Innehållsförteckning för June 2016 från Vietnam

Heroes: Some Remain Anonymous I read your December 2015 issue with greater than normal interest, particularly Karl Marlantes’ “What Makes a War Hero” essay and the account of helicopter rescues at LZ Albany. I totally agree with Marlantes that the concept of “hero” has lately become trivialized to an alarming degree. But “Shootout at LZ Albany,” by Dan Reed, exposed a raw nerve. In 1970-71, I served as a crew chief/gunner on Huey slicks and gunships in an assault helicopter company very similar to those in the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion. The facile presumption that officers made the only important decisions or were more heroic fails in the face of operational realities. Good aircraft commanders would invariably consult with me and often the entire crew when deciding whether to attempt…

The Core Question and the Search for an Answer What went wrong in Vietnam? It’s a question we are still debating 50 years later. And it doesn’t have a pat answer. The events of the war—on the battlefield and in the nation’s capital—are much too complex. But two articles in this issue provide revealing insights as their authors examine actions that had unfortunate consequences for the American side. John D. Howard, a retired Army brigadier general who was an adviser to South Vietnamese soldiers, reports on the unforeseen consequences of “Vietnamization,” the policy President Richard Nixon initiated in 1969 to gradually withdraw U.S. troops while shifting more responsibility for combat operations to South Vietnam’s military. As Howard shows, in an article that begins on pg. 26, the strategy had repercussions…

On Aug. 5, 1964, U.S. Navy aircraft struck four North Vietnamese torpedo boat bases and the fuel depot at Vinh, about 160 miles south of Hanoi. Two of the 64 aircraft were lost to anti-aircraft fire. Launched in retaliation for a torpedo boat attack on a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, Operation Pierce Arrow had the ostensible political purpose of demonstrating America’s strength to the North Vietnamese to deter further aggression and additional support for the insurgency in South Vietnam. But Hanoi’s leaders concluded the relatively small-scale response showed that American intervention would be constrained, not decisive. More important, it energized and unified Hanoi’s political leadership behind new party leader Le Duan, who had taken power in January by marginalizing the Communist Party moderates led…

A Book Duet in Defense of Kate Abandoned in Hell: The Fight for Vietnam’s Firebase Kate by William Albracht and Marvin J. Wolf, NAL Caliber, Penguin Group, 2016 The Siege of LZ Kate: The Battle for an American Firebase in Vietnam by Arthur G. Sharp, Stackpole Books, 2014 In the last few days of October 1969, thousands of North Vietnamese Army troops surrounded a small, dangerously isolated firebase defended by about 150 Special Forces–led Montagnard fighters and a handful of American artillerymen. For five days the NVA pummeled the football field–size firebase near the Cambodian border with mortars, artillery, recoilless rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire while periodically launching ground assaults against the beleaguered defenders. With two of Firebase Kate’s three artillery pieces knocked out early in the siege, the…

FRIDAY, MAY 27 9 p.m. Candlelight Vigil, Vietnam Veterans Memorial. SATURDAY, MAY 28 9 a.m. Thunder Alley opens. The official vendor site for Rolling Thunder XXIX is on 22nd Street and Constitution Avenue Northwest. Rolling Thunder patches, pins and T-shirts and leather goods are on sale, along with food and drink. Featured speakers will also be at Thunder Alley. 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Barbecue at Harley-Davidson of Washington, 9407 Livingston Road, Fort Washington, Maryland. SUNDAY, MAY 29 6 a.m. Reveille wake-up call for all riders taking part in the Rolling Thunder XXIX First Amendment Demonstration Run. Bikers rally in the North and South Pentagon parking lots at 7 a.m. for a noon departure. 9 a.m. Thunder Alley opens. 12 noon Rolling Thunder XXIX First Amendment Demonstration Run. Bikes leave the…

When elections were held recently for the top leadership posts in Vietnam, what should have been a pre-ordained result was marked by an unprecedented degree of political infighting between conservatives resisting change and a reform movement that regards change as inevitable. During Vietnam’s 12th National Congress, from January 21 to 28, the 1,510 delegates, virtually all Communist Party members, held elections for the key posts of general secretary and prime minister. Conservative 71-year-old Nguyen Phu Trong was elected by a nearly 100 percent majority to a second five-year term as general secretary, but only after outmaneuvering his reformist rival, 66-year-old Nguyen Tan Dung, the prime minister. Although 96 percent of Vietnam’s population of 93 million had no say in the decision—an attempt at political reform within the Congress in 2013…

BATTLEFRONT May 6 In a setback to U.S. desires to strengthen South Vietnam’s democracy, Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky announces that promised free elections will not be held and says the military regime will stay in power “for at least another year.” May 10 Coast Guard cutter Point Grey, on patrol near Ca Mau peninsula, intercepts a trawler bringing enemy war matériel into South Vietnam. The trawler runs aground, but Point Grey’s boarding party is turned back by heavy fire from the beach. Point Cypress joins the Grey, and the two cutters fire at the trawler, which blows up. May 15 More than 1,000 marines and airborne troops from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam are airlifted from Saigon to Da Nang to put down a revolt by Buddhists…

