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It Was Our War, But They Paid The Price

By David Cline

December 20, 1967 was my last battle. That night I received a gunshot wound that got me med-evaced out of Vietnam. On New Years Day, I found myself on a plane headed for Japan and all I could think was "Goodbye Vietnam, this is the last time you'll ever see my ass."

But 21 years later, almost to the day, I was back in Nam. Only this time I wasn't part of a military operation, instead I was part of a veterans delegation for reconciliation and friendship. For me the trip was important personally as well as politically. Personally I wanted to go back and come to terms with those who I had fought against. Politically I hoped to play a part in getting our country to face up to its responsibility for the war and it's after effects.

Since 1975, Vietnam has been virtually ignored in America. Before that it was nightly news. Then it became a place that politicians could denounce to prove that ours was a "noble cause". In this barrage of rhetoric, the people were forgotten. But for myself and many others, Vietnam could not be forgotten.

In preparing for the trip, I had heard that we would receive a friendly welcome and would encounter little hostility. But as our flight approached the Hanoi Airpost, I began to feel tense. Here we were flying right into Ho Chi Minh's headquarters. As the plane came in for a landing, the site of bomb craters at the end of the runway didn't help to reassure me.

But once we stepped off the plane, I found the people seemed glad that the American veterans were coming back to their country. Throughout our stay there, we talked to people from different walks of life—government officials, directors of hospitals, soldiers, workers, people on the street. Surprisingly, many people spoke a little English well enough to translate. Also English classes in schools and on television led many children to use us for practice. Many people were surprised to see My (Americans) and many expressed a desire for friendship and moral relations between our two countries. Several times we asked why there was no anger directed at us as Americans and were told that the Vietnamese government had always explained that the war was caused by the U.S. Government, not the American people and that U.S. soldiers were victims of the war also.

It's not that the war has been forgotten. It would be impossible to do that. Much of the poverty and economic difficulties today are a direct result of the war although the Vietnamese made a point of telling us that they have made many mistakes after the war in reconstructing the economy.

• 2 million dead or invalid
• 1.5 million civilian handicapped
• 2 million affected by Agent Orange
• 1/2 million orphans
• 1/2 million addicts and prostitutes
• 400,000 ARVN invalids
• 300,000 Vietnamese MIAs

At Bach Mai Hospital, a central training facility for their national health care system, the director told us how it had been bombed three times during the war. As we toured the wards, we were shown equipment that had been donated by various governments. The American government had not helped at all. The only reminder of anything from the U.S. was the monument in front with the names of 28 people who were killed in the bombings.

Official U.S. policy is that there will be no relations with Vietnam, until the American MIAs are accounted for and Vietnamese troops leave Kampuchea (Cambodia). While we were in Bangkok, we went to the U.S. Embassy and had a meeting with Naval Captain John Cooke. He told us that Vietnam is cooperating on the MIA issue and that there is no substantial evidence of any live POWs in Vietnam. Regarding Kampuchea, he only condemned the Vietnamese troops there and when we pointed out that they had overthrown the genocidal Pol Pot regime, his only response was to say contemptuously, "they invade and look like good guys."

We discussed the MIA issue with Vietnamese on several occasions. They say there are no live POWs in Vietnam and that they see the MIA issue as a humanitarian one but that our government uses it politically. It was pointed out that after World War II and Korea there were many more MIAs yet it was never a major problem. On Kampuchea, they stated that they intend to withdraw their troops totally by 1990 even without a political settlement and they think it should be separated from humanitarian issues left from the war.

The results of the American military occupation are apparent throughout Vietnam and especially in the south. Former military bases are easily spotted by the eucalyptus trees, only of the few plants that will grow on the dioxin contaminated soil. Cripples can be seen on the streets. Many children suffer from birth defects caused by their parents' exposure to Agent Orange. Orphanages are overcrowded. Unexploded mines and shells still take lives and limbs. Amerasian children, now teenagers, still wait to see their fathers. There is a shortage of artificial limbs. Yet our government refuses to accept its responsibility for these problems.

During a trip to Tay Nunh where I had served as an infantryman with the 25th Division, we went to the Black Virgin Mountain. I had been on many sweeps and ambushes in this area. While we were there, we met a former commander of the Viet Cong. We shook hands and as we talked about our experiences, it hit home that last time I was here, we were trying to kill each other. Now we could talk as friends. At the base of the mountain was a monument to the war dead from Tay Ninh. We burned joss sticks in remembrance and I felt both sadness and joy—sadness about what had happened in the past and joy because we didn't have to be trapped by that past.

As one Vietnamese put it, "Please ask American veterans to struggle for normalization, develop good relations with Vietnamese veterans through friendship visits and help heal the war wounded in Vietnam. We veterans understand each other. We have the same sentiments. We should try our best to struggle for peace.

—David Cline, East Coast Coordinator VVAW