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pinboy3niner

(53,339 posts)
125. The men with whom I served in Vietnam didn't earn the Medal of Honor
Mon Jul 18, 2016, 10:47 PM
Jul 2016

they were just ordinary Army grunts, draftees and enlistees, doing what they had to do and just trying to make it home. Their bravery in combat went mostly unremarked and unrecognized.

Except to those of us who were with them. Some may have earned Bronzes, and fewer were awarded Silvers. But many deserving soldiers went unrewarded for their heroism in battle. I received a valorous decoration probably just because I was an officer.

My Battalion Commander and his Executive Officer came to see me at the evac hospital after I was wounded, and the Colonel said he would make sure I was recognized. My face was ballooned out horribly from a head wound and swathed in bandages. and I had a trache tube so I couldn't talk. So I just gave them a thumbs-up and those two old warriors burst into tears and fled the room.

But they gave me a medal.

Death - and lot's of it...nt jonno99 Jul 2016 #1
The North Vietnamese were brutal rulers of the South and thousands in the South were killed. tonyt53 Jul 2016 #2
How many did we kill or maim in Vietnam? n/t malaise Jul 2016 #3
Estimates vary but a conservative estimate is one million in southeast KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #5
Thanks KingCharlemagne malaise Jul 2016 #6
Estimates are all over the place, but I'd say 500K-750K. BUT that wasn't your original question tonyt53 Jul 2016 #8
The "thousands in the South" to whom you refer collaborated with the KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #7
Just like the Taliban, ISIS and more than a few in Central and South America malaise Jul 2016 #9
Since 1898, the U.S. has had a really shitty record in KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #10
The thing is we don't have friends on any side malaise Jul 2016 #14
With all due respect, my friend, your comment is KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #16
Some learn and some don't malaise Jul 2016 #20
Refreshing to read someone who is historically literate. Thank you. Trust Buster Jul 2016 #53
Where did you come up with that nonsense about Vietnam stopping that genocide? tonyt53 Jul 2016 #11
FFS, dude, its history. Who do you think stopped the KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #12
Open a book n/t malaise Jul 2016 #21
Sorry, to break it to you, but you are wrong. tonyt53 Jul 2016 #27
Cuckoo? JanMichael Jul 2016 #56
Were you even alive then? Crunchy Frog Jul 2016 #71
What? Vietnam took over the country Bradical79 Jul 2016 #83
What was the Vietnamese motivation for invading Kampuchea? Marengo Jul 2016 #13
IDK. Humanitarian, maybe? I don't read Vietnamese and so can only rely upon KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #30
Probably both ideological and border security. David__77 Jul 2016 #52
They were attacked Bradical79 Jul 2016 #84
Multiple attacks from Cambodia along the frontier in 1977 and 1978 . . . hatrack Jul 2016 #149
It was not our business, so why did we go in? What resources were we wanting to steal larkrake Jul 2016 #31
and what would have happened if the 1956 nationwide elections had been allowed to proceed Warren DeMontague Jul 2016 #62
He is still revered throughout Vietnam as Bác Hồ (Uncle Ho). nt pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #63
We fundamentally misunderstood that situation from the get-go. Warren DeMontague Jul 2016 #64
WADR, we didn't misunderstand. we understood PERFECTLY, Gabi Hayes Jul 2016 #67
Point taken. Warren DeMontague Jul 2016 #75
SMH Mr Dixon Jul 2016 #154
What's your point? nt Dreamer Tatum Jul 2016 #4
what are you wanting to know, specifically? Javaman Jul 2016 #15
Bro in a sense it is a rhetorical question malaise Jul 2016 #18
LBJ wanted OUT of Vietnam, but he was afraid of being labeled as the president who lost the war, tblue37 Jul 2016 #106
And eventually they still have to withdraw malaise Jul 2016 #108
Recent bestseller "The Sympathizer" explains this very well. Basic LA Jul 2016 #17
Thanks Basic LA malaise Jul 2016 #19
NBA troops came South and took over. AngryAmish Jul 2016 #22
NBA? pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #24
Damn autocorrect.... AngryAmish Jul 2016 #26
ROTFLMAO. Were General Giap the coach, I have little doubt they would KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #29
He'd have them dribbling across the DMZ and all the way downtown to Saigon pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #37
Well to be fair, we were in the Final Four pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #45
Vietnam... you mean the war that LBJ lied the country into with his Gulf of Tonkin bullshit? cherokeeprogressive Jul 2016 #23
