the U.S. Navy at 17 and trained After discharge in 1976, Thornton took his 4-year-old to be a hospital corpsman. Since his older two brothers were daughter and pregnant wife home to her family and used the already serving in Vietnam he was not allowed to go. GI Bill to earn an a degree in allied health sciences from Uni“I served at the naval hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts, for versity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The family moved to Phoe18 months. During that time, I was assigned to the sick officers nix, Arizona, where they have been for the past 40 years. quarters, sadly watching many men pass away. I was in Boston “We have four children, plenty of grandchildren, both biologiwhen the Chelsea fire occurred in October 1973, received a merical and through marriages, and five great-grandchildren. None torious unit citation for fighting the fire that consumed a large would be here if Vietnam never happened, so it creates bittersweet portion of Chelsea — 18 blocks one way, 16 blocks another. It was feelings but no regrets,” Thornton said. “Well, one. My middle a huge fire. I had surgery shortly after the fire, then spent conbrother died five years ago from extended PTSD and the ravvalescent leave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That was where I met ages of the drug addiction he endured while trying to cope with my wife. She was a USO (United Service his memories from Vietnam. The war changed and Organizations) volunteer who enterdealt cruelty to many families, not just mine, but I tained servicemen. She served me milk have seen the sadness in my father’s eyes, and we and cookies, and we have been together both know what is there, and what is missing.” now for 44 years,” Thornton said. Thornton returned to school later in life One of the toughest parts of service was and is now finishing his doctorate in busi“We have four “seeing people whose lives were ruined ness administration in the field of cross-culchildren, plenty or lost because of the war,” he said. tural competency and conflict management. After Boston, Thornton served at Marines “I am focused on peace and conflict reducof grandchildren, Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. tion on a global and local scale,” he said. both biological and “Men facing shipping out exhibited many In November Thornton journeyed to Datypes of behavior. I assisted a medical offiNang, Vietnam, with his wife as a keynote prethrough marriages, cer suture up a Marine after a bar fight who senter at the Asia Pacific Mediation Forum. and five greatwas so drunk he didn’t need an anesthetic. “I was going for many reasons, but the grandchildren. One strong memory I have is how tough most important was to close a chapter of hisit was for the families,” Thornton said. tory I felt needed closing,” Thornton said. None would be here The stress of military life was constant. “If I am sad about anything Vietnam-war, it is if Vietnam never “Even as the war drew down in 1975 how other global players view that period of hisand early 1976, the pressure was intense tory when compared to the American perspective. happened, so it as huge numbers of men came home Regardless of how we each served, part of our soul creates bittersweet with addictions and injuries too horwas left in that place with those who never came back rible to really describe,” Thornton said. alive, and with those who suffered and died after, feelings but no Opposition to the war made miliand we should be honored for our collective loss regrets.” tary personnel band together. if for no other reason. We served honorably. Even Dr. Buddy C. Thornton, who “The mood around the country was today, many see otherwise, but only at home.” met his wife during his service not good for the military, not like today with cheers and applause for returnWorlds collide ing members. We had each other, and we understood it takes so much honor One place the guys in the rear and combat solto serve during the tough times. I think diers would cross paths was at rearward bases, I never knew, or know even today, of any Vietnam-era vets I which ranged from isolated fire bases less than a city block would not embrace as brothers. Especially from the minority in size to major bases like Long Binh Post that resembled an groups, our black comrades, because they bore the brunt of the American city, said Chris Appy, author of three books about draft, were very unappreciated, and made the ultimate sacrifice the American war in Vietnam: “American Reckoning: The above and beyond other groups, and for what?” Thornton said. Vietnam War and Our National Identity,” “Patriots: The On leave, Thornton would head home to see famVietnam War Remembered from All Sides” and “Workingily and friends, but the war changed things. Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam.” “Home was tough because my parents did not agree with To prop up sinking morale and keep soldiers safe on base my volunteering. With two sons already in the war, they felt rather than heading into Vietnamese towns, the U.S. miliI should not go. I would have been called a coward by othtary strove to make bases as home-like as possible, Appy ers from the small town I grew up in, so I never considered not said. Long Binh was not a standard base, but it was home to volunteering. I know that was very dependent upon where the Army’s Vietnam headquarters and showed the abunyou called home, but that was my reality,” Thornton said. dance and consumerism that was possible to create.

Sgt. Philip Fink calls in support during The Battle of Dong Xoai while assigned as an adviser to the 52nd Vietnamese Ranger Battalion in 1965. [DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE PHOTO BY U.S. MARINE CORPS STAFF SGT. STEVE STIBBENS]

“So many popular movies feature the combat side of war — ground combat or maybe the air war. So many servicemen came home and saw how the story (of the Vietnam War) was being told. Their story got eliminated.” Meredith Lair

