The Vietnam War Edition
All wars result in myths, but in terms of recent, that is post World War Two wars, the Vietnam War has more than its fair share.
I've written here about the Vietnam War before, including my view that its more properly viewed as a campaign in the Cold War. And I've written about it even on this thread before. Nonetheless, and with some trepidation, I'm writing about it here again today, even though I may be upsetting a few folks by doing so.
Starting right of with the most likely to offend item, a persistent story about the Vietnam War is that of veterans returning from Asia and being spat upon at the airport. The story is extremely common, and its even repeated by veterans in documentaries. It's also largely a myth.
I can't say its a complete myth. B. G. Burkett, in his book Stolen Valor, reports that he could find about three or so incidents of it occurring, if I recall correctly. But in doing so, he reports the story as a myth. The reason for that is that such incidents were exceedingly rare. It happened at least a few times, but only a very few times. It was not the norm.
While on myths, although this one could apply to any American war for over a century, most US troops who served in Vietnam were not combat troops.
The
movies have left us with a persistent idea that all American troops in
Vietnam were infantrymen and their experience there was something like
that depicted in Platoon. Granted, we did send a lot of combat troops
to Vietnam, but most of them were not. In some odd way, what's
portrayed in a film like Good Morning Vietnam is more accurate for most
U.S. servicemen who served there than Platoon. Now, all of Vietnam was
dangerous, but it isn't the case that most US troops were in the bush
all the time looking for the VC. In the later stages of the war the US
effort came to be very heavily dominated by service troops as the
Vietnamization program increasingly relied upon the Army of the Republic
of Vietnam to do the fighting.
Another myth of the war which is widely accepted is that getting into it was an American idea and we somehow were uniquely there. That's flatly incorrect.
Most people know that the French fought in Indochina before we did. A few are aware that the French withdrawal came amazingly close to our own first presence, but few seem to appreciate the extent to which it was an allied effort. Numerous other nations contributed combat forces to the war, including Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea. A variety of nations sent medical support forces, including Spain and, in a naval contribution, Canada.. Support for operations came from neighboring Thailand. it was more international than people suppose. Late during the war there were more South Korean troops fighting in Vietnam than there were American troops..
Even those who realize that are usually unaware that it was Australia, not the United States, that really pushed for intervention in the war early on. Australia urged the United States to intervene, with the promise to contribute, but when it appeared the United States would not, Australia indicated it might go it alone, which caused the US to take more interest. Ironically its been a persistent myth in Australia that the US got Australia involved in the war, when in fact the early interest was stronger on the part of Australia.
There's also little appreciation that we were not defeated in the field, but rather the opposite occurred. This myth arose during the war when the American public became convinced that we were stuck in a quagmire. In fact, the American effort in the war was amazingly successful in terms of field success, if not in terms of causing South Vietnamese political reform. By 1968 the North Vietnamese regarded themselves as facing defeat and the Tet Offensive was launched in desperation. It was a military failure. The U.S. military appreciated that and Westmoreland urged for expanding the war to a defeated North Vietnam. Rather than do that, the decision was made to turn ground combat over to an increasingly effective South Vietnamese army. By late war the US effort was, as noted, nearly all support. The South Vietnamese required American air support, however, and our refusal to supply it in the face of the North Vietnamese 1975 invasion doomed South Vietnam to defeat.
All wars result in myths, but in terms of recent, that is post World War Two wars, the Vietnam War has more than its fair share.
I've written here about the Vietnam War before, including my view that its more properly viewed as a campaign in the Cold War. And I've written about it even on this thread before. Nonetheless, and with some trepidation, I'm writing about it here again today, even though I may be upsetting a few folks by doing so.
Starting right of with the most likely to offend item, a persistent story about the Vietnam War is that of veterans returning from Asia and being spat upon at the airport. The story is extremely common, and its even repeated by veterans in documentaries. It's also largely a myth.
I can't say its a complete myth. B. G. Burkett, in his book Stolen Valor, reports that he could find about three or so incidents of it occurring, if I recall correctly. But in doing so, he reports the story as a myth. The reason for that is that such incidents were exceedingly rare. It happened at least a few times, but only a very few times. It was not the norm.
While on myths, although this one could apply to any American war for over a century, most US troops who served in Vietnam were not combat troops.
Infantrymen in the field. Most US troops were not combat infantryman in the war, although obviously quite a few were.
Another myth of the war which is widely accepted is that getting into it was an American idea and we somehow were uniquely there. That's flatly incorrect.
Most people know that the French fought in Indochina before we did. A few are aware that the French withdrawal came amazingly close to our own first presence, but few seem to appreciate the extent to which it was an allied effort. Numerous other nations contributed combat forces to the war, including Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea. A variety of nations sent medical support forces, including Spain and, in a naval contribution, Canada.. Support for operations came from neighboring Thailand. it was more international than people suppose. Late during the war there were more South Korean troops fighting in Vietnam than there were American troops..
Even those who realize that are usually unaware that it was Australia, not the United States, that really pushed for intervention in the war early on. Australia urged the United States to intervene, with the promise to contribute, but when it appeared the United States would not, Australia indicated it might go it alone, which caused the US to take more interest. Ironically its been a persistent myth in Australia that the US got Australia involved in the war, when in fact the early interest was stronger on the part of Australia.
There's also little appreciation that we were not defeated in the field, but rather the opposite occurred. This myth arose during the war when the American public became convinced that we were stuck in a quagmire. In fact, the American effort in the war was amazingly successful in terms of field success, if not in terms of causing South Vietnamese political reform. By 1968 the North Vietnamese regarded themselves as facing defeat and the Tet Offensive was launched in desperation. It was a military failure. The U.S. military appreciated that and Westmoreland urged for expanding the war to a defeated North Vietnam. Rather than do that, the decision was made to turn ground combat over to an increasingly effective South Vietnamese army. By late war the US effort was, as noted, nearly all support. The South Vietnamese required American air support, however, and our refusal to supply it in the face of the North Vietnamese 1975 invasion doomed South Vietnam to defeat.
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