Same one malaise Jul 2016 #25
LBJ's name should forever be tied to The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which was later repealed. cherokeeprogressive Jul 2016 #65
I know more than a few persons who were victims malaise Jul 2016 #91
Lt. Col. Peter Dewey, a U.S. Army killed in Vietnam Sept. 25, 1945. Agnosticsherbet Jul 2016 #126
Um... Johnson didn't START it, but he never passed up an opportunity to make a buck. cherokeeprogressive Jul 2016 #130
Seems to me that it's a tourist destination now and they sell The_Casual_Observer Jul 2016 #28
I made 3 month-long trips there in the '90s pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #32
I have some Vietnamese students this term and last and I must say they are the KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #33
hold on a sec- You teach people? snooper2 Jul 2016 #34
Home court advantage, just like the NBA. :) ... pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #35
LOL. Now THAT is funny! :) - nt KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #36
That's actually common banter among vets. :) pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #38
Thanks to everyone contributing with comments. GOLGO 13 Jul 2016 #39
Hi there malaise Jul 2016 #40
Some didn't run pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #41
I know bro malaise Jul 2016 #42
It never goes away--on our side or on theirs pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #43
My world - Imagine malaise Jul 2016 #44
The NVA soldier who shot me was killed by my men pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #46
It's called survival in a war theater malaise Jul 2016 #48
In war, killing the enemy not only means your survival pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #49
Precisely malaise Jul 2016 #58
You might enjoy a poem by Thomas Hardy called "The Man He Killed": KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #51
That's a good one pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #57
Wow, thats a hell of a story. I hope you are writing about it KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #59
I was trained in journalism but I never wanted to write an autobiography pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #61
I will check them out post haste. I still shudder when I consider KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #73
<3 mahina Jul 2016 #78
<3 back pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #81
Yep mahina Jul 2016 #87
Bookmarked malaise Jul 2016 #102
I just read it.. Stunning.. pangaia Jul 2016 #105
What a powerful moment to have experienced. GOLGO 13 Jul 2016 #79
I had other powerful experiences there, but this one was at the top pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #86
In tears reading you on this thread. Can't write more. nt msanthrope Jul 2016 #107
Our tears open hearts and bring us together pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #111
+Infinity! - nt KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #145
Actually you have me in tears malaise Jul 2016 #97
It was a profound experience--both the war and the aftermath pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #114
watched the medal of honor ceremony this morning malaise Jul 2016 #115
A roommate from training was MoH posthumous pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #116
R.I.P. Steve malaise Jul 2016 #117
We all experience losses in life pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #119
I agree malaise Jul 2016 #120
I learned only many years later that my first radioman killed himself in traffic pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #123
The men with whom I served in Vietnam didn't earn the Medal of Honor pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #125
Wow malaise Jul 2016 #133
It was even worse for the montenegrins Bernielover357743 Jul 2016 #66
Technical Note: I think you mean the "Montagnards" (French word for KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #72
You mean it's safe to say they weren't with the NBA? pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #80
LOL. I think they were with the ABA :) - nt KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #96
Yes malaise Jul 2016 #70
my world..... Gabi Hayes Jul 2016 #68
Nice malaise Jul 2016 #104
As do I know one. pangaia Jul 2016 #103
what a waste of life onethatcares Jul 2016 #47
It always turns out to be a waste of lives malaise Jul 2016 #50
What is "it"? And would "it" include defeating Nazism? WinkyDink Jul 2016 #113
Self-serving interventionism, of course. ronnie624 Jul 2016 #132
Ironically, Viet Nam explains a lot of problems in France today. Trust Buster Jul 2016 #54
