Monday, April 6, 2015

Ernest Hemingway

 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/HCM3.jpg

"I have seen much war in my lifetime and I hate it profoundly, but  there are worts things than war and all of them come with defeat."

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting that Ernest Hemingway quote.

    I copied and pasted it into my own blog, "OUR ETERNAL STRUGGLE".

    I'm sure glad that general made it out alive.

    He's a guy I'd like to meet.

    A lot of G.I.s sneer at the Vietnamese cowardice, and I witnessed it myself in Operation Lam Son 719 and Operation Lam Son 720.

    You and I were both at the Viet Nam Veterans gathering in Los Angeles, and it shamed and embarrassed me to see the American veterans jeering as the Vietnamese veterans marched past.

    But, obviously, they weren't all cowards.

    A lot of their problems were due to government corruption and dishonest officers, and certainly, the worst of all, was WE broke our word and abandoned them!

    By the way, I looked on the map, but couldn't find Xuan Loc.

    Isn't that where the fight at the "Y" bridge on QL-1 took place, on the outskirts of Saigon?

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    1. it shamed and embarrassed me to see the American veterans jeering as the Vietnamese veterans marched past.

      I didn't know that and if so, the Americans should be spat upon. It's one thing serving a tour and quite another serving until you die.

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      Isn't that where the fight at the "Y" bridge on QL-1 took place, on the outskirts of Saigon?

      Here's a map http://www.rfa.org/vietnamese/in_depth/12-days-of-xuan-loc-battles-ml-04062015083540.html/XuanLoc-wikipedia.png

      and I believe the one you are referring to was where my Citroen met it's demise. :)

      The End Of A Republic (My Citroen)
      http://www.namsouth.com/viewtopic.php?t=29&highlight=citroen

      http://www.rfa.org/vietnamese/in_depth/12-days-of-xuan-loc-battles-ml-04062015083540.html/XuanLoc-wikipedia.png

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  2. Remember that most VN veterans are not combatants...but are in support units not connected to combat and often never saw any combat. Vietnamese in Ranger and other well trained units were not to be fooled with by anyone and often fought in battles that no American was involved in. I believe I pointed out an article many months ago that was originally featured in the 1st brigade of the 101st Abn website. There was a lot of difference between local PF forces and the professional Army units. It could be that too many are familiar with the provincial forces who were poorly trained, lead, and armed.

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    1. Yes and here are two pages on Vietnam Rangersin this blog and there are some excellent stories. I try not to get involved in this too much as it makes me sad. April 30th was the saddest day of my life.

      http://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/search?q=vietnam+ranger

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