The best way, as I see it, to pay respects to our war dead going back all the way to the Revolutionary War days, is to reduce or eliminate the number of future wars.
Above is the Vietnam War Memorial as seen in 1983. A one armed vet had just placed that remembrance page on it for his fallen comrade, Robert T. Davenport, who died many years later from his wounds. I cited Vietnam in this article because it’s the best example of one of our frequent foreign policy interventions and misuse of military force. And one I personally lived through.
A War That Divided a Nation
The Vietnam War was as unjust and criminal operation as World War II was a necessary one. When we and the rest of the world paid an enormous price to save the world from fascism.
55,000 Americans died in Vietnam, trusting governments of Johnson and Nixon that consistently lied to them, with a couple of million Vietnamese also dying in that war. It was not a war against fascism or injustice.
We’d be wise to remember that governments can and sometimes do tell outrageous lies. The practice was made famous, but did not begin, with Donald Trump.
We Were Never Told . . .
We were never told that the founder of the Vietnamese Minh, and later the NLF, admired our own Constitution and addressed their people as such after the defeat of Japan in 1945 beginning with some familiar words:“All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
His name was Ho Chi Minh and he wrote to President Truman in 1946 asking for our help against the French colonialists who reoccupied Vietnam after WWII and had collaborated with the Japanese in occupied Vietnam during WWII. He also wrote letters to LBJ and Nixon.
When the Viet Minh defeated the French in 1954, the Geneva Accords mandated free elections, and Vietnam was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam along the 19th parallel until they were held. Which the U.S. blocked and never occurred. President Eisenhower later remarked in his memoirs:
“I have never talked or corresponded with a person knowledgeable in Indochinese affairs who did not agree that had elections been held as of the time of the fighting, possibly 80 per cent of the populations would have voted for the Communist Ho Chi Minh as their leader rather than Chief of State Bao Dai.”
President Dwight Eisenhower
Pathological Anti-Communism
While today we think of LBJ and Nixon when we think of the Vietnam War, it actually began under Eisenhower’s watch. He was guided by blind, inflexible anti-communism, as were most others in government and the military. Many Americans at that time also held similar views.
We of course were never told that Vietnam’s “original sin” was having a potential government that we could not corrupt or control. One which intended to build an independent socialist society.
Nor did they realize the reasons he wrote to so many presidents. While Ho accepted Soviet and Chinese aid, he wanted an independent Vietnam that was dependent on no other country. But we stupidly backed the French reoccupation of Vietnam after WWII, the same French that had collaborated with the Japanese occupiers during the war!
Bigger and bigger lies were told, and after the French defeat more and more of our troops were sent to defeat Vietnamese self determination. And more and more tragically came home in body bags. Ironically, Vietnam welcomes American visitors today and I know many that have visited.
More May have Died After the Vietnam War
Twice as many Vietnam veterans may have died after the war from injuries, PTSD, chemical exposures, cancers, acquired addictions and suicides. Most wars and military interventions since the second World War have been of questionable justification and in virtually every case are never formally declared.
The tragedy is that World War II, for which the world paid for with 60 million lives lost, is still used to justify wars of political and economic intervention and expansion here in America, lumping all wars together. All wars may be horrible, but some are legitimate responses to oppression and invasion. Many more are without merit or justification.
Humanity Still Dominated by War
Two major bloody wars rage at present, one in the Middle East and one in Ukraine. There is justification for aiding Ukraine, a country invaded as part of an imperially motivated Russian expansion. Supporting Israel militarily is another matter. Netanyahu has now gone fascist to ward off his removal. He is engaged in a massive civilian Palestinian slaughter campaign and is opposed to a two state solution, which the U.S. professes to support. Smaller scaled conflicts also dot the world that we have thrown military materials at.
The attitudes toward foreign policy that brought us into Vietnam have modified somewhat but have not gone away. Only the desire and political ability to marshal as much military strength to achieve them. While the U.N. determined that there would be two states in the Middle East after WWII, in practice that has been sabotaged, leaving only Israel. While the U.S. has offered the premise that it supports both a Palestinian and Jewish state.
And there’s another war, a second Civil War, one of our own making, simmering near the boiling point now right here in America. It could end up wiping away what remains of American democracy and our Constitution forever.
A Memorial Day Message
My message to veterans on this day and Americans in general is a simple one:
Our planet faces both climatic and nuclear destruction, perhaps the greatest challenges to our planet’s survival since a large meteor struck the earth 65 million years ago.
We must commit ourselves to demand our government and international action to address the problem. Words few dare to speak.
Instead we are busy using massive resources not to combat this threat, but to engage or support numerous wars that may never have any winners . . .
