MY VIETNAM GHOST

It has been almost 50 years since my tour of duty in Vietnam. In my lifetime I was married for 28 years, had a successful auction business, raised and educated two marvelous sons and lived a good life. Now, in retirement, the ghost of Vietnam raises its ugly head in my life. Not a day goes by when I don't have flashbacks and memories. The Vietnam war was THAT bad.

America's losses were staggering.. the costs prohibitive. How could America's leaders be so blind to it all. Wetmoreland's "Light at the End of The Tunnel" is pure unadulterated crap. LBJ lied as much as Nixon. 2,123 helicopters were lost..2,484 fixed wing airplanes bit the dust. Nobody questioned Vietnam and French Indo China because it was so far distant...10,000 miles away across the Pacific.

303,700 GIs were injured...58,000+ lost their lives... but we still "fought Communism. To what avail? America funded the French efforts that went down the drain at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. It was a failed attempt to Colonize Vietnam. It was truly a quagmire. The harder America tried to win the war the deeper we sank.

I once wrote General Westmoreland asking him what we learned in VN. His response made no sense. I sold his autographed letter. I also wrote Senator Barry Goldwater who responded with a more poignant answer: "WE  SHOULD  HAVE NEVER  BEEN  there to begin with!" Goldwater was truly a hawk and a General in the reserve.

THE WALL is a masterpiece of all Washington monuments, it portrays the truth of the matter.
Who wears the blood of the Vietnam war? Our collective government. From Truman to Eisenhower to JFK to Tricky Dicky and all advisors like McGeorge Bundy...all of these armchair generals immersed America into the hell-hole of French Indo China. The more I read and learn the more I despise what war can do.

I witnessed how poorly the Vietnamese were treated by the Yanks... and yes, they fought back dressed in their black pajamas and booby traps .Ho Chi Minh was no slouch. Ho was a Confucian scholar and teacher. He is quoted as saying "Just leave us alone." Uncle Sam just couldn't leave well alone. That's why I have a Vietnam Ghost today!