Vietnam - Odd situation at the time .... even more so

Mar 13, 2021, 7:23 AM

now. Our Company moved through a valley that was occupied by civilians ( not one of the areas designated as "Free Fire Zones" in which all natives had been forced to move into camps such as the "Tin City" just outside of our firebase Hill 4-11) when we decided to set up a position for the night in a cluster of palm trees near a village. We barely had time to even drop our equipment when an irate elderly man came up to us waving a document of some sort at us and pointing in several directions. The only thing we could understand was that he meant for us to move on down the road away from the area. Fortunately, we had a "Kit Carson Scout" with us( a Vietnamese guy who I believe had defected from the VC) who talked with the man and was told that the papers were a deed for the land and the man was pointing to all the boundaries and demanding that we get off his property. This was the first time that we had been in such a situation since much of our time was spent in the zones where any human was considered an enemy and was immediately fired upon. We, of course, moved further down the road to honor his request but thought this was strange because everywhere we encountered a village, the people farmed the rice paddies and cornfields as a communal group so we did not perceive an area as being individually owned through a deed. This became even more odd years later as I read about problems a hunt club in the Michigan/Minnesota/Wisconsin area had with Cambodian refugees who continually trespassed to hunt because their country had limited or no recognition of land ownership.

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been trying to move you along into a VC deathtrap, who knows? You are one of the very few veterans of that campaign that I have ever seen who is willing to talk about it at all. Although, I am also sure there are portions of it that you will NEVER talk about.

I have often heard it said, that ever since the advent of "The Bomb", all countries ever do is "play" at war, since no one is going to take the ultimate step ever again and go nuclear to end it once and for all. I have even heard it said that Viet Nam, in particular was handled the way it was just to prove to Soviet Russia that the Americans were now morally bankrupt enough to consider dropping "The Bomb" again, since we had no qualms about sending our young men over there to fight and die in a war that we realistically had no chance of winning from the outset.

I thank you and all your fellow Viet Nam veterans again for your service. You were the only known group of American soldiers to ever be jerked around as political pawns, and for that, the country owes you a huge apology, along with thanks for serving.

Vietnam - Odd situation at the time .... even more so

Re: Vietnam - Odd situation at the time .... even more so

That war was messed up on so many levels, he could have just

Re: That war was messed up on so many levels, he could have just

Re: Vietnam - Odd situation at the time .... even more so

I never tire of these stories. I was born in ‘66 so Vietnam

I wrote a term paper in '64 in high school

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