Vietnam's scars still linger, 25 years later

By GREG HAMILTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 30, 2000

Ihave no standing to write on this subject. Only those who were there have an unquestioned right to speak about it.

But today's marking of the 25th year since the United States retreated from South Vietnam, leaving those who remained to the less-than-tender mercies of their northern adversaries, is a moment for all of us to reflect on that terrible time in our nation's history.

We see the repercussions of that war in our politics, where strong leaders and clear military policies are as rare as hens' teeth, and in popular culture, where protest songs have evolved into full-throat, anti-authority rap and rock music.

It's even in our own homes. How many parents in the early war years were proud when their sons said they would fight for their country? How many parents today would support such a choice without questioning whether Washington was squandering their child's life on misguided mischief?

We were so innocent then. The American public, and the press, blindly swallowed the lies that spilled from the lips of generals and politicians about northern aggression and domino theories. It took several years for America to realize that it had been had. That wholesale erosion of trust in government is one of the most crippling legacies of Vietnam.

Our young men naively thought that all the men of their generation were to be sent to Vietnam. Then they looked around their foxholes and realized it was the poor, the inner-city kids, the minorities who were dying for their country. The sons of the rich and politically connected were safely tucked away in the loopholes and deferments that their powerful daddies created for them.

That betrayal, and the harsh reality of America's class system, are more legacies.

I remember my brother and his friends talking about going off to war. Tom tried to enlist, only to be rejected because of medical reasons (thank God for those old football injuries). His buddies were accepted, however. Several of their names now adorn that great wall in Washington, D.C.

Years later, we watched the draft lottery on television. This time, we prayed that the man reading the dates on the pingpong balls would not pull Tom's birthday, exhaling only when his date was in the 300s, meaning his chances of bring drafted were slim.

As fate would have it, I was born just late enough to be an observer of the war and not a participant. In April 1975, when Saigon fell, I was completing my senior year in high school. Had the war dragged on, there was a chance that my classmates and I would have been called. We weren't sorry to have missed it.

Over the years, I have met and worked with many men and women who served in Vietnam. I've learned that those who pulled the toughest duties are the most reluctant to talk about it.

A close friend has relayed a few horror stories over beers, but they were nearly as painful to hear as they were to tell.

He spoke of his arrival in Vietnam with a company of combat engineers, how as their landing craft neared the beach he could hear on the radio that the unit they were to replace was under attack.

He heard men die and saw men splash into the water to get into the craft that his unit had just vacated. A departing soldier grabbed the M-16 from his hands and threw it into the surf, handing him his French carbine instead. The weapon that the U.S. government provided, you see, jammed so much it was all but useless in a firefight.

That realization of how little the government cared for his life will never be overcome. Yes, it's another legacy.

This being the time of retro, with television movies extolling the wonders of the 1960s and '70s and the fashion world rediscovering polyester and capri pants, the media imagemakers would like us all to look back on those troubled times with rose-colored glasses.

To today's teens, the war is something they study in history class, the details forgotten as soon as the midterm exam is over.

It's for the rest of us to do our duty, to defend our country but to ensure that the cause is right and not some disaster concocted by the unholy alliance of big business, a misadventurous military and soulless politicians.

For our sons and daughters, we must remember the lessons learned in that senseless war that ended 25 years ago today. To paraphrase an expression that Jews throughout the world use to remind future generations of the Holocaust: Never again.

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