I got a post the other day about the Vietnam Wall monument and it made me start thinking.
I could never go and see the wall, I well up with tears just seeing it for a moment on TV. 58,000 lives lost in a war that should never have happened. The whole thing ramped up over the Gulf of Tonkin incident which was used to accelerate the US presence in Vietnam. It turned out the incident was a little confrontation which should have been just a we said they said with political complaints from both sides. Instead it ended up with a generation of US high school boys losing their lives or being emotionally damaged for decades after the 10 year long war ended. All who served were great men, but how many potential leaders and even greater men were lost? The average Joe from WW-2 left service after the war, went to school and built the greatest country the world has ever known. What may those lost in Vietnam have done?
The battle of Khe sanh was a pitched battle where US marines were surrounded by approximately 10,000-15,000 N. Vietnamese soldiers in a pitched battle from January to July in 1968 in a battle that had no strategic value, but instead a psychological significance for the north Vietnamese. The marines lost 274 men with an additional 2541 wounded while the N. Vietnamese reported 2469 killed and at last count in March 1436 casualties. During the battle the US air force dropped over 100,000 tons of bombs in support of the marines and the US army fired 158,000 artillery shells in support of the marines in Khe Sanh. It ended after 77 horrific days for the marines before they were relieved by a ground force of marines, army and S. Vietnamese forces. How many of those marines lost or wounded for life, either physically or mentally were lost to what they may have done for humanity?
The sad of it was president Johnson knew the war could not be won in 1965, but he could not figure how to get out of the war and save face doing it. President Nixon took over in 1969 on a promise to end the war, but he extended it instead for political gain. The only winners in a war are the oil companies and military contractors and the politicians that they support. Those who fight the war on both sides are the ones that lose their lives.
I could never go and see the wall, I well up with tears just seeing it for a moment on TV. 58,000 lives lost in a war that should never have happened. The whole thing ramped up over the Gulf of Tonkin incident which was used to accelerate the US presence in Vietnam. It turned out the incident was a little confrontation which should have been just a we said they said with political complaints from both sides. Instead it ended up with a generation of US high school boys losing their lives or being emotionally damaged for decades after the 10 year long war ended. All who served were great men, but how many potential leaders and even greater men were lost? The average Joe from WW-2 left service after the war, went to school and built the greatest country the world has ever known. What may those lost in Vietnam have done?
The battle of Khe sanh was a pitched battle where US marines were surrounded by approximately 10,000-15,000 N. Vietnamese soldiers in a pitched battle from January to July in 1968 in a battle that had no strategic value, but instead a psychological significance for the north Vietnamese. The marines lost 274 men with an additional 2541 wounded while the N. Vietnamese reported 2469 killed and at last count in March 1436 casualties. During the battle the US air force dropped over 100,000 tons of bombs in support of the marines and the US army fired 158,000 artillery shells in support of the marines in Khe Sanh. It ended after 77 horrific days for the marines before they were relieved by a ground force of marines, army and S. Vietnamese forces. How many of those marines lost or wounded for life, either physically or mentally were lost to what they may have done for humanity?
The sad of it was president Johnson knew the war could not be won in 1965, but he could not figure how to get out of the war and save face doing it. President Nixon took over in 1969 on a promise to end the war, but he extended it instead for political gain. The only winners in a war are the oil companies and military contractors and the politicians that they support. Those who fight the war on both sides are the ones that lose their lives.
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