Military Review English Edition September-October 2013 | Page 88
MR
Review Essay
REMEMBERING VIETNAM
Copyright © 2013 by Arnold R. Isaacs
A
Arnold R. Isaacs, Journalist and Vietnam War Correspondent
Arnold R. Isaacs covered the last three years of the Vietnam War as a correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, witnessing the 1972 Easter Offensive, the failed peace agreement and withdrawal of U.S. forces, and South Vietnam’s final defeat in 1975. He is the author of two books relating to that conflict: Without Honor: Defeat in Vietnam and Cambodia and Vietnam Shadows: The War, Its Ghosts, and its Legacy. PHOTO: U.S. soldiers form a searchand-destroy patrol in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, 1966 (U.S. Army)
LTHOUGH AMERICA’S PRESENT conflicts are a different war fought by a very different U.S. military force in an even more different world, Americans still keep bumping into memories of Vietnam. Four decades after the last U.S. combat forces left that war, its ghosts continue to hover over today’s. But there is no agreement on what those memories are, or what those ghosts have to tell us. On one side is a wish to fit Vietnam into a comforting narrative of our history as a righteous, successful nation, whose wars are honorably fought to protect cherished freedoms. A striking case in point is the website the Defense Department has created for its 50th anniversary Commemoration of the Vietnam War, which began last year. Though one of the commemoration’s stated goals is to “provide factual information about the Vietnam War” (the others are to “honor our Vietnam Veterans” and “increase public appreciation of their service”) a visitor to the site would not learn that there was any controversy about national policy or any troubling questions about how the war was conducted. Nor would he learn the small detail that ultimately, our side lost. This rose-tinted (or perhaps red-white-and-blue-tinted) memory of Vietnam may be understandable as an expression of respect for the sold Y\?? ?? ?\??Y \?K[?\?H ?XY??\?X][?? ] ?[?X??Y[[??]\?] H ????]?\? ?]\??X?[???Y?H[? [?\??[?[??????[???\?H?X]?][?[?Z[ \?HX^HXZ?H ?]\?[??[? Z\???[? ?[Y[??Y[?] \??]][ ???Y\ ? \????H???[?? [??? ]ZY? [ XY\?? ??Y\??[??]^?[??XZ?H ?\?\?X?\?[??[? H???X? ?? H ?\?[?\?K?]???Y?H?[??H [??[??YH[? Z[??[ ???H\?H?\?Z[? H H?Y[[???]???Y?H?X?? \??x?&\??[[?][??][?\?
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