“Not Here To Spread” This: How The Leftist Mainstream Media Responded to Revelations of North Vietnamese Mass Murder at Hue in 1968

People in the city of Hue lay to rest their family members, friends, and neighbors, after South Vietnamese and U.S. forces liberate the city from communist occupation. Over the course of one month, the communists brutally murdered thousands of innocent people in the name of “revolution” (U.S. Army).

The “long story short” version of this is that in 1968, journalists in the mainstream U.S. media witnessed the shocking discovery of mass graves, created by the murderous communist regime, in the city of Hue, South Vietnam, and explicitly decided not to report on it. All the while, the liberal media continued its common practice of peddling pro-communist and anti-American propaganda to the American people, glorifying the evil communists, while vilifying the real heroes, which were the South Vietnamese and American troops.

With that main point established, we will now dive into detail about the coverup of the communist mass murder at Hue. The analysis provides another glaring example of how far leftists will go to protect and glorify totalitarian regimes at the expense of America.

Estimated reading time: 12-16 minutes

The Tet Offensive of 1968 and the Battle of Hue

In late January of 1968, the communist state of North Vietnam launched a surprise attack on its southern neighbor, the fledgling democratic nation of South Vietnam. The communists were hoping to knock South Vietnam and their U.S. allies out of the war for good, and ultimately, to establish control over all of Vietnam under the blood-red banner of Communism.

South Vietnam’s capital city of Saigon during the Tet Offensive of 1968 (UISA/NARA).

Sadly for the communists, they failed. Big time.

This fiasco by the communists would be known in history as the Tet Offensive of 1968.

The lunar new year period, known as “Tet” in Vietnam, is usually a time of peace, love, and friendship among Vietnamese. Though it was unstated, there was an understanding between the North and South that, for at least a few days, there would be a truce, and that no blood will be shed.

In hopes of gaining an upper hand, the communists violated the truce, and launched a massive military campaign against the South. Despite, their underhanded attack, the communists were still handily defeated by South Vietnam and U.S. forces.

Though initially surprised by the communist sneak attack, the South Vietnamese and their American allies responded quickly and resolutely, destroying the communist invaders and expelling them from nearly all of South Vietnam’s major cities.

South Vietnamese and U.S. Special Forces members. Photo taken in September 1968 (U.S. Army).

There were only a few key locations where the communists managed to hold on for a while. Eventually, these places too would be liberated from communist occupation by South Vietnam and U.S. forces.

The old imperial capital city of Hue was one of the last places to be freed from the communists. Victory at Hue was accomplished after 26 days of intense fighting.

This fight came to be known as the Battle of Hue, and lasted from January 31 to February 25, 1968.

At the end of this long and bloody battle, 384 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed, 216 U.S. soldiers were killed, and 5,113 communist soldiers were killed. The communist forces paid dearly at Hue and got ripped to pieces by the South Vietnamese and American troops (Smith 1999: x).

Following the battle, on February 26, 1968, “South Vietnamese and American troops made a horrifying discovery” at Hue (Zimmerman & Vansant 2009: 78).

The Hue Massacre and North Vietnam’s Official Policy of Violence and Murder

After the liberation of Hue from communist control, the South Vietnamese and U.S. forces uncovered bodies of men, women, and children buried in shallow graves all around the city. Some bodies had bullet wounds in them, others had their arms bound by rope and wire, and some bodies were still wet, as if drenched in water before being buried. It appeared that many of these people had been buried alive (Smith 1999: ix).

In a chilling anecdote, George W. Smith described many of the corpses as still having “their mouths open, silent screams frozen on their faces,” (p. ix).

South Vietnamese residents standing in the midst of the destruction in the aftermath of the Hue Massacre of 1968 (Douglas Pike Collection).

James H. Willbanks explains that after the communists had seized control of Hue, they started rounding up people all around the city and systematically executed them en masse (p. 55). In the words of Willbanks, most of the victims were either “shot, bludgeoned to death, or buried alive, almost all with their hands tied behind their backs,” (p. 55).

In the end, a total of 2,810 bodies were discovered in these mass graves, although the number is estimated to be much higher than this (Moore & Turner 2002: 278). Another 2,000 people were unaccounted for after the liberation of Hue. It is strongly suggested that they too were murdered in the communist mass executions (Herring 2002: 232; Moore & Turner 2002: 278).

The purpose of this organized and systematic murder of the people of Hue was to instil fear and terror into the South Vietnamese population, and to discourage people from supporting or associating with the South Vietnam government. There was also a revenge element, as the communists sought to punish “uncooperative” civilians in South Vietnam for not supporting the barbaric communist regime and their evil ideology (Moore & Turner 2002: 278).

As part of their terror campaign, the communists compiled a list of targets that included local politicians, civil servants, shopkeepers, and other civilian groups. This “execution list” had at least 3,000 names on it and was compiled before the Tet Offensive was even started (Aikman 2013; Moore & Turner 2002: 278).

North Vietnamese communist troops. During the Vietnam War, North Vietnam and their Vietcong subordinates committed grave atrocities that were largely covered up by the pro-communist mainstream liberal media (U.S. Army).

Upon the capture of Hue, the communists put their horrific execution plan into action, going house to house and butchering defenseless residents and civilians. This was not an isolated incident carried out by renegade, insubordinate, or unruly troops. It was a deliberate part of communist policy, planned, organized, and authorized at the highest level of the North Vietnamese government.

As explained by John Norton Moore and Robert F. Turner, “For the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese, the ‘tactic’ of ‘political struggle’ included the use of terror to isolate the people from their government… Selected assassination of government officials was official policy.” Not only that, but for the communists, “Grave breaches” by their troops and cadres “not only went unpunished, they were mandated,” (p. 277-78).

The result of their terror and violence program was the death of thousands of innocent lives. Victims of this mass execution included schoolteachers, merchants, religious leaders, police, government employees, political officials, foreign visitors, and regular everyday civilians.

“We are not here to spread” this. The Liberal Media Coverup of the Hue Massacre

When the horrifying discoveries were being made at Hue, the leftist mainstream media was there. The liberal media saw with their own eyes the corpses of all the innocent people, being dug out of the ground by the dead’s traumatized and heartbroken relatives, friends, and neighbors. They knew that it was the North Vietnamese and their Viet Cong operatives that committed these atrocities. And they chose to say nothing about it.