“There were swimming pools, bars, cheap booze, entertainment, dancers and strippers, American TV. You could watch ‘The Beverly Hillbillies,’” Appy said. For recreation there were basketball, volleyball, tennis and multipurpose courts, football fields, miniature golf courses, a driving range, an archery range and a skeet-shooting range. In their spare time, servicepeople could go to the library, join a service club or take a spin on the go-kart track. Like suburban sprawl, the largest American bases just kept getting bigger, Lair said. “Built over time for more than $130 million, Long Binh eventually had 3,500 buildings and 180 miles of road covering an area bigger than Cleveland. One colonel joked, ‘If we ever really got attacked, the V.C. would have to use the scheduled bus service to get around the base,’” Lair wrote in “Armed with Abundance.” Then, there was the shopping. The post exchanges, or PXs, “rivaled today’s big box outlets” for variety and selection, Lair said. From sundries like razors and cigarettes, apple juice and chocolate milk to diamond jewelry and Rolex watches, stereos and kitchen appliances, servicepeople could buy just about anything — even cars for their wives or girlfriends back home, said Lomperis. “You made a deal in Saigon, and the car arrived in Lawrence, Kansas,” said Lomperis, who bought himself a $30 radio cassette player during the war, brought it home and kept it until about 2000. Soldiers bought goods with their ration cards, which were punched when purchases were made, Lair said. To preserve morale, the ration program ensured that all personnel were able to buy highend goods, but it was limited due to the possibility they might resell goods on the black market, Lair said. Still, a ration card would allow personnel to buy $2,000 to $3,000 worth of goods, she said. Napoleon said, “An army marches on its stomach,” and the U.S. military followed his advice. The men and women at the main bases such as Saigon, Cam Ranh, Da Nang, Bien Hoa and Long Binh had a fairly sedentary life and plenty of downtime compared to combat soldiers, Lair said. They also ate pretty well. “Good food makes people feel at home,” Lair said. The goal of keeping soldiers well-fed was that they would be happy, stay out of trouble and avoid vices like drugs or prostitution, she said. The chow halls tried to replicate mom’s home cooking with menus of grilled hamburgers, roast beef with gravy, French-fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, buttered corn and asparagus, ice cream, vanilla pudding and cherry pie, Lair said.

USS Maddox, DD-731, seen here at some point in the 1960s. [OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTOGRAPH, FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER]

A U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52F-70-BW Stratofortress (nicknamed “Casper The Friendly Ghost”) from the 320th Bomb Wing dropping Mk 117 750 lb. bombs over Vietnam. B-52Fs could carry 51 bombs and served in Vietnam from June 1965 to April 1966, when they were replaced by “Big Belly” B-52Ds that could carry 108 bombs. [CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO]

MAJOR

EVENTS of the Vietnam War era By John Sucich More Content Now

The United States’ military presence in Vietnam predated any military action there. When John F. Kennedy took office in January 1961, there were about 900 American servicemen stationed in Vietnam. That number would grow to 16,000 by the time of his assassination in 1963. Although there were American casualties in Vietnam in the 1950s, it is 1964 that many mark as the beginning of America’s active involvement in the Vietnam War.

Aug. 4, 1964: Two days after an altercation between North Vietnamese torpedo boats and the destroyer USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin, U.S. crews believe they were under attack again. Whether they actually were was later disputed. What became known as the Gulf of Tonkin incident led to United States forces conducting air raids in North Vietnam. Aug. 7, 1964: Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized President Lyndon Johnson “to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” In 1970 Congress began the process of repealing the resolution. Nov. 1, 1964: A Viet Cong attack on a South Vietnamese air base in Bien Hoa

kills five Americans. The attack was days before the 1964 presidential election, and President Johnson chose not to retaliate. He was re-elected in a landslide victory. March 2, 1965: Operation Rolling Thunder begins and would last until October 1968, with sustained bombing of North Vietnam. The air attacks began less than a month after a Viet Cong attack at a U.S. barracks at Pleiku killed eight Americans. March 8, 1965: 3,500 Marines land in Da Nang, the first U.S. ground forces to arrive. At the beginning of 1965 there were 23,000 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam, but they were called advisers. By the end of the year there were 180,000 U.S. military forces in country.

Secretary of State Dean Rusk (from left), President Lyndon B. Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House Feb. 9, 1968. Less than two months later the president announced he would not run for re-election. [PUBLIC

Burning aircraft on ramp at Bien Hoa AB, South Vietnam, after explosion. [PUBLIC DOMAIN]

DOMAIN PHOTO]

March 31, 1968: President Johnson announces in an address to the nation that he would stop the bombing in most of North Vietnam to seek a negotiated end to the war, and that he would not run for re-election.

Jan. 31, 1968: A series of attacks on the most important holiday on the Vietnamese calendar, the Tet Offensive led the United States to reconsider its objective in Vietnam. Though the Viet Cong suffered major casualties, the offensive showed the United States that, contrary to what the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leadership was saying, the fighting was far from over and turned public opinion in America against the war even more. March 16, 1968: A United States infantry company kill 504 women, children and elderly in the My Lai Massacre, the worst single incident of American war atrocities during the Vietnam War. The American public did not find out about the massacre until November 1969.

An Army PFC is shown setting a fire during the My Lai massacre, in which hundreds of Vietnamese civilians were killed. [PHOTO FROM THE REPORT OF ARMY REVIEW INTO MY LAI / PUBLIC DOMAIN]

Soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division moving toward Khe Sanh Combat Base in April 1968 during Operation Pegasus. [DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PHOTO]

May 10, 1968: Peace talks begin between the United States and North Vietnam in Paris. June 10, 1968: Gen. Creighton Abrams succeeds Gen. William Westmoreland as commander of the Military Assistance Command in Vietnam. Aug. 28, 1968: War protesters and local, state and federal police clash outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Two U.S. Air Force Bell UH-1P helicopters from the 20th Special Operations Squadron in Cambodia, circa 1970. Communist supplies moved from the port of Kompong Som, through Cambodia, to South Vietnam along the Sihanouk Trail. Until 1969, this artery, named after Cambodian leader Prince Sihanouk, was left largely untouched. [U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO]

People in Chicago’s Lincoln Park during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. [WIKIPEDIA PHOTOS]

Richard Nixon gives his trademark “victory” sign while in Paoli, Pennsylvania, during his successful campaign to become president of the United States.

