This page was last updated on: January 17, 2003
Anyone who has lived through combat and tried to talk about it to someone who has not.... will remember the look. There is excitement,.. at first. But then the listener's eyes draw away, sympathetic but distant and, finally, simply uninterested. And you realize suddenly that you have made your..... life, and your near death,... a bore. So after a while, you do not talk about the war to those who have not been there. You talk about other things...... |
I AM PROUD TO HAVE SERVED MY COUNTRY VIETNAM 68 |
"No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now. Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much. Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic." -Nixon- "The Vietnam War has been the subject of thousands of newspaper and magazine articles, hundreds of books, and scores of movies and television documentaries. The great majority of these efforts have erroneously portrayed many myths about the Vietnam War as being facts." More than 58,000 Americans lost their lives in Vietnam. Over 300,000 U.S. soldiers were wounded, half of them very seriously. No accurate accounting has ever been made of U.S civilians (U.S. government agents, religious missionaries, Red Cross nurses) killed throughout Indochina. When the first U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam in 1965 they were composed mainly of volunteers. The Air Force, Navy, and Marines were volunteer units. The escalating war, however, required more draftees. In 1965 about 20,000 men per month were inducted into the military, most into the Army; by 1968 about 40,000 young men were drafted each month to meet increased troop levels ordered for Vietnam. The conscript army was largely composed of teenagers; the average age of a U.S. soldier in Vietnam was 19. After returning from the war, many Vietnam veterans suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is characterized by persistent emotional problems including anxiety and depression. The media has reported that suicides among Vietnam veterans range from 50,000 to 100,000 - 6 to 11 times the non-Vietnam veteran population. Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate. "The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. After that initial postservice period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. In fact, after the 5-year postservice period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans' group." The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 1982 to commemorate the U.S. personnel who died or were declared missing in action in Vietnam. The memorial, which consists of a V-shaped black granite wall etched with more than 58,000 names it does not glorify the military but invites somber reflection. In 1983 a bronze cast was added, depicting one white, one black, and one Hispanic American soldier. In 1993 a statue of three women cradling a wounded soldier was also added to the site to commemorate the service of the 11,000 military nurses who treated soldiers in Vietnam.The Vietnam Veterans Memorial has become a site of pilgrimage for veterans and civilians alike. |
We must remember. If we do not, the sacrifice of our American servicemen & women will be meaningless. They served, were imprisoned and died for us, for their homes and families and friends, for a collection of traditions they cherished and a future they believed in. The meaning of their sacrifice rests with our collective national consciousness; our future is their monument. |
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Credits "Vietnam War," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. UNITED STATES ARMY MILITARY HISTORY VETERANS ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE The Combat Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993. The CACF is the basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) World War I images from the National Archives Collection World War II images from the National Archives Collection Korean War images from the National Archives Collection Vietnam War images from the National Archives Collection |