One firsthand account by a German reporter, Uwe Siemon-Netto, showed just how blatant and deliberate the U.S. mainstream media was in their decision not to say a word about the mass killings at Hue.

In a review of Siemon-Netto’s 2013 memoir Duc: A reporter’s love for the wounded people of Vietnam, David Aikman described the interaction between the German reporter and some mainstream media liberals at Hue:

When this fastidious German reporter came upon a mass grave of victims, he was astonished to find an American television crew standing around with idle cameras. The crew refused to shoot the scene because, they said, they didn’t want to film “anti-Communist propaganda.”

Siemon-Netto would retell this experience himself in a 2018 letter to the Wall Street Journal.

I remember how furious Peter Braestrup, I and others were when Walter Cronkite stated in front of millions of U.S. viewers that the war couldn’t be won, when in fact we had just witnessed American and South Vietnamese soldiers shed their blood vanquishing the communists and destroying their infrastructure. I stood next to Braestrup at a mass grave filled with the bodies of old men, women and children. A U.S. television team walked idly about this site. Braestrup asked them: “Why don’t you film this scene?” “We are not here to spread anticommunist propaganda,” one answered.

As a result of the mainstream media’s decision not to report this tragedy, the world would pay “little attention to these atrocities at Hue… the ghastly events at Hue became footnotes in a highly unpopular war,” (Smith 1999: x).

The Hue Massacre was not the only massacre committed by the communists during the Vietnam War. There were others, many others, and the media would stay overwhelmingly silent on them. That, however, is a discussion for another time.

The Mainstream Media. Liars Since At Least the Vietnam War

What happened at Hue between January to February of 1968 was a massacre. A mass slaughter of innocent lives by a murderous communist regime propped up by the Soviet Union and Red China, and widely adored by leftists and traitors in the U.S.

The communists carried out a violent and horrific purge of innocent people in South Vietnam, and their friends in the U.S. mainstream liberal media helped them cover it up. It would be decades before the world learned of the Hue Massacre, and even then, it would not be widespread knowledge.

The remains of the Brinks Hotel in Saigon after a bombing attack by Vietcong terrorists on December 24, 1964. At the time, military personnel and civilian guests were inside the hotel. Terrorism was a core strategy of the communists during the Vietnam War. Much of the communists’ terrorist activities were, like the Hue Massacre, either ignored, covered up, or denied by the mainstream liberal media (U.S. Air Force).

From the evidence, it would seem that, according to leftists, something they see with their own eyes, a literal fact, may constitute as “propaganda” if it does not align with their points of view. Opinions, hearsay, and outright lies, on the other hand, may serve as “fact” if it affirms whatever the leftists are thinking and feeling.

Leftists in the U.S. loved the North Vietnamese for some reason, and were so determined to paint communists as heroes that they covered up a mass slaughter to make it happen. The liberal media covered up a genocidal act by North Vietnam in order to advance a pro-communist narrative. Let that sink in.

When we look at the mainstream liberal media today, defending Marxist riots in U.S. cities, enabling anarchy, waging a war on police, silencing those who quietly suffer from this violence and unrest, and overall, just lying to the American people every second of every day (not just misleading, but outright lying), just know that this is nothing new.

They have had a lot of practice.

The Third Police Precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is set ablaze by rioters in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by dirty cop Derek Chauvin on May 28, 2020. Democrats, the media, and general leftist elites have largely and wrongfully described the violence and looting across America as “peaceful protests,” glorifying the criminals, vilifying the police (of which the overwhelming majority are good, great people), and ignoring the cries of everyday people of all colors who are adversely affected by the unrest (Wikimedia Commons).

The liberal media has been doing this for decades. Glorifying communists, anarchists, terrorists, and totalitarian regimes, all the while vilifying real heroes, patriots, and regular everyday good people who just happen to disagree with them.

The mainstream media is pro-communist and anti-American, and they have gotten away with peddling their treasonous agenda to the public, to our youth and children, for far too long. It is time that we see the leftist media for what they truly are: Liars, cowards, and traitors.

As President Donald J. Trump has said many times before: The leftist mainstream media is dishonest, fake, and the enemy of the people.

From the Vietnam War to now, and most likely well into the future, the leftist mainstream media cannot be trusted. They can never be trusted.

Bibliography:

Aikman, David. “The Lost Cause,” (October 7, 2013). The Weekly Standard, reproduced by The Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/the-lost-cause

“Debating Fake News and the Tet Offensive,” (February 14, 2018). The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/debating-fake-news-and-the-tet-offensive-1518642077

Herring, George C. America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam. New York: McGraw Hill. 2002.

Moore, John Norton and Robert F. Turner. The Real Heroes of the Vietnam War: Reflections. North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press. 2002.

Smith, George W. The Siege at Hue. Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc. 1999.

Willbanks, James H. The Tet Offensive: A Concise History. New York: Columbia University Press. 2007.

Zimmerman, Dwight and Wayne Vansant. The Vietnam War: A Graphic History. New York: Hill and Wang. 2009.

The Democrat-Controlled Congress in 1973-75 Made Sure That South Vietnam and America Lost the Vietnam War

Then-Vice President Gerald Ford addressing Congress on December 6, 1973. During this time under President Nixon, as well as in the future Ford presidency, a Democrat-controlled Congress would do everything they could to undermine the American war effort in Vietnam in order to help the communists. Photo shared in accordance with CC BY-SA 4.0. (via Carl Albert Research and Studies Center)

Estimated reading time: 5-9 minutes

In his influential and meticulously researched book Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam 1973-1975 (2012), George J. Veith explained that the “U.S. Congress’s aid cutbacks and legislation denying fire support were the main culprits in South Vietnam’s demise,” (p. 7-8). Veith then elaborated on this point, saying that “congressional aid reductions were imposed in perverse synchronicity with increased Communist aggression,” (p. 8).

According to Veith, the communists admitted this themselves, since “Communist accounts written after the war trumpet the fact that aid cuts progressively weakened the RVNAF [Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) Air Force], while North Vietnam’s military strength concurrently recovered from the debacle of the 1972 offensive,” (p. 8).