Nov. 5, 1968: Richard Nixon wins U.S. presidential election. Sept. 2, 1969: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader and president of the Democratic State of Vietnam, dies. Nov. 15, 1969: A month after hundreds of thousands of people gathered in cities across the United States to protest the Vietnam War, the largest anti-war demonstration in American history is held in Washington, D.C. About 750,000 people, organized by the Vietnam Moratorium Committee, gathered in the nation’s capital and other large, mostly peaceful demonstrations were held in other cities.

May 1, 1970: U.S. forces begin incursions into Cambodia, in an area known as the Fishhook. May 4, 1970: During a protest at Kent State University, Ohio National Guardsmen shoot and kill four students and wound at least nine others. Other demonstrations at hundreds of universities followed the shooting, and 10 days later police at Jackson State University in Mississippi shot and killed two people, leaving 12 others injured. June 13, 1971: The New York Times publishes the first article in its series on information from the Pentagon Papers, leaked by Department of Defense analyst-turned-war detractor Daniel Ellsberg.

Recently released United States POWs from North Vietnamese prison camps being flown onboard the “Hanoi Taxi” from North Vietnam to Clark Air Base, Phillipines, March 1973. [PHOTO

A B-52 Stratofortress bomber takes off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam in support of Operation Linebacker II in December 1972. [U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO]

BY USAF]

Dec. 18, 1972: Another American air raid, this one nicknamed the Christmas Bombing, begins and lasts about 10 days. The attacks followed a breakdown in peace negotiations, and some believe they led to the resumption of the treaty talks that led to the end of the U.S. involvement in the war. Jan. 27, 1973: The United States and North Vietnam sign the Paris Peace Accords, which called for the withdrawal of 23,000 United States troops from South Vietnam and the release of 591 U.S. prisoners. Aug. 9, 1974: Gerald Ford assumes the presidency after the resignation of President Nixon over the Watergate scandal. April 30, 1975: The invasion of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army is the end of the war between North and South Vietnam. The North’s occupation took place just hours after the hurried final evacuation of Americans from the U.S. embassy in Saigon. Nov. 13, 1982: Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. Sources: “The Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War” by David L. Anderson; “America At War: Vietnam War” by Maurice Isserman; History.com

President Gerald Ford announces his decision to grant a pardon to former President Richard Nixon Sept. 8, 1974 . [GERALD R. FORD PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM]

By Melissa Erickson More Content Now

YOUR STORY Oral history projects for veterans, families

A U.S. soldier with an M14 watches as supplies are dropped in Operation Junction City, Vietnam, 1967. [DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE]

or the more than 8 million military personnel who were on active duty during the Vietnam era 50 years ago, it still may be fresh in their eyes and minds. The same is true for the families and friends who were left behind. They have stories to share, too. Oral history projects bring back to life “stories and experiences that young people may not be familiar with,” said Edward Miller, associate professor of history and director of the Dartmouth Vietnam Project at Dartmouth College. Additionally, “many veterans came back from Vietnam and never talked about it,” he said. Creating an oral history is more in-depth than “simply plonking down a recorder” and asking a veteran about their service, Miller said. “It’s a collaborative process. A big part of it is just listening, but the best oral histories are also interactive. There’s a back-and-forth conversation. Striking the right balance is a skill,” Miller said. The Veterans History Project is one of the most encompassing oral history projects in America. Created by an act of Congress in 2000 with AARP as the founding corporate sponsor, the project collects and preserves first-hand interviews of all war veterans. Veterans can speak about any part of their experience they want to share, from combat stories to funny anecdotes about how they spent their downtime. Civilians involved in war service such as medical volunteers, industry workers or USO members are also invited to participate. Many local libraries and public television stations take part in the Veterans History Project, conducting video interviews that last about 30 minutes. People who do not want to participate on camera can share diaries, documents, photographs, journals or other materials. There is no charge to participate. The collected oral history is available at the Library of Congress website, loc.gov/vets, and it is possible to search by branch of service, conflict era and gender as well as by rank or service location. Additionally, the website includes an “online field kit” that provides instructions, a list of interview questions and required forms plus a how-to video. You can also check out facebook.com/vetshistoryproject. How to contribute If you are a veteran who would like to share your personal story or someone who would like to learn more about the Vietnam War through a veteran’s personal words, check out these oral history projects from around the country: • The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Oral History Program preserves the stories of Illinois’ veterans and the civilians who stayed behind through its Veterans Remember project. Visit illinois.gov/alplm/ library/collections/oralhistory/VeteransRemember/

“It’s a collaborative process. A big part of it is just listening, but the best oral histories are also interactive. There’s a backand-forth conversation. Striking the right balance is a skill.” Edward Miller, Dartmouth Vietnam Project

