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SUPPLEMENT: Tet-Hue Veteran, "I Think They're Trying to Reverse History"

By VVAW

(On the 10th anniversary of the National Liberation Front's Tet offensive in February, 1968, newspaper articles appeared saying that the U.S. military "won" during tet, though the U.S. media turned it into a loss. General Westmoreland is touring the country saying much the same thing. So THE VETERAN went to a VVAW member who was in Hue during Tet; here is his recollection.)

"In February, 1968, I was a member of the 2nd Marine Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, H Company; we were the first group sent into Hue after the Vietnamese Liberation forces seized the city plus all kinds of other cities throughout Vietnam. We were sent up there without even knowing what we were going there for. Nobody told us how big this offensive was--we just drove up to the city and as soon as we crossed the bridge into the city, we were taken under fire--ambushed.

We were under fire for 25 straight days until tremendous numbers of Marines were called up along with the whole 101st Airborn division, to take up blocking positions around the city. The Marines were supposed to sweep through the city and push the Vietnamese into the blocking force. Eventually, the city was returned to control of the Thieu government but this went on for 25 days.

Now during the 10th anniversary of Tet I see on TV that people like General Westmoreland are saying that Tet was a defeat for the Vietnamese and a victory for the U.S., and that it would have been a total victory if the politicians had taken the handcuffs off. I don't see how he can't say that. First, we were fighting about 2000 Vietnamese in Hue City; at least 1000 of them somehow got away. From what I understand this happened all over the country--they sure weren't "wiped out." When we left Hue and went out into the countryside, the resistance was just as strong--even stronger--than it had been before Tet. People know about Hamburger Hill; that was about 10-15 miles north of there; hundreds of GIs--Airborne--were wiped out there, and that went on after Tet.

Westmoreland is dreaming just like he was after Tet when he came to Marine division Headquarter and spoke to some of the troops; he said that Marines should remember their amphibious war training because they were going to be landing in North Vietnam soon to end the war. Any landing in North Vietnam--we'd have been lucky to get back as much as one C-ration can. There was no way. All in all, I think they're trying to reverse history. They're going to say it was a just war we could have won. I think veterans know better than that..."