Technical Note: the Brits get top billing in Iraq, up until 1945. Sykes-Picot (1922) KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #74
Yes, it's interesting. I've been researching Vietnam Bradical79 Jul 2016 #85
Even though it was before Vietnam 1939 Jul 2016 #89
The Vietnamese were free to determine their own future, free of colonial domination. guillaumeb Jul 2016 #55
Hundreds of thousands died either in reeducation camps or fleeing Vietnam. NuclearDem Jul 2016 #60
put down the Conservapedia, and call us when you get back from Gabi Hayes Jul 2016 #69
It all happened. NuclearDem Jul 2016 #82
We had no business being there in the first place. Warren DeMontague Jul 2016 #88
No. "It" didn't. People like you are the principal reason I swing KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #93
Instead of learning any good lessons, we kept one of the worst - politicians deciding wars and not Rex Jul 2016 #76
Not sure I follow. Could you please elaborate? - nt KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #92
The many people who helped us were imprisoned under horrendous circumstances, or killed. mahina Jul 2016 #77
One person's 'help' is another person's 'collaborate.' - nt KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #95
Seems so. They were my father's friends and family when he was a Ranger with the Jarais. mahina Jul 2016 #98
I hear you, sister pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #109
A young visiting Vietnamese priest celebrated mass at my parish yesterday. phasma ex machina Jul 2016 #128
O'Brien's 'The Things They Carried' was by far the best novel about the war pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #131
I had no idea. mahina Jul 2016 #153
Point being? Act_of_Reparation Jul 2016 #110
Believe it or not, the phenomenon did not begin with Vietnam. After World War II, KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #122
Irrelevant. Act_of_Reparation Jul 2016 #134
Meta-relevant actually. Had the French not brutally colonized Vietnam for KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #146
Ethics. Act_of_Reparation Jul 2016 #147
History. KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #148
On the contrary, I do. Act_of_Reparation Jul 2016 #150
Just as I know that turning to Kant for ethical instruction is ill-advised, if KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #151
I am not ignoring the distinction at all. Act_of_Reparation Jul 2016 #152
They had a war with the Khmer Rouge, and then China muriel_volestrangler Jul 2016 #90
There are many possible answers to your question depending on which facet you concentrate stevenleser Jul 2016 #94
they eventually started making our sneakers for 50 cents a a day? yurbud Jul 2016 #99
Read KILL ANYTHING THAT MOVES by Jeremy Scahill and only the Khmer Rouge will sound worse than our yurbud Jul 2016 #100
human rights and the lives of innocents are at best excuses for our foreign policy yurbud Jul 2016 #101
"ran"?????? How about "finally left, in whatever way we could, form this illegal & undeclared war"? WinkyDink Jul 2016 #112
I have a very good anti-war friend who served with CIA there in the early years pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #118
We didn't run, they beat us they won their country back. n/t sylvanus Jul 2016 #121
They didn't beat the U.S.forces militarily pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #124
Sorry, You won the battles, and lost the war. They got their country unified. sylvanus Jul 2016 #135
Your post presupposes that Westmoreland's strategy of attrition might have KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #136
You appear to confuse the North's fanaticism with the nationalism of the VietNamese Albertoo Jul 2016 #138
Do you have the slightest idea what happened during Tet '68? - nt KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #139
Yes. Terrorism by North VN commandos aided by their very few supporters in the South Albertoo Jul 2016 #142
OMG! "Terrorism"??? Really???? Have you no sense of KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #144
Running away is easier than to show that North VietNam was not a fanatical dictatorship Albertoo Jul 2016 #155
After the North imposed its totalitarianism, the country became an economic backwater Albertoo Jul 2016 #127
Not to mention that many people were released after re-ed camp pinboy3niner Jul 2016 #129
Precisely malaise Jul 2016 #140
Wow. So cool. Released? Why had they been in reeducation in the first place? Albertoo Jul 2016 #143
So you agree with Reagan that Vietnam was a "noble cause," do you? Ever KingCharlemagne Jul 2016 #137
I simply note that the South VietNamese did not want Communism Albertoo Jul 2016 #141
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