This past weekend was Memorial Day – the day we remember and honor those who (in Abraham Lincoln’s words) “gave the last full measure of devotion”.
It was originally known as Decoration Day when first recognized in 1868, as a day to honor the Union dead of the Civil War. It became a federal holiday in 1971, to commemorate those members of our military who died in all of our wars.
My wife and I are both veterans, and we currently have family members in the military. So our decorations were displayed in our front yard all weekend.
This year is of particular significance for me. 2023 is the 50th anniversary of the “official” end of the war in Vietnam — and of my being deployed to that war.
If that sounds like a contradiction — it’s not. The peace treaty that ‘officially’ ended U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War in March 1973, was (like much of what the government told us about that war) a lie.
American involvement continued for two more years after that treaty, with covert operations by the U.S. military in Thailand, and Laos. How do I know that? Because I was there until 1974.
First, let me say what this Memorial Day column is not about. It’s not about the ineptitude of the four Presidents who got us into the Vietnam war. The Pentagon Papers revealed that, as others have reported in detail.
Nor is it about the lies the anti-war movement (aided and abetted by a corrupt media) told about those who fought the war. Others have detailed that as well.
But because some of the lies are about those who died in our war in Southeast Asia, this being a Memorial Day column, I’ll comment on those.
Anti-war revisionist history would have you believe that war was fought only by the reluctant and conscripted. In fact, the overwhelming majority of those who served, and died, in the Vietnam War voluntarily joined the military. Here are some stats.
25% (648,500) of total forces in country were draftees. (Compare that to 66% of U.S. armed forces members were drafted during WWII). Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.
Because those opposed to that war would have you believe the U.S. lost the Vietnam war, they will tell you those 55,000+ people whose names are on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, DC, died in vain. I guess that depends on how you define “lost”.
The U.S. military won the battle in Vietnam — but the U.S. government lost the war politically. That is attested to by North Vietnam’s leaders who acknowledged they could have been defeated militarily, but won the propaganda war in the US media.
U.S. media reporting ignored U.S. military victories — particularly during the 1968 ‘Tet Offensive’.
“Rarely has contemporary crisis-journalism turned out, in retrospect, to have veered so widely from reality.”
Largely because of the experience of Vietnam many who are not veterans question why people join the military. I know men and women who enlisted for all sorts of reasons. I joined for the GI Bill to pay for college. Each of my family who served, or who are presently serving, had a different reason.
No matter why someone joins, they understand there is a possibility — likely remote — that they could be a casualty of war. I’ve heard ‘veterans’ defined as ‘Someone who, at one point in their life wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America,” for an amount up to and including their life.’
That’s a bit over-the-top. But while factually true, it is not what any veteran I’ve ever known thought about when joining. What we veterans do understand is that those who died didn’t do it for God, County, or some abstract principle like patriotism. They died for the guy next to them — covering his ass, because they knew he’d cover theirs.
When it comes right down to it, war is about individuals doing what they are trained to do. It’s about survival, and the survival of those with you. At that moment of truth, platitudes and politics “don’t mean nothin’!”
Memorial Day commemorates those who died in all our wars. We veterans don’t glorify war. We honor those of us who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Gary Beatty lives between Florida and Pagosa Springs. He retired after 30 years as a prosecutor for the State of Florida, has a doctorate in law, is Board Certified in Criminal Trial law by the Florida Supreme Court, and is now a law professor.