Pages/default.aspx • Atlanta History Center’s Veterans History Project contains video and audio from veterans of all wars and civilians who supported them. For more information, email veteranshistoryproject@atlanta historycenter.com. • The Badger Veterans Oral History Project is collecting first-person memories and experiences of military veterans at University of WisconsinMadison. Visit library.wisc.edu/archives/exhibits/ badger-veterans-oral-history-project/ • The Brooklyn College Vietnam Project is searching for Vietnam veterans and their families. Visit userhome.brooklyn.cuny. edu/pnapoli/vietnam/vn_frameset.html • Central Connecticut State University is participating with the Veterans History Project. Visit web.ccsu.edu/vethistoryproject/ • The Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Tennessee Knoxville conducts oral histories with participants of America’s wars and their families. Visit csws.utk.edu/oral-history-project/ • The Cherry Hill Veterans Oral History Project is recruiting Cherry Hill, New Jersey, veterans to tell their stories of military life during war and peace times since 2013. Visit chplnj.org/vohp • Dartmouth Vietnam Project is a collaboration between current Dartmouth students and older members of the community who have volunteered to share their stories and memories of the war and its impact on American society. For more information go to dartmouth.edu/~dvp • The Edgecombe County Veterans’ Military Museum in Tarboro, North Carolina, is participating in the Veterans History Project. Visit edgecombe vet.com/veterans-from-edgecombe-county/ • The Gloucester County (New Jersey) Library System Veterans Oral History Project collects first-person interviews from local veterans. Visit gcls.org/VeteransInterviewProject • Michigan’s Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project is open to veterans, families and friends. Interviews can be conducted in studio to create public access cable television programming. Visit gvsu.edu/vethistory/ • The Hanford (California) Library is participating in the Veterans History Project. Visit kingscountylibrary.org/veterans-resources • The Henderson (Nevada) Libraries are participating in the Veterans History Project. Visit hendersonlibraries.com/891

• The Honoring Our Marin (California) Veterans project is participating in the Veteran History Project. Visit honoringmarinveterans.org. • The Kern (California) Veterans Oral History Project is a coordinated project between the Kern County Historical Society, Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 604, Bakersfield High School’s CEO Academy students and KGET TV 17. Visit kernhistoricalsociety.org/oral-history-project/ • The Laguna Woods (California) History Center is an official partner of the Veterans History Project. Visit laguna woodshistory.org/oralhistories/veterans • The Massasoit (Massachusetts) Veterans History Project is open to all Massasoit men and women who have served in the armed forces, past and present. All Massasoit Community College students, alumni and staff veterans are encouraged to participate. Visit massasoitoralhistory.org/veterans-history-project • Middle Georgia State University’s Vietnam Veterans Oral History Project is open to any Vietnam veteran from Georgia. Visit mga.edu/ library/archives/oral-history.php • The Military Voices Initiative conducted by StoryCorps provides a platform for veterans, service members and military families to share their stories. This year, StoryCorps will partner with local public radio stations in selected cities to record stories of veterans and their families, including April 30 to May 11 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and June 4 to 15 in Omaha, Nebraska. Not in a selected city? Recordings can also be made via a StoryCorps app. Visit storycorps.org/discover/ military-voices/ • The Missouri Veterans History Project collects first-hand recollections of Missouri veterans. Visit mvhp.net/home.html • The Natick Veterans Oral History Project at the Morse Institute Library collects and preserves the personal recollections of veterans as well as Massachusetts residents who are war industry workers, medical volunteers, members of foreign armed services and other civilians. Visit natickvets.org/page.php?page=about • The National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey is the home

of the Center for U.S. War Veterans’ Oral History Project. Visit nj.gov/military/museum/oralhistory.html • New York State Veteran Oral History Program involves professional military historians collecting the stories of both veterans and civilians. The first step is to fill out a questionnaire followed by video or audio interviews Visit dmna. ny.gov/historic/veterans/vindex.htm • The Northwest Ohio Veterans’ Oral History Project is gathering the personal recollections of America’s war veterans. Visit rbhayes.org/research/northwestohio-veterans-oral-history-project/ • The North Dakota Veterans History Project is accepting the stories of wartime veterans who live in or served from North Dakota. Visit history. nd.gov/archives/whatvethist.html • The Ohio Veterans Oral History Project is an ongoing initiative of the Ohio History Connection to collect and preserve the stories of Ohio’s veterans. Visit ohiohistoryhost.org/ ohiomemory/oral-history/ovohp • The Online Veterans Tribute posts the personal stories of America’s veterans and their families. It is a sample of the larger, written archives based at the headquarters of the American Veterans Center, World War II Veterans Committee and National Vietnam Veterans Committee in Arlington, Virginia. Visit americanveteranscenter.org/ home-of-the-brave/sharingyourstories/ • The Orland Park (Illinois) Public Library is participating in the Veterans’ History Project. Visit orlandparklibrary. org/veterans_historyPrjct.html • The Rutgers Oral History Archives seeks to record the narratives of alumni and/or New Jersey residents who served during times of conflict. Visit oralhistory.rutgers.edu. • The State Archives of North Carolina’s Military Collection Veterans Oral History Program is collecting the histories of military servicemen and -women from North Carolina primarily in audio format. Veterans are also included who have spent more than 25 years living in North Carolina but initially were from another state at the time they served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Younger military veterans of recent conflicts

The U.S. Navy patrol craft tender USS Garrett County at anchor in the Mekong Delta, South Vietnam. On its deck are two U.S. Navy Bell UH-1E Hueys of Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron 3 “Seawolves” Detatchments 4 or 6. Photo taken between 1967 and 1971. [US NAVY PHOTO]