The 1972 offensive referred by Veith is known in history as the Easter Offensive, which took place in the spring of that year. After the exit of the majority of U.S. forces from Vietnam, the North Vietnamese launched the most ambitious military campaign of the war, larger than the 1968 Tet Offensive, in hopes of knocking the South Vietnamese out of the war once and for all.

Despite their ferocity, this campaign by the North Vietnamese, like all of their attempts in the past, failed miserably.

Supported by the remaining U.S. airpower, who stayed behind to fight alongside their Vietnamese brothers in arms, the South Vietnamese, largely on their own, ripped the invading North Vietnamese to pieces, crushing their forces at An Loc, Kontum, Quang Tri, and more. The aftermath left the communist forces drained, decimated, and humiliated.

The Southern victory demonstrated not only the success of Vietnamization (or as I like to call it, Re-Vietnamization), but also dispelled the leftist media and Democrat narrative that the South Vietnamese soldiers were unprofessional, unable, and unwilling to fight. The leftists in America got proven wrong, and this hurt them and angered them deeply.

On the media’s end, they simply did not bother to write about the South’s victories in 1972. This was consistent with the leftist media conduct throughout the war: amplifying, exaggerating, and fabricating the successes of communists, while ignoring, suppressing, and whitewashing the many, many successes of South Vietnam and the U.S.

For Congress, which was led by Democrats, they continued their efforts to defund and bankrupt South Vietnam. Only now they did so at an accelerated pace.

From 1973 to 1975, the Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress pushed through resolution after resolution, slashing financial aid to South Vietnam, castrating the political power of President Nixon and then President Ford, until there was nothing left for South Vietnam to run on (Veith 2012: 33-34; 55; 58-59).

Democrat Joe Biden was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 and sworn into office in early 1973. He would spend the next 47 years of his life in government as a career politician. (via U.S. Congress)

At the same time, thanks to the Democrats, the North Vietnamese were given time to rebuild and retry their attempts to conquer the South. Unlike their southern counterparts, the North had reliable allies in China and the USSR who did not hesitate in financing their friend (Sorley 1999: 382).

Following the victory over the communists in the 1972 Easter Offensive, South Vietnamese General Cao Van Vien said that the South was “fully capable of confronting the NVA [North Vietnamese Army] if U.S. support were provided in three vital areas: tactical and strategic air, to include troop transport; sea transport; and the replacement of weapons, materials, and supplies,” (Sorley 1999: 373).

Because of the Democrats, these vital needs were cut off from South Vietnam. By April 30, 1975, the fruits of the Democrats’ treasonous labor would come to fruition with the fall of Saigon.

Lewis Sorley stated the painful truth in his book A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam (1999), and this is the fact “that two totalitarian states – the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China – had proved more faithful and reliable as allies than the American democracy…” (p. 373).

If you ask me, I would say that the North Vietnamese had another ally: The Democratic Party.

Concurrent with the USSR’s and China’s consistent funding and support of the North Vietnamese, the Democrats in Congress did everything in their power to turn the tide of the war against South Vietnam and the U.S.

The mainstream media made sure that the communists were glorified and the South Vietnamese were hated. At the same time, Democrat politicians fed off the public exhaustion and anxiety generated by the leftist media, used that antiwar sentiment to elevate themselves to positions of power, and made it their personal mission to bankrupt South Vietnam and ensure a communist victory in Southeast Asia.

Both the Democrats and the leftist media rejoiced when Saigon fell and the communists took over Vietnam. To this day, Democrats and liberal journalists alike try to paint the communists in a positive light, while spitting on the sacrifices of the real heroes like the South Vietnamese and American soldiers.

This is the Democratic Party. This is what they stand for, and it has been going on for much too long.

Whether it be the Democrats in the 1960s and 1970s kowtowing to the North Vietnamese, Bill Clinton being buddy-buddy with communist China and communist Vietnam in the 1990s, Barack Obama surrendering to China, Iran, ISIS, Russia, Syria, and so many more in the 2010s, or Joe Biden and the Democrats surrendering to these same hostile actors (except ISIS, which got destroyed by the Trump administration FYI) while also being a Trojan horse for the radical left in 2020, the story of the Democratic Party in the late 20th and early 21st century is always the same: The Democrats love to surrender to the enemy, and they love to undermine and sabotage America.

It is about time we recognize this. Americans love to forgive and forget, and the Democrats and leftists have exploited that good heart for decades. If we let them do it much longer, we will no longer have a country.

As a person of South Vietnamese descent, I know exactly how it feels to lose your country. It literally happened to us, thanks to the Democrats. This is not a joke. The threat is more real than many of us want to admit.

If the Democrats take power in 2020, America will be a thing of the past, and in whatever socialist wasteland that results, the rulers, overseeing the poverty, death, and misery that is already so rampant in other socialist trash countries right now, will still try to blame their problems on made-up social issues like “toxic masculinity,” “the rise in white supremacy,” and “systemic racism.”

Reject this stupidity, reject this socialism, reject the Democratic Party.

Cited:

Sorley, Lewis. A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam. New York: Harcourt, Inc. 1999.

Veith, George J. Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam 1973-1975. New York: Encounter Books. 2012.

South Vietnamese General Endorses Donald Trump, Encourages Voting Republican in the 2018 Midterms

(Chau Xuan Nguyen / Breitbart)

Earlier in September of this year, Brigadier General Tran Quang Khoi of the former Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) released a statement in support of President Donald J. Trump. In the statement, General Khoi, who now resides in the United States, urged Vietnamese-Americans to vote Republican in the upcoming midterm elections. The general warned in his statement of the sabotage and obstruction from the Democratic Party, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, the fake news liberal media, and the liberal wing of the Vietnamese-American media who ride the mainstream leftist coattails in hopes of affirmation and relevance (Sad!).

Presented below is General Khoi’s statement, via Hoang Lan Chi (Note: The original Vietnamese statement is shown first, with an English translation following immediately after):

– Tôi tha thiết kêu gọi mọi người VN tỵ nạn CS trên toàn thế giới lên tiếng ủng hộ triệt để Tổng Thống Donald Trump đang bị đảng Dân Chủ đối lập đe dọa trầm trọng.

