Category: Vietnam War

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Education Milwaukee Reading Vietnam War

Latest read: They Marched into Sunlight

This book has been very difficult to finish. Not for the number of pages nor a wandering eye. They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967 has change my understanding about the war in Vietnam in the same way Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War due to the release of the Pentagon Papers.  This book brings home the war to the campus of UW-Madison and the south side of Milwaukee.  Half the book is about the campus antiwar movement and the Dow Chemical riot on the same weekend two sons from Milwaukee Wisconsin died in an ambush at Ong Thanh.
Our country is approaching the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. Enough time has passed to acknowledge tragic mistakes. What makes this very sensitive is the number of Americans who died in a war we know was ‘lost’ even before US soldiers first stepped foot at Da Nang in 1965.

The worst part is that we learned of tremendous loss of life due to poor intelligence and leadership.

Our country has never been able to wrap this around the bigger issue of our long standing efforts in Vietnam that began at the close of World War II.

Must admit I feel a bit numb after reading half of the Pentagon Papers.  Reading They Marched Into Sunlight is truly disheartening.  I am now more determined than ever to finish all 7,000+ pages of the Pentagon Papers before the end of the year.

The focus at UW-Madison as described in my earlier post showed our nation was in public turmoil well before the Tet Offensive. Can you imagine today a selected minority (of privileged students) who could avoid serving by going to college while those poor middle class sons went to fight and die in Vietnam?

The closing chapters of They Marched Into Sunlight leave me (again) frustrated by 40 years of reflection. Why on earth did the military approach the enemy around Lai Khe in the same way after three consecutive skirmishes? And why –– why after bombing the area the night before Alpha and Delta companies headed out, did the military refuse to provide mortar fire when requested?  The ambush was well underway. The Silver Star awarded to Major General John H. Hay, payment to the Michelin tire and rubber company for every tree damaged on their plantations and finally the burial of Danny Sikorski at St. Adelbert’s Cemetery in Milwaukee.

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Education Reading Vietnam War

Latest read: Matterhorn

Tonight I have just finished reading Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War and have been just amazed at how this book has strengthened my understanding of the toll of war has on American soldiers.

matterhorn

There seems to be a strength in Matterhorn about the unique lives of soldiers facing death.  Author Karl Marlantes served honorably in Vietnam and it proves to be the difference.

This is a story in the footsteps of Eugene Sledge’s With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa and Robert Leckie: Helmet for My Pillow.  These two books were the basis for HBO’s The Pacific series. Matterhorn now sits with Philip Caputo’s A Rumor of War and Michael Herr’s Dispatches as must-read books about Vietnam.

As I continue reading The Pentagon Papers I am reminded of casualty reports, focusing on body counts as a way to gauge of victory.  Marlantes brings this to life.  It was all a lie. The soldiers knew it all too well.

Marlantes deserves all recognition surrounding this work.  The riveting story of a US soldier stationed along an ambush line mauled to death by a tiger was just as appalling as the fragging of an officer in the final pages.

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Education Vietnam War

Intrepidity

The Medal of Honor was bestowed posthumously upon Leslie H. Sabo Jr. who served our country honorably during the war in Vietnam.

They say that a man’s true character is revealed in the heat of battle. History teaches us there are acts of selfless heroism in battle that only certain people are capable of accomplishing.  What instinct compels someone to jeopardize their own life?There is no way to measure true heroism under harrowing enemy fire. It certainly cannot be taught. However at the absolute apex of battle a rare selflessness emerges.  I can only surmise seeing his fellow brothers dead, wounded or at great risk of being killed revealed this trait.

There is a very special bond between men who face death in battle. Leslie H. Sabo’s actions saved the lives of his brothers while pinned down under overwhelming hostile fire. Intrepidity — a very seldom used word to describe “resolute courageousness.” The Medal of Honor was justly bestowed posthumously upon Leslie H. Sabo Jr.

Does time diminish his sacrifice more than 40 years ago? Read the description of his last moments of his life and pause to not just look — but to see photographs of him in his childhood with his family, his wedding day and with his brothers in Vietnam.  As I, you may be moved to tears recognizing today how especially devastating his loss has been for his wife, his family, his brothers in arms and our country.

I find his true selfless heroism deeply moving.

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Education Reading Vietnam War

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War

After reading 3,500ish pages I reached a breaking point. I set aside the remaining volumes of  the Pentagon Papers and began reading Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War.
matterhornMuch to my surprise this book has been very highly recommended. As I have been reading each volume of the Pentagon Papers it has become quite clear that the politics of war is true insanity.

Sebastian Junger in the New York Times wrote “one of the most profound and devastating novels ever to come out of Vietnam—or any war.”

And Mark Bowden who wrote Black Hawk Down commented “(it is) so authentic, so moving and so intense, so relentlessly dramatic, that there were times I wasn’t sure I could stand to turn the page…There have been some very good novels about the Vietnam War, but Matterhorn is the first great one, and I doubt it will ever be surpassed.”

What struck me in The Matterhorn that has been echoing in my mind about the Pentagon Papers was the intentional misleading of enemy killed.  At the end of the third chapter a firefight with canon fire killed two NVA soldiers. However as author Karl Marlantes described in the post battle briefing the number of enemy dead was increased as it was sent further up the chain of command.

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Education Reading Vietnam War

2011 Book of the Year: Pentagon Papers

My 2011 Book of the Year: Pentagon Papers. I’m actually still reading the study known as  “United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense” or as history refers has always called it — The Pentagon Papers.

The study is a 47 volume, 7,000+ page report regarding the US involvement in Vietnam’s long civil war.  This is a long deeply engaging read of organizational failure at the highest levels of the military and government.  So many American lives were lost for a policy that was doomed from the beginning.  This book will painfully show that the brightest and smartest RAND analysts knew it, senior military and policy advisors knew it and so did the White House.

The study was commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967.  And for “newly released” material (in 2011) it provides the most horrific, fascinating and astounding read of our policy and warfare strategy under a total of four Presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. However the war continued through both Johnson and Nixon administrations finally ending under President Gerald Ford in 1975.

The Vietnam War was the longest 20th century war in American history.  The study covers a 25-year military engagement in Vietnam while US political interests and efforts actually developed before the end of World War II and continued until the fall of Saigon in 1975.  Take a step back and realize it was a 30 year losing commitment.

Even today in 2012 its amazing to learn multiple volumes of this 1967 study remained classified for exactly 40 years until released (fully redacted) by the National Archives in June 2011.

As important as this study is for understanding our role in the world over a generation, it will regrettably open old wounds. We finally have full access to read the carelessness of our decision makers (both military and Presidential) that cost the lives of over 53,000 American soldiers.  How horrific would these numbers be viewed today?

So why isn’t this “book” listed with any 2011 best sellers?  It was sure greeted with much fanfare and press coverage the day the US National Archives released the study.

IMHO today’s twitter-focused society cannot read a 7,000+ page study. Sorry to be so blunt. American culture today — we are a nation of ‘skimmers’ due to the vast amounts of data available and our busy lifestyle, we simply do not have the time to read such lengthly books.  We only seek to quickly skim headlines in print, online and while mobile.

And regarding war, I’m afraid here (yet again) is where the lessons of history are lost.

40 years also makes another amazing difference — my ability to hold all 47 volumes on an iPad. As of January I’m just past page 3,500.