will also be considered for interviews. Visit archives. ncdcr.gov/researchers/collections/military-collections/ veterans-oral-history-program • The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida is participating in the Veterans’ History Project. Visit oral.history.ufl.edu/projects/vhp/ • Pennsylvania State University Lehigh Valley is participating in the Veterans’ History Project. Visit lehighvalley.psu.edu/tags/vietnamveteran-oral-history-project • The Senior Officer Oral History Program was established in 1970 to record the management and leadership techniques of senior Army officers and Department of the Army civilians. Visit ahec.armywarcollege.edu/oralHistory.cfm • The Southern Minnesota Historical Center is participating with the Veterans History Project. Visit lib.mnsu.edu/ A squad leader from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Mechanized Infantry of the 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army, checks archives/oralh/scmvhp.html a tunnel entrance before entering it to search for Viet Cong and their equipment during Operation Cedar Falls in the HoBo • Texas Tech UniverWoods, 25 miles north of Saigon. Jan. 24, 1967. [PUBLIC DOMAIN] sity Vietnam Center and Archive Oral History experiences of men and women associated with the Project is creating a more University of Oregon and the wider Oregon comcomplete record of the wars in Southeast Asia by premunity. Visit uovetsoralhistory.uoregon.edu. serving the recollections and experiences of all who were • The Vietnam Era Oral History Project at Utah involved in those wars. Anyone can participate, whether Valley University preserves oral histories of vetan American veteran, a former ally or enemy, an anti-war erans and civilians for academic purposes. Visit uvu. protester, a government employee or a family member edu/library/archives/vietnam/index.html of a veteran. For more information, call 806-742-9010 • Veteran Voices of Pittsburgh Oral History Projor visit vietnam.ttu.edu/oralhistory/participation ect captures, preserves and shares the voices, images • The U.S. Naval Institute’s Oral History Proand experiences of veterans with a western Pennsylvagram was launched in 1969 and is one of the oldnia connection. Visit veteranvoicesofpittsburgh.com. est in the country. It includes hundreds of significant • The Voces Oral History Project documents and creleaders in 20th-century U.S. naval history as well ates a better awareness of the contributions of U.S. Latinos as interviews of noteworthy leaders from contempoand Latinas of the World War II, Korean War and Vietnam rary history. Visit usni.org/heritage/oral-history. War generations. Visit legacy.lib.utexas.edu/voces/ • The University of Central Florida is par• The Voices of the Past Speak to the Future ticipating in the Veterans History Project and is Veterans Oral History Project trains high accepting oral histories from veterans in Censchool students to conduct and record oral histotral Florida. Visit history.cah.ucf.edu/phvhp/ • The University of Georgia partnered with the Student ries with veterans in collaboration with the Army Heritage Center Foundation. Visit armyheritage. Veteran Resource Center and the Student Veterans Assoorg/2-site-content/194-veterans-oral-history-program ciation to initiate a Student Veteran Oral History Program. • The Wisconsin Veterans Museum Oral HisVisit svrc.uga.edu/content_page/oral-history-project tory Project commemorates the achievements of • The University of Oregon Veterans Wisconsin veterans. Visit wisvetsmuseum.com. Oral History Project documents the military

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. Search the Wall’s 58,195 names at thewall-usa.com. [CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO]

Leaving a

LEGACY Ways to celebrate veterans before they pass on and after they’ve died By Melissa Erickson

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or any American, visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., can be one of the most powerful and emotional ways to honor the more than 58,000 Americans who gave their lives in service to our country. For Vietnam-era veterans, a visit can provide closure and reinforce the importance of their sacrifice. “Many monuments and memorials exist around the country honoring those Vietnam vets who were killed, along with the Vietnam Wall in D.C. that is the main anchor for honoring those Vietnam veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Bob Babcock, who served with Bravo Company, 1st

Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division as a rifle platoon leader and executive officer, 1966-67 in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Since the Wall officially opened in November 1982, people have left tributes there in honor of veterans such as dog tags, medals and other special remembrances. Some people leave more — the cremated remains of veterans. As the age of the remaining population of Vietnam veterans increases, so has the leaving of cremains. This January the National Park Service erected signs advising people not to leave cremains. One sign reads: “The scattering of human remains is prohibited anywhere on the National Mall, including at the Vietnam

Veterans Memorial. Human remains and associated objects should not be left at the memorial and will not become part of the museum collection.” The National Park Service has collected more than 400,000 objects left at the Wall, from sonograms and international flags to military regalia and wedding rings, to teddy bears and even a motorcycle. Those mementos are curated to form the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection, which “provides context for a better understanding of the many aspects of the Vietnam War and its veterans,” said Mike Litterst, National Park Service spokesman. But the park service “is not equipped for the “Just as others long-term disposition of human remains as before us, we who a cemetery or mausodid what our counleum. It has never been try asked us to do permissible to leave cremains at the Vietin Vietnam simply nam Veterans Memodid our part to rial. Those that have been left are currently pay the price for stored at National Park living in this great Service’s Museum Resource Center country that many while we determine before us fought to an appropriate, dignified solution,” Litterst create and said in February. preserve.” Veterans or their Bob Babcock families seeking a final resting place to honor a loved one are encouraged to contact the National Cemetery Administration, cem. va.gov, the federal agency specifically charged with with honoring America’s veterans and their sacrifice to our nation, he said. The war was complicated, but the legacy of Vietnam veterans shouldn’t be. “Most Vietnam veterans participated in the Vietnam War because we felt it was our duty and our responsibility,” Babcock said. “Just as others before us, we who did what our country asked us to do in Vietnam simply did our part to pay the price for living in this great country that many before us fought to create and preserve.”