– Đặc biệt tôi kêu gọi tất cả người Việt Nam tỵ nạn CS trên toàn nước Mỹ hãy kêu gọi nhau đi bầu, dồn phiếu cho TT.Donald Trump và đảng Cộng Hòa của ông. Đây là vấn đề sống chết của dân tộc và đất nước VN chúng ta.

Bọn Tàu cộng phương Bắc, Tập Cận Bình đang giãy chết. Đừng nghe lời kêu gọi của cựu Tổng Thống Obama và cựu Tổng Thống Bill Clinton, và tất cả báo chí của Mỹ và của VN cánh tả, chống Tổng Thống Donald Trump.

Nên nhớ , Tổng Thống Donald Trump là vị cứu tinh của dân tộc VN và của nước VN độc lập, dân chủ và phú cường.

Xin hảy tin lời kêu gọi của tôi.

– Sau khi CSVN bị diệt vong, tôi ước mong được trở về sống ở VN, và sẽ tham gia vào việc đào tạo thế hệ trẻ VN trở nên những cán bộ quân sự kiệt xuất của một nước VN độc lập, dân chủ và phú cường ./.

Virginia, ngày 01 tháng 9, 2018

Chuẩn Tướng TGKB Trần Quang Khôi.

Here is the same statement in English, translated by yours truly:

– I humbly call upon all Vietnamese overseas people around the world to speak up and support President Donald Trump, who is facing serious sabotage by the Democratic Party.

– I especially call upon all Vietnamese-Americans to come out and vote, casting your ballot for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. This is a life and death situation for the people and nation of Vietnam.

The Red Chinese of the North and [Chinese President] Xi Jinping are currently fighting for their last breath. Do not listen to the words of former president Barack Obama, or former president Bill Clinton, or any of the U.S. mainstream media or leftist Vietnamese-American media, who are all against President Donald Trump.

Let it be known, President Donald Trump is the savior of the Vietnamese people and a future Vietnamese nation that is independent, democratic, and prosperous.

Please hear my message.

– After the Vietnamese Communist regime is overthrown, I dream to be able to return to and live in Vietnam, and to participate in the development of a new generation of Vietnamese military officers for a Vietnamese nation that is independent, democratic, and prosperous.

Virginia, September 1, 2018

Brigadier General TGKB Tran Quang Khoi.

Regarding General Khoi’s point about Trump being the savior of the Vietnamese people, I have some thoughts.

Since Donald Trump became president, he has been relentlessly hammering China with bruising tariffs that, as we speak, are wreaking havoc on the Chinese economy. Among those affected is China’s Formosa steel company, the same Formosa that has been polluting Vietnamese oceans, killing off the fish and vegetation, and poisoning Vietnam’s water supply. Formosa’s deliberate destruction of Vietnam’s environment has caused starvation, disease, and death all across Vietnam, with zero response from the cowardly Communist Party in Vietnam. The tariffs imposed by Trump on Chinese steel have greatly damaged Formosa, and in the process is delivering some measure of justice for the Vietnamese people.

Furthermore, Trump has beefed up U.S. presence in the Pacific and increased regional stability, leading to a significant curbing of Chinese assertiveness in the area. Donald Trump has done more for Vietnam since taking office than the communist leaders of Vietnam could ever hope to accomplish. Moreover, Trump has done more in 16 months to handle Chinese international aggression than Barack Obama and Bill Clinton could in 16 years.

Therefore, while I would word things differently than General Khoi, I definitely agree that President Trump is an ally of the Vietnamese people, and a free and independent Vietnamese nation. President Trump doesn’t even do it on purpose. He simply does the right thing, doing what needs to be done, and by proxy his deeds benefit the Vietnamese people. He helps us and he doesn’t even try.

Obviously, as Vietnamese people, we should not rely on anyone but ourselves. In geopolitical terms however, weighing our interests between the Republicans and the Democrats, more specifically, between Donald Trump or the pro-communist left (John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, the liberal fake news media, etc.), there is no question that we are better off with a Republican President, Republican Senate, and Republican House of Representatives. It is therefore pivotal that we do not allow the Democrats to ever take back the government.

A Democrat victory in November would mean the illegal impeachment of President Trump, the reestablishment of Washington corruption, a re-weaponized FBI and DOJ (the Deep State), a re-energized and vengeful leftist fake news media, and the resurgence of a humiliated and bitter Communist China eager to avenge the glorious ass-kicking that President Trump has been raining down upon them ever since taking office in January 2017.

In other words, Donald Trump is on our side, and the Democrats are not.

A win for Trump is a win for the Vietnamese people, both inside and outside of Vietnam.

By contrast, a win for the Democrats is a loss for the Vietnamese people, both inside and outside of Vietnam.

Remember that it was the Democrats who voted to cut all funding to South Vietnam in 1974, that the current Democratic Party is composed of many of those antiwar, pro-communist “activists” of the Vietnam War era, and that it is Democrats like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Kerry who have been cozying up to Communist Vietnam for decades up to present day.

If you are a South Vietnamese legacy who loves your freedom and are proud of your roots, the Democratic Party is not your friend.

For these reasons, I stand with General Tran Quang Khoi, and I too urge the Vietnamese people all across America to get out and vote Republican this Tuesday, November 6, 2018.

Donald Trump’s name may not be on the ballot, but his ability to govern and continue this incredible change depends wholeheartedly on the victory of the Republicans in these midterm elections.

As Vietnamese people – who are under constant threat of Chinese invasion, ignored and hated by Democrat politicians since our arrival in 1975, and slandered by the leftist media since the 1960s to present day – we need this.

We need Trump to win, and so we need to vote Republican.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it a whole lot more between now and Election Day:

Vote Republican this Tuesday, November 6, 2018. It is imperative that we do.

