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RECOLLECTIONS: A Forgotten Anniversary?

By Joe Miller

Joe Miller
National Staff

During this summer of anniversaries, from D-Day, to the walk on the moon, to Woodstock, I am afraid we might miss another extremely important anniversary. This anniversary is important to me, as it should be to all veterans of the Vietnam War, including the families of those who lost loved ones there and the millions of people here at home who fought so hard to end the war before even more were killed.

Thirty years later, the question still arises in those quiet moments: How may might I have saved? When thinking about the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington, I sometimes wonder who among those nearly sixty thousand might have turned around and refused to go off to war if he or she knew the truth (or untruth) of the war's origins, as I did.

Then I remind myself that his story, or its main outlines, was part of the public record since early 1968, when Senators Fulbright held hearings of the Gulf of Tonkin "incident." Perhaps by then it was too late, though. Our "national honor" was at stake. Our "boys" in the field had to be supported blindly (and replaced with fresh faces and whole bodies.) And so, by 1971, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution would die a quiet death, unlike those who were sent off to war after its 1964 passage. Yes, the war would go on, bringing death and destruction to thousands more Americans and millions of Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians. The inertia of commitment to those who had already fallen took over, sending blood and flesh after blood and flesh, until we just got tired of it all.

How may might I have saved? Do I have a chance to redeem my earlier silence and lack of personal courage? Will I live up to the commitment to save my some and the sons and daughters of fellow veterans, not to mention the parents and children of any future "enemy?"

Since the end of the Vietnam War, many have attempted to regain that oil post-World War I sense of national omnipotence and righteousness. That war has been redefined under a barrage of trance-inducing book and articles written by self-serving journalists, scholars, politicians, and novelists. Young people are being told fairy tales by Mother Goose wrapped in the flag. In this magical transformation, outright lies by public servants, from the President on down, are now excused due to their "high moral purpose.' Policies which resulted in grotesque levels of death, maiming, and general destruction are not again put forward as 'necessary' for the attainment and maintenance of 'peace." This is directly from the Orwellian script: war is peace...freedom is slavery...ignorance is strength.

Well, I would like to remind people of the facts behind the escalation of the Vietnam War. The real story is about lies, lies which drew many of us into an orgy of death, destruction, and dislocation for man then 10 years. The residue of that period is still with us, and not number of memorials or parades will ever really wash it away. We must remember this anniversary and not allow the manipulators to cover it over.

Thirty years ago, during August 2-5, 1964, a series of events took place that became known as the Gulf of Tonkin "incidents." The official story told to the American people then claimed that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had engaged in an "unprovoked" attack on the destroyer, USS Maddox, on the afternoon of August 2, 1964. Supposedly, the Maddox was sailing along in international waters, just minding its own business when attacked. This was the first lie.

The Maddox was on an intelligence mission, a Desoto patrol, which had as its objective the provocation of shore station communications on the northern coast of Vietnam, as well as those on the Chinese island of Hainan. The collection of communications signals from these areas were meant to aid in the efforts to break Vietnamese and Chinese codes, a task of the U.S. Naval Security Group working under the national Security Agency (NSA). The temporary intelligence team on board the Maddox for this mission included Vietnams and Chinese linguists, a couple of whom worked with me at the naval Security Group Detachment on the island of Taiwan. On these patrols it was often necessary to turn the ship landward, enter the target nation's territorial waters, and then begin recording the verbal excitement. This time, however, the response was more intense than anticipated, and the North Vietnamese sent boats to repel the invading American warship. The Maddox sent out a call for help, and fighters from my ship, the USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14), were sent to save the day, in the best John Wayne tradition.

Two days later, our ship received another call for help, this time from the Maddox and another destroyer, the USS Turner Joy. They claimed they were under attack by North Vietnamese torpedo boats again. This "attack" was taking place late at night, during heavy seas. There were not definite sightings of "enemy "boats. In fact, one of the first U.S. pilots on the scene, Commander James Stockdale from our ship, claimed there was no attack. This was ignored. It was enough for the Johnson-McNamara team in Washington to claim that an attack had indeed taken place. This was just what they had been looking for to justify increased American involvement in Vietnam. This was the second lie.

These tow lies were the basis for upping the ante in Vietnam,. First, on August 5, 164. U.S. air attacks were made against military installations in northern Vietnam. These were called "reprisals" for the "unprovoked attacks "against our ships in "international waters." Lies, lies, and more lies. Then, on August 7, the U.S. Senate (with only two dissenting votes) adopted the "Tonkin Gulf Resolution." Which would function for the next six years as a blank check that allowed the Johnson Administration to increase the level of direct U.S. involvement in a combat role. Then the Nixon Administration arrived on the scene, and the damage had already been done. No one wanted to hear that U.S. troops might have died in vain, died for a series of lies. Nixon even bragged that he did not need the Tonkin Gulf Resolution to support what he was doing in Indochina. The dynamic of war making had taken over, and other lies were used to continue the war until 1975.

For me, this anniversary brings pain at the thought of so many who died in a war against the Vietnamese people's struggle for national unity and independence. All the result of cold warrior's lies. This pain is especially accurate, since I was one of those who knew the truth of the Tonkin Desoto patrols, having served in the naval Security Group between 1961 and 1964. Some of the intelligence personnel on the Maddox were workmates of mine when I worked at the Naval Security Group Detachment at Linkou Air station on Taiwan. After the so-called "incidents," I talked with one of them and was not horrified then. After all, I was still part of the intelligence "club" who felt more important because we knew what others did not. Unfortunately this sort of silliness still attracts young people into the lying business.

My personal horror grew as questions drove me to learn more about Vietnam, as the numbers of dead Vietnamese, American, and others piled up day by day and week by week. How many might have been saved if people like me spoke out much earlier? How many names on that black wall in Washington might not be there if the truth were told sooner? The wall itself might never have happened!

So, we should always remember how easy it was for the government to manufacture its own "facts" to support a desired policy. How easily we all accepted the lies, even those of us who knew they were lies! We should certainly remember all those who died or suffered serious injury while fight in the war, or fighting against it.

While many may prefer the euphoric memories of Woodstock, these should be balanced by the memory of murdered civil rights workers, Goodman, Chancy, and Schwerner, as well as the memory of the Tonkin Gulf, August 1964.