The Vietnam War Memorial was dedicated NOVEMBER 13, 1982, honoring 58,000 American troops who died.
U.S. forces inflicted over a million enemy fatalities, yet involvement by politicians thwarted victory.
North Vietnamese colonel,
Bui Tin, received the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975.
Bui Tin explained how the protests by "anti-war peace demonstrators" was key to the Communist victory:
"Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American
antiwar movement ...
... Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses ...
... We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and that she would struggle along with us."
After the war,
Bui Tin became vice chief editor of the Communist Party's official newspaper in Vietnam,
People's Daily, but he grew disillusioned with Communist corruption and, in 1990, fled to Paris.
In an interview,
Bui Tin stated:
"The roots of the Vietnam War - its all-encompassing and underlying nature - lie in a confrontation between two ideological worlds:
socialism versus capitalism ... totalitarianism versus democracy ...
The conscience of America was part of its war-making capability, and we were turning that power in our favor.
America lost because of its democracy;
through dissent and protest it lost the ability to mobilize a will to win."
Commenting on this dangerous trend is retired
Major General Patrick Brady, considered the most decorated living veteran.
A Medal of Honor recipient,
Major General Patrick Brady flew over 2,500 combat missions in Vietnam, rescuing over 5,000 wounded.
As told in his book,
Dead Men Flying,
Brady once rescued 51 wounded in one day, flying 3 different helicopters which were shot up with over 400 holes from enemy fire and explosions.
Major General Patrick Brady wrote, June 4, 2013 (WND.com):
"The greatest danger ... the feminization, emasculation and dismantling of our military.
The two most important elements of national survival are the media and the military ...
We know the media are failing - God help us if the military does also ...
... Let's begin with Benghazi. It is incomprehensible that any commander, let alone the commander in chief, would go AWOL during a crisis such as Benghazi, but he was ...
Unprecedented rates of suicide ... Cut benefits to veterans ... Quad-sexual military with all the health, readiness and moral issues that come with exalting sodomy ... Sexual assault ...
Women will be tasked to lead bayonet charges ... Billions of defense dollars are unaccounted for ... Christianity is under military attack, and Bibles have been burned to appease Muslims ...
Just as the way forward for America is a return to the morality and values of the past, so too must the military return to the readiness standards and common sense of the past."
A first-hand account of the Vietnam War is from
Marine Sergeant George Hutchings in his book,
Combat Survival-Life Stories from a Purple Heart.
George Hutchings wrote that on October 12, 1967, during Operation Medina, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Division, was ambushed by North Vietnamese in the Hai Lang jungle:
"Thirteen men were killed in front of me and countless more behind me. I was in shock; never had I heard such noise or saw so many dead.
Nevertheless, I returned fire and my M-16 jammed...We had walked into an ambush of an enemy four times our size ..."
Pinned down in the jungle on top of a hill,
George Hutchings continued:
"We slowly crawled ... to see who was alive ...
By the time our perimeter was cleared, several hours passed, and I went to check on Corporal Bice. I found him - head and boots.
We knew his boots because they bore his signature. He had been hit in the chest with a light anti-tank weapon. My inner voice said, 'He died for you; Christ died for you ...'"
In 1968,
George Hutchings was shot three times, bayoneted and left for dead, as he wrote:
"On March 14th I stepped on a pungie stick.
Luckily ... it went through the bottom of my boot and out the side ...
... March 18th ... shot rang from the right rear. I hit the dirt. Was I shot? ...
Remembering my training, I didn't look at the wound, If you look ... you might go into shock.
I felt my hip with my hand and it came back bloody ... I was better off than the two men who had been directly in front of me. They lay dead ...
Corporal Ed Grant ... crawled over to me ... with a shotgun ... 'If you get overrun, you'll need this,' he said ...
... Laying there with no cover, a machine gun battle raged just over my helmet ... 'Oh God, get me out of here and I'll live for you the rest of my life.'"
Of the Vietnam Memorial,
George Hutchings said:
"On that wall is the name of Corporal Quinton Bice, who was hit in the chest with a rocket while running a patrol in my place.
A Christian, Corporal Bice had shared the Gospel with me, but I didn't understand it till he gave his life in my place."