U.S. Entry, Tet Offensive, Creighton Abrams, and False Histories – Four Major Takeaways from the ‘Prologue’ in Sorley’s “A Better War”

(U.S. Army Photo)

There are a few things that one instantly learns upon opening A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam, the 1999 book by historian and U.S. veteran Lewis Sorley. Among them include some introductory facts that every person seeking to learn about the Vietnam War should know about. Here below are a few of these facts, for your convenience:

• Americans in Vietnam (1960-65): The period when U.S. involvement in Vietnam steadily rises from a primarily advisory role to one of active combat, with ground troops officially deployed in 1965 (p. xi)
• The Tet Offensive (1968): In this infamous military campaign, the allied nations of South Vietnam and the United States crushed the North Vietnamese and Vietcong invaders, yet the communists achieved an important psychological victory, by scaring the mainstream U.S. media, and consequently, the American public, which contributed greatly to the overall diminishment of public support for the war (p. xi-ii)
• From Westmoreland to Abrams (1968): The initial start to the U.S.’s active involvement in the Vietnam War under General William C. Westmoreland was one of numerous setbacks and difficulties – this all changed in the spring of 1968, when “Westy” was replaced by General Creighton W. Abrams, a more competent and capable commander that worked better with the South Vietnamese and changed the whole course of the U.S. war in Vietnam (p. xii-iii)
• Problematic Histories (Then-Now): The previous point highlights the fact that under Westmoreland (1965-68), U.S. efforts in Vietnam were riddled with setbacks and difficulties – These years represent only a fraction of the overall war, but for some reason, it is always the Westmoreland era that most historians and journalists in the U.S. love to focus on, and in the process, ignoring the great allied achievements from 1968 onward – As a result, to this day, most people in the American public are presented with a distorted representation of what really happened in the Vietnam War (p. xiv)

Above are only a few of the many insights that Lewis Sorley instantaneously presents to the reader in his book, A Better War. To acquire more information, I strongly encourage everyone to read Sorley’s book for themselves, and draw a few conclusion of their own.

There are a significant number of works on the Vietnam War out there (albeit buried in a sea of liberal trash) that present fair and balanced accounts of what actually happened in Vietnam. Sorley’s book is simply one among many, and is a very good place to start for anyone interested in studying this complex, fascinating, and ultimately misreported war.

Over the course of my research, I’ve pondered the ways in which to share my findings with you all, and it’s been hard. On the one hand, I want to be clear and concise, but on the other hand, I want to be thorough and comprehensive.

So, after much thought, I’ve decided that the best way to share my discoveries with you all is to do it little by little. In doing so, I am able to focus, a few at a time, on the myriad complex and convoluted issues associated with the Vietnam War and its historiography. With this approach, I hope to eventually establish a solid scholarly foundation, to the benefit of all who are interested in truly understanding the Vietnam War.

I once made a metaphor about a “House of Truth,” in which, brick by brick, I slowly lay the foundations with the hopes that one day, a strong and true story will be told of what really happened during the Vietnam War. Consider this article one more step in that direction, another brick in our House of Truth, placed for the entire world to see, scrutinize, and ultimately understand. As boldly put by author and retired U.S. marine Richard Botkin, “Everything you know about the end of the Vietnam War is wrong.” It is high time that we fixed that.

Hopefully you all enjoyed this brief article and found it to be an insightful read. I look forward to giving you more.

 

Work Cited:

Sorley, Lewis. A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam. New York: Harcourt, Inc. 1999.

A Solemn Thank You.

(Breitbart)

Hello All,

I’ll be honest here. I tried writing a few feature pieces for this April 30th, but none of it panned out. I wanted to do something big, bit off more than I can chew, and simply didn’t have enough time to make it good enough to share. There are certain standards that I hold myself to as a writer, and I would not put anything out unless I believe it was good enough. This is even more so on Black April, a solemn day of mourning and commemoration for a nation lost. I wanted to do a lot for this day, but in the end, this year, I came up empty.

But, it didn’t feel right to say nothing. I have to say something. How could I not?

And so, with no research or notes on hand, or a poem, or anything, all I got is what is on my mind right now, right this minute, and the only thing I can say is this:

Thank you.

Thank you to all the heroes who fought, bled, and died to defend the freedom of the South Vietnamese people and their nation. This goes out to all of the veterans. South Vietnamese veterans, American veterans, and all of our friends and allies who laid down their lives and made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom and independence. To all of the heroes, living or dead, I thank you. We thank you, and pledge to never let your sacrifices be forgotten.

I also want to thank the Boat People refugees, the Children of the South, who took that leap of faith, and faced the vast and mighty Ocean in the pursuit of freedom. To everyone who made that impossible choice to depart from Vietnam after the communist takeover, braving unthinkable danger, and enduring unspeakable pain and suffering, all for that beautiful idea, freedom, I thank you. Without you, there would be no us. Without you, there would be no hope. So thank you. Thank you for keeping it all alive. The legacy, the heritage, the roots of the Vietnamese people, all of it lives on to this day, because of you. Thank you, for giving us something that we can never repay. We will carry it with us, and pass it on to future generations, so that it may live on. Forever.

Lastly, I want to thank all the nations of the free world who took in the Boat People refugees. To the countries that took us all in, at a time when we had nothing, we thank you. You gave us freedom, you gave us hope, you gave us strength, and you gave us a future. You gave us a home. And, like the gift that the Boat People refugees have given to the future generations, we can never repay the gift that the nations of the free world have given to us all. But, we will try, every minute, every second, of every day to make the most of that gift that you have given us: Freedom. Thank you America. Thank you Canada. Thank you Australia. And thank you to all the nations of the free world who took us in and made us your own. Your kindness and compassion will never be forgotten.

And to you, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and musings, and thank you for standing with me, as a proud, freedom-loving Vietnamese person. What’s more, thank you for keeping the South Vietnamese legacy alive. We are all in this together, and one day, Vietnam will be free again. Thank you for fighting the good fight.

Thank you.

Stephen B. Young: Nguyen Van Thieu, South Vietnam’s Second President, Was a Strong Leader Who Built Up His Country

(Virtual Saigon)

In an article last month, Stephen B. Young, executive director of the Caux Round Table and expert on Vietnam history, provided some useful information on South Vietnam and its second president, Nguyen Van Thieu. This article was published in The New York Times, because even biased left-wing media empires need to hedge their bets sometimes and provide views differing from their own, but I digress.

Much useful insight can be found in Young’s article, which covers a wide array of topics regarding South Vietnam’s perspective in the war. In this brief post, I will only focus on one portion of Young’s article, and that is his discussion on South Vietnam’s second president, Nguyen Van Thieu, and the nation’s development under his strong leadership.