Westminster, California, is home to the largest Vietnamese-American community in the United States. When the Republic of Vietnam collapsed on April 30, 1975, this city near Los Angeles became a haven for many escaping refugees. The residents of “Little Saigon,” who now number more than 35,000, raised funds and lobbied the city to allow construction of a large Vietnam War memorial. The sculpture, dedicated in 2003, features two large statues, a soldier of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and a U.S. soldier, standing together. To many, they symbolize the bonds between the American adviser and the ARVN commanders he assisted. However, during the latter stages of U.S. involvement in the war, the relationship memorialized in the California monument wasn’t always a close one. A concerted American advisory effort…

Fred V. Cherry, an Air Force pilot who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for more than seven years, died February 16, at age 87, in Washington, D.C. Cherry, who had also flown combat missions in Korea, was shot down Oct. 22, 1965, when his F-105D Thunderchief fighter-bomber was struck by anti-aircraft fire. He was freed on Feb. 12, 1973, with the first group of released POWs. The North Vietnamese paired Cherry, an African-American born in segregated Virginia, with Navy pilot Porter Halyburton, a white man raised in North Carolina, expecting that racial conflicts would develop and they could get Cherry to make a propaganda film about mistreatment of blacks in America. Instead, Cherry and Porter helped each other survive imprisonment and became lifelong friends. William J. Smith-Perez…

MCDONNELL RF-101C VOODOO Crew: 1 Wingspan: 39.7 ft. Length: 89.3 ft. Max. speed: Mach 1.3 at 35,000 ft. Max. range: 2,435 miles Max. altitude: 51,450 ft. On Oct. 23, 1961, the commander of the Thirteenth Air Force ordered the RF-101Cs of Task Force Pipe Stem to fly a reconnaissance mission over Tchephone airfield in Laos to confirm reports of a North Vietnamese and Soviet presence. The mission provided highly detailed imagery of the airfield and surrounding area. The pictures confirmed the presence of North Vietnamese troops and caught Soviet-built Ilyushin I1-14 transport planes parachuting supplies to the troops below. Once shown the images from the first and later missions, President John F. Kennedy ordered an expanded reconnaissance effort, but the International Control Commission assigned to monitor the 1956 Geneva Accords…

In its glory days, it was among the most prominent restaurants in Saigon and a popular attraction for visitors from around the world pouring into South Vietnam in 1965. Moored along the riverfront at the doorstep of Tu Do Street’s entertainment district, the My Canh was perhaps less famous for its food than for its ambiance; the floating restaurant’s name means “beautiful view.” And so, on a pleasant evening in June an international crowd had gathered on the Saigon River for a Friday get-together with friends, family and fellow soldiers. Maybe there would even be a CIA encounter. That serene setting on the river would soon be the scene of the most sensational terrorist incident of the Vietnam War. Viet Cong terrorism was well-established across South Vietnam by then. Especially…

A GI Bill signed into law in March 1966 provided benefits to veterans who served since the Korean War, even if they were in peacetime service, but questions arose about whether it went far enough in providing adequate readjustment benefits for the new generation of veterans returning to civilian life. The government did, at least, recognize the limitations of the bill, and soon after its passage both Congress and President Lyndon B. Johnson examined the option of raising the education benefits. In September 1966 Johnson created a special task force to examine veterans’ benefits. Its report, submitted on November 19, included a proposal to increase the monthly allowance to $130 for the single veteran, up from $100, with comparable increases for veterans claiming dependents. Johnson took the recommendations to heart…

Jim Knotts Position: President and CEO, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Born: December 1967, Winnsboro, South Carolina Residence: Rockville, Maryland Education: Bachelor’s in English literature, U.S. Air Force Academy; master’s in mass communication, University of South Carolina; MBA, Strayer University Military service: Major assignments include public affairs officer, 1640th Tactical Airlift Wing, Oman (during the 1991 Gulf War); deputy public affairs officer, 317th Airlift Wing and 23rd Wing, North Carolina; special assistant to the commander in chief, U.S. Southern Command, Republic of Panama; Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, the Pentagon. Left military service in December 1999 as a captain. Jim Knotts, a former Air Force officer who served in the Gulf War, became president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund last year and took on the…

If any good came out of American involvement in the Vietnam War, it was that both hawks and doves now agree that the troops of that war were treated poorly when they returned home. The early 1970s saw many protests against the war on college campuses and in our nation’s largest cities. At least one person called a Vietnam vet a murderer, and that person was me. I was 16 in 1972. Liberal politics and music interested me: George McGovern’s candidacy for president, John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas...War is Over.” I was greatly affected by Neil Young’s song “Ohio,” written after four students were killed at Kent State University in May 1970 during a protest against President Richard Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia. But I was naive then and—like some antiwar activists—…