U.S. Marines with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, direct a concentration of fire at the enemy during Operation Allen Brook May 8, 1968. [MARINE CORPS PHOTO]

Too many people today take our freedom for granted and don’t personally know anyone in the military, Babcock said. “We who answered our country’s call during the Vietnam War can hold our heads high that we did what all Americans should be willing to do when called on. Those who were draft dodgers probably have regrets, in their private moments, that they shirked their responsibility back when they were young men. “I did my duty, made lifelong friends, learned lessons that have served me well all my life, have a strong patriotic sense of responsibility to our country and its defense ‘against all enemies — foreign and domestic,’ and am a better man because I served in Vietnam. I made more important decisions as a 23-year old rifle platoon leader than A Bell UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” helicopter transports troops in Vietnam. According to the Vietnam Helicopters I ever made in my 34-year career as Museum, many veterans describe the Huey as the “sound of our war.” [CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO] an IBM executive,” Babcock said. way for us to honor Vietnam veterans for honoree’s name is said aloud either by a Casualties keep mounting their service and sacrifice after they came family member or a volunteer. Previous Those who served in Vietnam have long home. The In Memory plaque was dedicated honorees’ families are invited to attend. been the nation’s largest group of veterans, in 2004 just off to the side of the Three “They describe it as very healing to numbering 6.7 million in 2016, according to be around other families who have been the U.S. census. Now in their late 60s to 80s, Servicemen Statue in D.C. and it reads: ‘In Memory of the men and women who served through very similar experiences. In these veterans are experiencing the normal in the Vietnam War and later died as a result Memory costs nothing to the family memmaladies associated with aging, and many of their service. We honor and remember/applicant, and it really does help a are dying at a faster rate because of Agent ber their sacrifice,’ ” Zimmerman said. family with healing and closure,” ZimOrange. merman said. “It’s tragic. Just Oral history like World When it comes War II and “They describe it as very healing to be around other to the legacy of Korean families who have been through very similar experiences.” Vietnam vetervets, it’s ans, who better now VietHeidi Zimmerman, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, on the group’s In Memory program to speak of it than nam vets’ themselves? time,” said “There‘s a Paul Palazgrowing interzolo, pres“The majority of our honorees (more est across the country” to get veterans’ ident of Vietnam Veterans of than 3,200 total to date) died from Agent stories “on the record,” especially after America, Chapter 9, in Detroit. Orange-related illnesses and/or PTSDlast fall’s 18-hour PBS series “The VietVeterans who returned home from related events — suicide,” she said. nam War” by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, Vietnam and later died as a result Visit the In Memory homepage, vvmf. said Edward Miller, associate professor of their service are often not eliorg/InMemoryProgram, where each of history and director of the Dartmouth gible for inclusion on the Wall. veteran has his or her own page that Vietnam Project, Dartmouth College. “When the Wall was built in 1982, no one offers more information about them. The Dartmouth project is an oral history knew that veterans were going to continue Veterans added to In Memory are honendeavor that brings together students and dying from Vietnam-related causes,” said ored each year on Father’s Day with a older members of the Dartmouth comHeidi Zimmerman, spokeswoman for Vietceremony. Last year, more than 400 vetermunity to record testimony. Rather than nam Veterans Memorial Fund, the nonprofit focusing exclusively on veterans, it is a organization that founded and built the Wall. ans were honored by almost 2,000 family members and friends in attendance. Each community-building measure, Miller said. The group’s In Memory program is “a

“Vietnam touched a big part of the population, just about everybody. When you start to record you begin to see the diversity of stories and experiences of veterans, protesters, families. No single veteran’s perspective is the same, but most express pride in their service,” Miller said. Oral histories by veterans give others who weren’t present — or even alive — a powerful sense of what it means to serve. “It’s rare to understand the higher sacrifice made by veterans,” said documentarian Ron Osgood, professor emeritus at Indiana University and a veteran who was deployed three times to Vietnam between 1970 and 1972. There’s no comparison to learning about war from an individual’s perspective to understand it, said Osgood, whose most recent film is “Just Like Me: The Vietnam War — Stories from All Sides,” produced by Indiana Public Television as a companion piece to “The Vietnam War.” Collectively, movies made about Vietnam or the way it’s viewed in popular culture rarely focus on the individual but rather the horror or carnage of war, Osgood said.   “Vets have stories to share, and many times wives or families haven’t heard them. Like the World War II and Korea veterans, these stories are disappearing,” Osgood said. For the “boots on the ground,” now is the time to share their stories, Babcock said. “It is the 50th anniversary of the year in the war — 1968 — where we suffered the most casualties, had the most victories and had the press and the nation turn against the Vietnam veteran and the Vietnam War. ... It is more important now than ever for we Vietnam veterans to tell our stories — those of us who lived and fought the Vietnam War — rather than let someone else tell the story for us.” Honor veterans in life Paying tribute to fallen heroes keeps them in mind, but a better way is to honor them while they’re still alive, Palazzolo said. Visiting the National Mall, the monuments in your own town or a Veterans Day parade are all simple ways to start. “Detroit holds a massive Veterans Day parade,” and last year about 4,000 veterans made the 2-mile march, Palazzolo said. Other top Veterans Day parades

the lowest it’s been since September 2001, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One reason is that many employers have made a commitment to hiring veterans. The workforce of companies like Boeing and Union Pacific Railroad are 15 to 20 percent veterans, but that doesn’t help the average household shopper. Other companies that value the leadership, discipline and other skills of veterans include JetBlue, Amazon, Verizon, Sprint, Macy’s, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Delta and MetLife. All have been recognized for actively recruiting veterans. Many more are listed at vetcentral.us.jobs/veteransmembers.asp. Searching for enemy forces in Tay Ninh, South Vietnam, near the Cambodian border January 1970, members of the 25th Infantry Division pass a group of South Vietnamese farmers in a field. [CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO]

are in New York City; Auburn, Washington; Albany, New York; Birmingham, Alabama; Las Vegas and Houston. • Visit a V.A. hospital Veterans of all wars seek health care in Veterans Administration hospitals, and there may be one near your community. “Go visit the guys laid up in bed. Everyone goes at Christmas or other holidays. Do it another time,” Palazzolo said. Bring small gifts like toiletries (razors, combs), magazines or candy bars. “A visit can make a big difference in someone’s life and is a great way to teach young people,” Palazzolo said. “There are a lot of little things you can do like bring vets to the hospital,” Osgood said. Help is needed in all departments, and your assistance frees up staff for more important work, he said. If America is going to be the world’s policeman, Palazzolo said, “we better make sure we take care of veterans when they return from service.” • Shop and support “You get to pick and choose where your money is going. Spend it at businesses that support and hire veterans,” Palazzolo said. The unemployment rate for veterans is

