Military Review English Edition September-October 2013 | Page 96
side’s heroic legend. The Sorrow of War, by Bao Ninh, was published in Vietnam, but years after it appeared in the West. Duong Thu Huong’s novel Without a Name remains banned; after it was published abroad, its author was expelled from the Communist party and briefly imprisoned. Fortunately, America’s myth-makers do not have the power to suppress books that challenge their myths. But the impulse to erase painful truths from our Vietnam memories has been a powerful one. It has several causes. One is that it helps today’s Washington elite avoid difficult truths about the present wars as well. Another is that it is convenient for politicians and pundits who profit politically from current versions of American nationalism. Americans in general
prefer a memory that does not contradict the myth of a successful, benevolent nation. And no doubt many would like to put the experience of Vietnam veterans in a more positive, patriotic light. Those veterans deserve recognition, to be sure. But treating them as children who can’t face troubling facts is a poor way to honor them. Turning the history of Vietnam into a false feel-good fable, like that being promoted in the Pentagon’s 50th anniversary observance, does not truly respect the service and sacrifice of the Americans who fought there or the better qualities of the country they served. To the extent that it keeps us from seeing what we should have learned from that war, it is also a serious disservice to the soldiers we ask to fight our wars today. MR
NOTES
1. The letter, written in 1999, was made available to the author by Brummett and is quoted here with his permission. In recent years he has made regular visits to work with humanitarian assistance projects in Vietnamese villages, including one that he and his fellow soldiers burned to the ground in 1968. 2. McMaster was interviewed for a 1999 PBS Frontline docu Y[?\?K??[ ^ \?] ?????˜??????? ?Y?\????[?K??????Z[]\?K?]??\???? [?? ???[?X??8?'????[??\H]XY?Z\?K8?'H?]?[??[Y\??????]?Y]? ??[ H NNM?
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