According to Young, that in the greater context of Southern resistance in the face of continued Northern communist aggression:

South Vietnam’s president, Nguyen van Thieu, stepped up to provide more vigorous leadership. He replaced corrupt and incompetent officials and personally headed the recovery committee charged with rebuilding destroyed or damaged infrastructure and buildings and resettling over 500,000 people who had fled Communist control. And elsewhere in national politics, new, surprising political coalitions formed to vociferously oppose Hanoi’s aggression.

… South Vietnam’s economy grew continuously. Elections were held in all villages and provinces, and several times for the national Senate and House of Representatives, bringing into power a wide range of political outlooks, without anyone seriously proposing surrender to Hanoi’s one-party dictatorship.

As can be seen by Young’s assessment, the nation of South Vietnam had a strong and competent leader under President Thieu. South Vietnam’s economy was flourishing, half a million refugees who had fled the communist North were successfully being settled in the South, and democracy was firmly taking hold in the young nation.

This is all common knowledge to anyone who lived in South Vietnam, and knew firsthand what life was like there. Anyone who was a South Vietnamese citizen, and subsequently a “Boat People” refugee after 1975, knows very well that the Republic of Vietnam was a democratic nation, one that was steadily establishing itself as a regional power in Southeast Asia, leading the way in economy, military, education, and culture.

However, to the outside observer, and the generations who only know about the Vietnam War through western pop culture liberal propaganda (written and designed by leftists, citing leftist sources who love communism), the truths about South Vietnam and its people are still largely ignored and buried by the liberal elite, hidden in historical archives, and unnoticed by the world at large.

According to the leftist narrative, the North Vietnamese were good, the South Vietnamese were bad, the U.S. soldiers were bullies, and the radical liberals back home who protested and slandered the war effort were somehow brave, courageous, and totally not a bunch of lazy, self-righteous, cowardly, virtue-signalling losers.

For decades, liberals have dominated the conversation on the Vietnam War. They have achieved a stranglehold monopoly over the power to shape the public’s perception of the war, in any way they choose. As a result, we don’t really know much about it, except for what the Left wants us to “know.”

Well, little by little, that is changing.

Thanks to scholars such as Stephen B. Young and many others (George J. Veith, Lewis Sorley, Richard Botkin, and Geoffrey Shaw, just to name a few) whose works I am excited to share and discuss with you all, our understanding of the Vietnam War is gradually shifting.

In time, more and more truths will come out. This article is just a small piece of that puzzle. A small brick, if you will, in what I’d like to call my House of Truth.

There’s an old saying:

“If you want to anger a conservative, lie to them. If you want to anger a liberal, tell them the truth.”

Here’s to more articles pissing off liberals in the future.

P.S. Trump is president. #MAGA #KAG

Viewers Beware: Brief Thoughts on the Upcoming PBS Documentary “The Vietnam War”

Left to right: Lynn Novick and Ken Burns, the duo filmmakers of the upcoming PBS documentary, “The Vietnam War.” The first episode premiers next Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017. (David Burnett / Vanity Fair)

I got a bad feeling about this. That’s my take.

The reasons I am sharing my brief thoughts, and not a full-on analysis on the subject, are because: 1) I haven’t watched the documentary series, which, spanning 10 episodes, will be 18 hours in total, and; 2) The news articles out there that talk about the documentary don’t really tell you much, besides how great the liberal mainstream media thinks it’s going to be.

That’s why, based on my findings from a few articles I’ve read, I can only say that I do not have a very good feeling about this upcoming documentary.

At a glance, I would say that this new documentary is the political left’s latest multi-million dollar effort to screw us (the Vietnamese freedom community) over. Before I watch the whole documentary, however (… all 18 freaking hours of it), it would not be fair for me to write the whole thing off. With that said, given the track record of the liberal media, I have much reason to dismiss this documentary as the latest leftist hatchet job against the U.S. and South Vietnam, designed to further bury the truth and turn the more gullible of the millennial generation against us as well.

According to the UK’s Daily Mail, interviewees of the documentary range from U.S. soldiers who served in Vietnam, to deserters of the U.S. forces, as well as “North Vietnamese and Vietcong fighters.”

The prominent attention given to the North Vietnamese and Vietcong interviewees is a red flag (pun intended) in terms of possible biases. Acknowledging that I have not seen the documentary yet, I have concerns that a major focus of the film will be devoted to telling the side of the communists and viewing them in the positive light so typical of the leftists since the 1960s.

Not mentioned in the Daily Mail source, The New York Times claims that the documentary will also include some South Vietnamese soldiers as interviewees. Though that may be reason for optimism, I suspect that the “South Vietnamese” speakers chosen for the documentary may not be authentic South Vietnamese, but are actually traitors, communist sympathizers, ARVN deserters, Vietcong or Northern spies, and others of the sort. I am concerned that they are fake South Vietnamese, South Vietnamese in name only, who were specially selected by the creators because they hold views that fit the liberal antiwar narrative.

Another worrisome possibility is that these South Vietnamese interviewees, who may actually be legitimate and devoted citizens of the Republic of Vietnam, will not be fairly represented in the documentary. I am here concerned that these people, true to the South Vietnamese republic, may appear on the film with pure intentions, but get deliberately misquoted by the film’s creators, with their words twisted and distorted to fit the liberal antiwar narrative. Manipulation of words and facts was a major tactic of the liberal media during the war, is still frequently used up to this day (just look at the mainstream media coverage of Donald Trump), and is something we should be watching out for when viewing this documentary.

Furthermore, Vanity Fair says that, on top of the North Vietnamese and Vietcong, the film will also be presenting interviews with “an anti-war protest organizer,” as well as “journalists who covered the war.” Neither of these interview subjects seem like they will be particularly friendly to the non-communist side.

In regards to Vietnamese interviewees from the North and the South, via the same Vanity Fair source:

It [the documentary]… includes South Vietnamese veterans and civilians, and, most strikingly, former enemy combatants: Vietcong guerrillas and North Vietnamese Army regulars, now gray and grandfatherly (or grandmotherly), many of whom showed up for on-camera interviews in their old uniforms, gaudy yellow epaulets on their shoulders.

The passing mention of “South Vietnamese veterans and civilians,” followed by a more detailed introduction of the communists, with humanizing depictions such as how “gray” and “grandfatherly (or grandmotherly)” they look, or the fawning observation that they “showed up for on-camera interviews in their old uniforms, gaudy yellow epaulets on their shoulders,” leads me to believe that the the author of this Vanity Fair article is much more enthusiastic and reverent of the communist side. By extension, I fear that these pro-communist sentiments echo across all creative fronts relating to the project, whether they be news outlets covering the documentary, or producers directly involved with this documentary.