• A Million Thanks Share your gratitude with a veteran though A Million Thanks, a nonprofit organization that has distributed more than 7 million “thank you” letters to active-duty service members and veterans around the world, said Matthew Parisi, its executive director. “It’s an easy, impactful way to say thanks,” he said. For active-duty military, letters “represent a feeling of home and the American way of life that can boost morale on a base. For veterans, especially those battling mental illness or post-traumatic stress disorder, these letters have made an impact. They have influenced vets not to end their own lives,” Parisi said. Visit amillionthanks.org. • Teach and talk Both Babcock and Palazzolo agreed that schools don’t do enough to teach the Vietnam experience — how and why the war was fought and the decisions that were made — to children. That’s why veterans have a duty to speak up. “I think Vietnam veterans owe it to themselves, their family, their unit and to American history to be willing to tell their story about their experiences in the Vietnam War,” Babcock said. “By many vets doing that, regardless of what their job was — all of them were important, even if some vets think they didn’t have an important job — the American public can learn more about this war.”

By Wade Tatangelo More Content Now

Mounted policemen watch a Vietnam War protest march in San Francisco, April 15, 1967, as thousands of marchers stream by. The San Francisco City Hall is in the background. [GEORGE GARRIGUES/

The Vietnam War and ensuing turbulence stateside inspired numerous hit protest songs. Many were gentle calls for peace. Others addressed specific events. Some were diatribes against those with opposing political views. Here are 10 of the greatest.

WIKIPEDIA]

“Blowin’ in the Wind,” Bob Dylan (1963)

Recorded a couple years before the first U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam, “Blowin’ in the Wind” became the most influential protest song of the 1960s. The young folk singer with the ancient voice asks a series of rhetorical questions, none more prescient than: “How many times must the cannonballs fly before they’re forever banned?” “Blowin’ in the Wind” first appeared in May 1963 on Dylan’s breakthrough “Freewheelin’” album. Peter, Paul and Mary’s version of the song reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart that summer, with Stevie Wonder’s Motown makeover becoming a Top 10 hit in ’66.

“Universal Soldier,” Buffy Sainte-Marie (1964)

Native Canadian singer-songwriter Sainte-Marie also penned her anti-war anthem in the early 1960s, for her masterful debut album “It’s My Way!” The sentiment of the “universal soldier” who “really is to blame” didn’t go unnoticed, and a few months after American combat troops arrived in Vietnam Donovan released a version that went Top 5 in the U.K. Glen Campbell also had a minor U.S. hit with the song in 1965.

“I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” Phil Ochs (1966)

SONGS against war

The soundtrack of protests in the Vietnam era

Featuring the unforgettable line “It’s always the old who lead us to the war, it’s always the young to fall,” the rollicking tune manages in just over two and a half minutes to condemn virtually every war America had fought since 1812. When Ochs performed his song during the protests outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention it reportedly prompted hundreds of young men to destroy their draft cards.

“Backlash Blues,” Nina Simone (1967)

A gifted singer, songwriter and pianist, Simone became a civil rights hero with her self-penned anthem “Mississippi Goddam” a few years before composing “Backlash Blues,” based on a poem by her friend Langston Hughes. “You raise my taxes, freeze my wages, and send my son to Vietnam,” Simone intones, her contralto a nuanced mix of disgust and determination, delivered over a gritty shuffle marked by slashing electric guitar and striking harmonica. The song appears on her excellent album “Nina Simone Sings the Blues.”

“Draft Morning,” The Byrds (1968)

The Byrds took a psychedelic approach to David Crosby’s “Draft Morning,” which features the sweet harmonized vocals of Chris Hillman and Roger McGuinn on devastating lines such as: “Today was the day for action, leave my bed to kill instead, why should it happen?” The song follows a recruited soldier from “draft morning” to the horrors of combat, which are conveyed with the sounds of gunfire, explosions and muffled shouts.

“Fortunate Son,” Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969)

Chief songwriter, singer and lead guitarist of CCR, John Fogerty wrote many inspired rockers during the height of the Vietnam War. None, though, strike a chord like “Fortunate Son.” Fogerty penned it in anger while thinking about all the working-class boys sent to fight while the scions of powerful businessmen and politicians enjoyed exemptions and deferments. In 2015, Fogerty recalled: “So this was all boiling inside of me and I sat down on the edge of my bed and out came ‘It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son!’”

“Okie from Muskogee,” Merle Haggard (1969)

Haggard’s self-penned country mega-hit depicts the perspective of Nixon’s silent majority, protesting the actions of the anti-war counterculture with lines such as the opener, “We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee.” It’s difficult to determine, though, just how serious Hag was about the antihippie message. The song “is so tongue-in-cheek and so absolute at the same time, people didn’t know how to take it, and they still don’t and I’m still wondering myself,” Haggard told me in 2002. “It was really just more about my father’s point of view. He was really the ‘Okie from Muskogee.’”

