I bought this when it first came out (2014) and still haven't come up with enough guts to view it.
Last Days in Vietnam paints a startling portrait of defeat snatched from
the jaws of victory by Congress.
What everyone knows about the Vietnam War is that it was unwinnable,
that the South Vietnamese didn’t much want us there, and that our
military involvement was a moral outrage that did us all deep dishonor.
We know all of this from the movies, don’t we? And yet there is a movie
that shows it up for the pack of lies that it is. It’s a brilliant,
harrowing, emotionally potent documentary by a director with
unimpeachable liberal credentials — a Kennedy, no less. The 42nd
anniversary of the fall of Saigon on Sunday was an excellent opportunity
to revisit what happened between the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, in
which the North Vietnamese Communists agreed to a ceasefire and accepted
democratic elections in the South, and the spring of 1975, when a
failure of American will allowed the Communists to reverse the result
for which so much blood had been spilled.
Last Days in Vietnam, the Oscar-nominated 2014 film by Rory Kennedy (the
youngest child of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who died before she was
born) is available for streaming on Netflix.
More @ National Review
While the "war" was by definition a military "defeat" and the loss of men and materials was very high for these United States, in my heart of hearts I believe it was a win against communism and communist agenda of controlling southeast Asia. The war possibly could have been won, but not the way the U.S. chose to fight it at that time and as now in the deserts of Persia. The United States did and does have the means to win (of course I will not go into the various scenarios of what might have been if the U.S. had of used tactical nukes on North Vietnam), but sadly we allow our politicians to engage us in conflicts thousands of miles from our borders and then we hold still so they can tie one hand behind our backs.
ReplyDeleteThey say the domino theory was proved invalid which is ridiculous since Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos fell. Wish we could have a redo. :)
DeleteEnough guts to view it? I feel your pain, brother.
ReplyDeleteAn NCO from our outfit compiled what I consider a masterpiece using our company daily logs & government maps. I did the hard copy thing & must have sucked the juice from a dozen or more ink cartridges.
After nearly 50 years of wondering what, in hell (& it was hell), happened to me --- I now have a day by day 24/7 record of exactly what did happen. But guess what!!!!
I've been sitting on the sucker for several months & haven't even attempted to read it. With the log entries & corresponding maps, I can still visualize what many places looked like & the experience is way beyond mere unaided memory.
That's spooky enough but I'm thinkin' that the worst part is the fact that, according to the NCO's count, of the 300 or so men who cycled thru our company during the year that we were there: more than 150 were wounded & something like 43 or 44 were killed.
Good God, Almighty! What am I going to remember, if I actually sit down & read the godawful stuff? Maybe I will & maybe I won't.
As for the Last Days In Vietnam video (if it's the same one that you posted about a year ago), I watched it & was totally impressed. Sad but impressed. Realizing that you were there during those days, I won't suggest that you watch it. It's your call just as my situation is my situation & I have to determine whether or not the potential misery outweighs any satisfaction gained from knowing exactly what happened.
God Bless!!!
Maybe we can get together with enough beer and see them both together! :) Have you thought of publishing this? I would be fascinated.
DeleteIf our nation goes to war, it should be a declared war as mandated by the Constitution whereby it is the nation's war as voted by the representatives of the States and the People, there is a clear objective to win ASAP, gain an unconditional surrender from the named enemy and then get out! Otherwise our military has and is being used and abused for illegal, no-win wars of occupation and regime change. God Bless the Republic--death to the New World Order--Ron W
ReplyDelete