I don’t know about you, but it seems like, intentionally or not, but almost certainly intentionally, this new PBS documentary “The Vietnam War” will most definitely skew to the side of the communists, Ho Chi Minh, and the antiwar “movement” that the liberals, even up to present today, still cling to as some sort of shining achievement.

The Daily Mail reports that the makers of the documentary “hope viewers will draw their own conclusions – while opening a dialogue about the controversial war.”

My concern about this above statement is that the makers of the documentary will bombard the viewer with 18 hours of pro-communist bullshit propaganda, flushed with $30 million-worth of gripping production value and epic “storytelling,” before “encouraging” the viewers to “draw their own conclusions.”

In summary, no, I do not have a good feeling about this upcoming PBS documentary. However, I am not worried about the negative impact this documentary will have on our freedom-loving Vietnamese community.

We will need to brace ourselves. It might hurt at the start, but we’re strong, we’re smart, and we’re resilient. We’re children of the Republic of Vietnam, and we didn’t brave the crashing ocean waves of the Pacific, become successful in all fields including sports, medicine, law, academics, government, military, etc., etc., to be undone by some bullshit liberal propaganda documentary.

It might not even be that bad, but in the event that it is, we’ll handle it. We are the freedom-loving Vietnamese community. We are children of the Republic of Vietnam, and we will handle it.

Viet X. Luong: The South Vietnamese Kid Who Grew Up to Be a U.S. Army General

Viet X. Luong gets promoted from Colonel to Brig. General of the U.S. Army in a ceremony on August 6, 2014 at Fort Hood, Texas. (Bryan Correira / NBC News)

Luong Xuan Viet, or Viet Xuan Luong in American vernacular, was only nine years old when he came to the United States as a South Vietnamese refugee (Bowman, 2015). Today, he holds the reigning achievement of being the first-ever Vietnamese-born person to reach the rank of Brig. General in the U.S. Army (Ghandi, 2014). Currently, he is stationed in South Korea, acting as the Deputy Commanding General of the Eighth Army of the United States (United States, 2017).

His story begins like so many of ours.

It was late April 1975, in the dying days of the Vietnam War. The Republic of Vietnam was on the verge of collapse, and like so many other South Vietnamese at the time, Viet’s family was frantically planning to evacuate the dying country.

During the last days of the war, Viet’s father, a marine in the South Vietnamese Army, called an emergency family meeting. There, it was decided that the Luong family would depart Vietnam before the communist takeover. Following a harrowing excursion to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, which involved sightings of communist artillery fire, Viet and his family entered a Marine helicopter and flew out to the Pacific. Eventually, the Luong family would land on the USS Hancock aircraft carrier, where Viet recalls his father telling him, “… nothing in the world can harm you now,” (Bowman, 2015).

Standing on the wide deck of that American aircraft carrier, Viet found his life’s calling (Hood, 2014). “I knew right back then that I wanted to serve our country,” Viet said (Bowman, 2015).

After becoming settled in Southern California with his family, Viet would come of age and steadily follow in his father’s footsteps (Hood, 2014).

As an undergrad at the University of Southern California, Viet joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (Bowman, 2015). During his time in the ROTC (1983-1987), he was the only cadet from an ethnic background (Garsema, 2016). Upon graduation, he joined the U.S. Army, and so began his professional military career (Bowman, 2015).

Through patience, hard work, and determination, Viet rose through the ranks of the U.S. Army to become the first Vietnamese-born ever to reach the level of general officer.

This historical moment took place on August 6, 2014, at Fort Hood, Texas, where Colonel Viet X. Luong’s uniform was pinned with the star of an Army Brigadier General (Japanese American Veterans Association, 2014).

As Brigadier General, Luong led the American training effort in Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan, as Deputy Commander of the First Cavalry Division. This training prepared the Afghan forces in their fight against the Taliban (Bowman, 2015).

In March 2016, General Luong become the Chief of Staff of U.S. Army Central (United States, 2016).

Earlier this year, in May of 2017, General Luong was assigned to South Korea as the Deputy Commanding General of Operations for the Eighth Army (United States, 2017).

Viet X. Luong’s story, his successful and still-growing military career, and his many personal victories and achievements are an inspiration for Vietnamese people everywhere, inside and outside of Vietnam. He is part of the South Vietnamese legacy, representing the struggle, hard work, and dedication of all Vietnamese people who love freedom, country, and family. His story is our story, and that story is the story of the freedom-loving Vietnamese people.

In the words of Luong himself, “As a Vietnamese American, and as an immigrant, I am a symbol of democracy, of freedom, of justice, of our constitution… I live every day trying to live up to the honor and prestige of one of the owners of that,” (Ghandi, 2014).

In 2015, Brig. General Luong led the U.S. training of Afghan forces in their fight against the Taliban. (David Gilkey / NPR)

General Viet X. Luong is a role model, not just for the Vietnamese community around the world, but for people everywhere.

Thank you for leading by example, General Luong, and thank you for your service.

 

Sources:

Bowman, Tom. “The Frightened Vietnamese Kid Who Became A U.S. Army General.” April 30, 2015. NPR. Accessed May 31, 2017. http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/04/30/403082804/the-frightened-vietnamese-kid-who-became-a-u-s-army-general.

“Colonel Viet Xuan Luong Promoted to Flag Rank.” August 15, 2014. Japanese American Veterans Association. Accessed May 31, 2017. http://javadc.org/news/press-release/army-brigadier-general-viet-xuan-luong/.

Garsema, Emily. “USC Alum, An Army Brigadier General, Shares His Tale of Success With Cadets.” April 1, 2016. USC News. Accessed May 31, 2017. https://news.usc.edu/97768/usc-alum-an-army-brigadier-general-shares-his-tale-of-success-with-cadets/.

Ghandi, Lakshmi. “U.S. Military Promotes First Vietnamese-American General.” August 11, 2014. NBC News. Accessed May 31, 2017. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/u-s-military-promotes-first-vietnamese-american-general-n177936.