“War,” Edwin Starr (1970)

Hard-hitting funk at its finest, this song offers a direct response to the lives being lost in Vietnam: “War, huh! Yeah! What is it good for? Absolutely, nothing!” Originally recorded in a tamer manner by The Temptations, Starr gave the song the James Brown-style grunt and shout treatment the lyrics warranted. Fifteen years later, Bruce Springsteen started performing the song in concert and made it the first single off his multi-million selling box set “Live/1975–85.”

“Ohio,” Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970) The terrors of the Vietnam War hit home like never before on May 4, 1970, when unarmed Kent State students were shot — four fatally — by members of the Ohio National Guard during a protest against the U.S. bombing of Cambodia. Neil Young responded with a grunge-y guitar riff leading into the chilling: “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we’re finally on our own / This summer I hear the drumming, four dead in Ohio.” Young’s song, released as a single mere weeks after the tragedy, remains as indelible as John Filo’s Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph of the girl kneeling over the young man fatally shot by the guardsmen.

“What’s Going On,” Marvin Gaye (1971)

Inspired by police brutality witnessed by his co-songwriters and conversations with his own brother who served in the Vietnam War, Gaye broke with Motown tradition and self-produced the most gorgeous protest song ever recorded. We hear lighthearted party chatter followed by a short, sweet sax solo and then comes that famously sexy tenor of so many hit love songs singing something completely different: “Mother, mother, there’s too many of you crying / Brother, brother, brother, there’s far too many of you dying.” The single became an instant hit, paving the way for Gaye’s masterpiece album of the same name about a Vietnam veteran returning home to find his country mired in racism, poverty, drug abuse and pollution. Wade Tatangelo is entertainment editor for the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune.

More than 175,000 protested the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C., April 24, 1971, the same day 150,000 rallied for the cause in San Francisco. [LEENA A. KROHN / WIKIPEDIA]

U.S. aircraft carrier visits Vietnam in

peace USS Carl Vinson arrives in Da Nang, Vietnam, on March 5, 2018, for a scheduled port visit. [CREATIVE COMMONS / U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 3RD CLASS DEVIN M. MONROE]

Contemporary human experience can mitigate past tragedy. U.S. Navy Commander Hien Trinh is part of the crew of the Carl Vinson. His family fled Vietnam in a tiny fishing vessel after the fall of Saigon in 1975. A U.S. Navy ship rescued the family, which inspired CDR Trinh to join our military. He manages the dental facility on the ship.

provided a useful opportunity to highlight that nation’s economic growth and the wider commitment to multilateralism. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was warmly welcomed to Vietnam, with a special The fruits of decades of effort ... to build bilateral trust,” is how U.S. parade in his honor, which included playing the U.S. national anthem. Ambassador to Vietnam Dan Kritenbrink describes the dramatic For years after Hanoi’s 1975 military victory, the newly unified visit of our aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson to that country. The nation was frustrated by inability to turn military and political revomagnificent U.S. Navy vessel is on a mission of peace, serving as a lution into economic development. Vietnam did not join the Assosymbol of steadily expanding cooperation between two nations once at war. ciation of Southeast Asian Nations until 1995, nearly three decades The Vietnam War was for the U.S. literally the most diviafter the creation of the regional development organization. sive since our Civil War. Intense controversy led in AmeriThe 2006 summit was a remarkable substantive and symcan domestic life to physical violence as well as emotional bolic success. There was strong commitment to multilatand political turbulence during the chaotic 1960s. eralism and the vital importance of working with allies and The destruction visited on the Vietnamese, Cambodian and through established regional and global institutions. Laotian people was vast. Costs of the war resonate in human The summiteers not only restated support of long-term efforts terms in both Southeast Asia and the United States. toward freer trade, they also addressed military security, calling on Contemporary human experience can mitigate past tragedy. U.S. North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons development and return Navy Commander Hien Trinh is part of the crew of the Carl Vinson. to six-party talks. Representatives of generally capitalist economies, His family fled Vietnam in a tiny fishing vessel after the fall of Saimeeting in a principal city of one of the few remaining communist gon in 1975. A U.S. Navy ship rescued the family, which inspired CDR political systems, collectively called on the secluded leaders of another Trinh to join our military. He manages the dental facility on the ship. communist state to cease this very threatening military activity. Current improvement in relations with Vietnam reflect concern The Pacific region generally lacks the established netabout assertiveness of China, including military expansion. Beijing work of economic and military organizations that help and Hanoi have serious disagreements about maritime jurisdictions. define Atlantic region relationships. For this reason, the Both Presidents Bush contributed to cooperation with Vietannual APEC summits are especially significant. nam. President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of State James Partners in this Asia organization have proven willing to expand their Baker deserve great credit for supporting APEC: Asia Pacific Ecoreach to include cooperation with explicitly military dimensions. This nomic Cooperation. Australia Prime Minister Bob Hawke concomplements U.S. treaties with Australia, Japan and South Korea. ceived the organization and hosted the first summit in 1989. For decades, the Cold War defined relationships among The formation of APEC complemented and reinforced other nations. Today, economic realities undermine ideolstrategic achievements of this Bush administration. Bush, ogy. Celebrate the peaceful U.S. visit to Vietnam. Baker and associates skillfully maneuvered through the collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War. — Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at CarThe administration of President George W. Bush supported the 2006 thage College, author of “After the Cold War” and a VietAPEC summit held in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. That gathering nam veteran. Contact acyr@carthage.edu. By Arthur I. Cyr More Content Now

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