Sunday Focus: Vietnam + 50

     Next Memorial day, May 25, 2015, will mark the official start of a multi-year U.S. commemoration of The Vietnam War, which Vietnamese call The American War.
     The Pentagon has designed a big 50th Anniversary website that is, ironically, sparking the same kind of civilian/military conflicts that occurred during the war itself.
     The Government is coordinating nationwide events to conduct "...the commemorative program, the Secretary shall coordinate, support, and facilitate other programs and activities of the Federal Government, State and local governments, and other persons and organizations in commemoration of the Vietnam War.

The first in Alabama will take place next month, on November 8th, in Holly pond:

DAR will have a booth with sign in, and pins to pass out. Our partners will have a speaker, refreshments, and recognition of veterans. Next will be a move to the airport where planes will arrive that were used in the war.

     I arrived in Vietnam in the early months of 1970 and left eleven months later. I worked on a Brigade Newspaper and on The U.S. Military TV Network, AFVN.
    The timeline on the commemorative website includes the following events during my year:  



4-24-1970
The U.S. Air Force makes the first tactical strikes in Cambodia: responding to a request for assistance from Cambodian President Lon Nol, the USAF begins flying tactical missions against enemy targets in eastern Cambodia, which the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese have been using as a refuge for attacks against South Vietnam and against the Cambodian government. This is the first open bombing in Cambodia, which would rapidly expand with USAF and AVRN participation.

5-1-70
President Nixon approves use of military forces, including B-52s, against enemy forces operating in specified areas within eastern Cambodia in an operation scheduled to terminate June 30, 1970.

5-4-1970
Domestic opposition to the Cambodian incursion erupts in the form of antiwar protests, especially on U.S. college and university campuses. At Kent State University and Jackson State College national guardsmen and police kill a total of six students.
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And after I was back in the U.S.

4-30-75
Rocket attack kills two Marines, final deaths on the ground in Vietnam.
A communist rocket attack at Tan Son Nhut, which marked the beginning of their final offensive against Saigon, results in the death of two marines, the last Americans to die on the ground in South Vietnam.

Of course there were many more deaths from the war after those Marines died. American Veterans who died from exposure to Agent Orange or from wounds in the war, Vietnamese citizens who worked in support of the U.S. and who were killed by the Vietnamese military when they took over and re-united the country.

The "last death" question was raised famously by Vietnam Veteran and current Secretary of State John Kerry. In a 1971 congressional hearing, he asked: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

CSPAN has posted a combination video/audio presentation of the speech.

[Sunday Focus is a regular feature of TimLennox.com]