Hood, David. “Southern California Man is First Vietnamese-Born General in U.S. Military.” August 18, 2014. The Orange County Register. Accessed May 31, 2017. http://www.ocregister.com/2014/08/18/southern-california-man-is-first-vietnamese-born-general-in-us-military/.

United States. “General Officer Assignments, Release No: NR-088-16.” March 15, 2016. U.S. Department of Defense. Accessed May 31, 2017. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/694035/general-officer-assignments/.

United States. “General Officer Assignments, Release No: NR-156-17.” March 15, 2016. U.S. Department of Defense. Accessed May 31, 2017. https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1168558/general-officer-assignments/.

A Brief Remark on this 43rd Anniversary of the Battle of Hoang Sa

Photo via instagram (freedomforvietnam)

Hello All,

I don’t have too much time to chat. Here is a brief statement regarding this 43rd anniversary of the January 19, 1974 naval confrontation between us (South Vietnam) and the invaders (China).

Via Freedom For Vietnam’s instagram:

Today, January 19, 2017, marks the 43rd anniversary of the battle of the Paracel islands. This battle was a clash between South Vietnam and the invading People’s Republic of China.

On the morning of January 19, 1974, after days of fruitless attempts to engage in dialogue with the intruding Chinese naval forces around Vietnam’s islands, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu authorized the South Vietnamese Navy to open fire on the Chinese forces. The ensuing battle lasted for about a half an hour, and caused significant damage to both sides. South Vietnam, then embroiled in war with the North Vietnamese, exhausted its naval capabilities in this brief confrontation with China.

As a result, China would overrun the Paracel islands in the days following the battle, and remain occupiers of that territory to this day.

Every year, we remember this day, and commemorate the South Vietnamese soldiers who gave their lives to protect Vietnam’s sovereignty over our islands in the eastern sea. It is because of them that the phrase “Paracel and Spratly belong to Vietnam” carries so much weight.

The courage, honor, and sacrifice of the South Vietnamese soldiers must never be forgotten.

Photo source:
http://vnafmamn.com/VietnamNavy_history.html

Lest we forget.

 

 

Remembering South Vietnam: A Tribute to The Republic

Photo via Flickr

This is just a brief tribute to the former Republic of Vietnam and all the brave men and women who fought so bravely to protect the country. We all know very well the story of its tragic fall, but we also know very well what a great nation it was.

This year, to commemorate the day that Saigon fell to the communists, I want to remind everyone of the greatness of South Vietnam. By recognizing the actions, ideals, and achievements of the Southern Republic, I aim to demonstrate to us all why April 30 is such a sad day for any Vietnamese who loves freedom.

Every year since 1975, April 30 marks the fall of a proud, vibrant, and prosperous Republic, one that flourished culturally and economically, and carried itself with courage, pride and dignity. Moreover, this day marks the fall of a democracy, a young democracy, but a true democracy nonetheless.

South Vietnam was a nation that nurtured its young. It was a nation that had a deep love for education, invested heavily in education, and went to great lengths to ensure their citizens the access to this education. In only two decades of its existence, South Vietnam successfully expanded its educational programs by leaps and bounds, growing exponentially at the elementary, secondary, and university levels. To put neatly, South Vietnam was a nation of smart people, with endless potential for advancement and growth.

In terms of economy, South Vietnam was highly competitive, a leader in the Southeast Asia region, and a contender in Asia as a whole. Starting from its humble beginnings as a postcolonial state, South Vietnam showed rapid growth immediately after its birth as an independent nation. Over the course of its lifetime, up until its fall in 1975, South Vietnam prospered economically, excelling in agriculture, heavy industry, and trade. Due to its success, its capital city Saigon garnered huge respect from the world, and earned itself the famous title of “Pearl of the Orient.”

When speaking of democracy in South Vietnam, there is no doubt that the Southern Republic was a true liberal democracy. Secret ballot elections, universal suffrage, multiple political parties, freedom of speech, expression, and association, and checks and balances between its executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, South Vietnam met all of these criteria. In all, South Vietnam was a free country, one that championed the rights of its people, adhered to the rule of law, and kept its people safe.

Lastly, I would just like to recognize South Vietnam as a brave and noble nation that fought with every ounce of its strength to defend its people, from domestic terrorism by the National Liberation Front, the all too familiar invasions from North Vietnam, as well as an abrupt naval invasion by the People’s Republic of China.

In all of these cases, South Vietnam responded, and with whatever resources it had, the Southern Republic fought. This was the nation that captured many VC terrorists, even converting many of them to forsake their communist allegiances and come over to the Republic. Moreover, this was the nation that kept the North at bay for 20 years, and, statistically speaking, eviscerated the communist forces in the majority of engagements on the battlefield.

Finally, South Vietnam was the nation to open fire on the Chinese when the latter sent their warships into Hoang Sa (Paracel) in 1974, thinking that they can push the Southern Republic around. With all that has been shown, it simply needs to be understood here that South Vietnam was a nation that stood tall and fought hard. It was a proud nation, a brave nation, and an honorable nation that kept its people safe.

The loss of this Republic on April 30, 1975 is more than just a page in history. It is a tragedy, marking the day that every freedom-loving Vietnamese person lost their home.

The sadness brought about from the loss of the Republic of Vietnam stems from the greatness of its legacy. Because of its ideals, and because of its bravery, the memory of South Vietnam continues to resonate in the hearts and minds of every freedom-loving Vietnamese person across the world, even inside Vietnam today.

South Vietnam has become a symbol of what it means to be truly Vietnamese in the modern era: smart, hardworking, brave, loyal, and living with integrity. These are the things that the Republic of Vietnam stood for, and these are the type of people who hail from its origins and carry on its legacy. The yellow flag of freedom represents our roots as people of a proud and honorable nation, and reminds us of our undying love for independence and democracy.

In all of this, we cannot forget our veterans. The troops that sacrificed themselves, paying the ultimate price both physically and mentally to defend the ideals of the Republic and keep the people safe, their sacrifice must never be forgotten.

To the soldiers of South Vietnam, the soldiers of the United States, and soldiers of the allied nations who gave their lives to defend freedom in Vietnam, we thank you, for everything.

This is a tribute to the nation of South Vietnam, and all the brave men and women who fought to defend the country and its ideals. This is for you.

Thank you.