University of Nebraska Kearney - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Kearney, NE)

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and death everyday, be pulled up and be in Mom’s kitchen eating home-cooked meals in less than a week. They might not be sure how to conduct themselves because the soldiers had learned to live in a life and death situation everyday.” Eventually, the Vietnam veterans re- ceived recognition for their service in Southeast Asia through the erection of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington, D.C. Hamilton felt the Viet- nam veteran was properly recognized by his people and government but it was too late. ,ll personally feel the memorial is right and appropriate but it was just too darned late,” he said. “The American people and govern- ment have waited too long to say, ‘Hey American Gl, we called on you and you did what you were supposed to do and we appreciate that.’ That should have been said immediately in 73, but it wasn’t because there was too much bit- terness in the country.” fare. Vietnam was referred to as “Indo- china” until 1940 when the Vietnamese people decided to change the name. “Viet” is the name of a tribe that mi- grated from China into what we know as Vietnam, Tonthat said. After World War II, a conflict arose between nationalists forces. These forces sought to liberate Vietnam from France and Japan. Vietnam had been a French colony since approximately 1800 and Japan only reigned over a section of Vietnam for a few months after World War II, he said. Ho Chi Minh led one of the nation- alists factions against Japan. Tonthat said Minh would have been a good na- tionalist leader if the West had support- ed him. “He went to France, England and America and they wouldn’t support him in his movement for independence in Vietnam,” he said. “Moscow offered to help and then Minh became commu- nist.” £ £ he American people and government have waited too long to say, ‘Hey American Gl, we called on you and you did what you were supposed to do and we appreciate that!’ ” — Hamilton He believes Minh did a great dis- service to the Vietnamese people. “If Minh would have really loved the coun- try, he would have placed the national in- terest over his party interest,” Tonthat said, “If Minh would have left the scene, leaving the forces to fight for nationalis- tic reasons, we would have been inde- pendent a long time ago. We would not have suffered for 29 years struggling for independence.” Tonthat: Broken Homeland America was doomed when it arrived in Vietnam! Phu Tonthat, a Ha- noi native and KSC political science professor, said American forces had lost the war before it began because of the North Vietnamese’s strong na- tionalistic convictions and guerilla war- The French left Indo-China and from 1955- 63 there was a period of tran- quility. During this era the com- munists became active in South Vietnam, he said. — Tonthat “The com- munists were trying to create trouble and insecurity in the rural areas,” Ton- that explained. “The war began when £ £ hey (Vietcong) were I willing to sacrifice a I whole generation ... They were highly motivated and na- tionalistic, and willing to die for the independence of the country. ” Tonthat was born and raised in the northern city of Hanoi which is now the capital of Vietnam. Following high school, he left for France to attend col- lege. After college, he was drafted into the French Army and served as a major. Tonthat was assigned to the Vietnam- ese Mission as a foreign service officer because of his background knowledge in foreign service he received in college. Tonthat said he was assigned to many diplomatic missions during his military career. In 1964, Tonthat left Vietnam once again and came to New York to work as a foreign service officer. He decid- ed to resign as a foreign service officer and further his education at the University of Denver where he earned his Ph.D. in politi- cal science in 1969. In 1970, he packed his bags once again and came to KSC. Phu Tonthat the first American troops landed in Viet- nam.” Tonthat said he appreciated the United States' support in South Viet- nam. “My family and I were very much against the communists,” he said. “Communists killed my uncle. He didn’t do anything against the people or coun- try but he was a rich man so they killed him and confiscated his property. “We sided with the French, who were allies to the Americans,” he contin- ued. “We believed we could gain inde- pendence without such large sacrifices. We knew France and the United States would not support a communist move- ment.” The Vietcong were nationalists who joined the North Vietnamese forces. “It was a tool used by the commun- ists in their war efforts against South Vietnam,” Tonthat said. “Many Ameri- can newspapers didn’t believe this was a communist organization but they be- lieved the Vietcong were of true national- ist elements who came together to fight for independence.” He said the communists couldn’t defeat the United States militarily. “They couldn't defeat the United States on the battlefield,” Tonthat said. “The com- munists said they would defeat the United States on their college campuses and American streets. They were right.” The United States became very weary of the Vietnam conflict and there- fore gave in to the communists, he said. Tonthat added that another reason for the United States’ loss in Vietnam was that Americans weren’t prepared to fight a guerilla war. “Guerillas were working alongside Americans within American compounds,” he said. He recalled when he served as a soldier in the French Army. “The French continued 21

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Vie tn a m continued which were mountainous — pleasant during the day but rather cool at night. Vietnam differed from World War II because of the introduction of the heli-’ copter, on location news media and modern telecommunications and the 12- month tour for the soldier, he said. Q £ he United States could have certainly defeated North Viet- nam had the military been granted to annihilate them. ” — Hamilton If a soldier were severely wounded during combat in the deep jungle, a heli- copter could be radioed to fly in, pick up the wounded soldier and fly him back to a hospital for treatment, he explained. The total time from when the soldier was injured until he reached the hospital could be 15-20 minutes, and his life was saved. Hamilton said the same injured soldier in World War II would have died because he could not have received the proper medical attention. Hamilton blames the military struc- ture for the fall of Saigon. “South Viet- namese armies and air forces didn't do their job, he said. “They fell back and allowed the communists to gain the up- per hand. Panic set in and all the people wanted to do was flee the North Viet- namese. The military discipline broke down and there were more desertions on the South Vietnamese side, so the communists took over in an unhindered, reasonably easy fashion. He believes the communist take- over could not have been prevented. The South Vietnamese people were ru- ral people, unable to stand against an or- ganized, concerted movement from the North Vietnamese. The United States only prolonged the takeover about 15 years, Hamilton said. The United States could have cer- tainly defeated North Vietnam, had the military been granted to annihilate them,” he said. “The American soldier and his machinery were far superior to the North Vietnamese soldier, his weap- onry and his army.” Even though the South Vietnamese wanted to maintain their freedom, they were not industrialized enough nor the type of people who were ready to stand up and win the conflict, he said. “They believed in what we were try- ing to do for them but it was an effort in vain because they weren't ready to han- dle it when we gave the conflict back to them, he continued. “The only way to win was to take the war out of South Vietnam and move it into North Vietnam. We kept the war in South Vietnam and only made occasional bombings in North Vietnam. The Chinese told the United States not to invade North Vietnam or they would enter the war in a big way, he said. Because we had the same prob- lem in the Korean conflict, and because it was unpopular with the American pub- lic, the United States chose not to invade and demolish North Vietnam. In Hamilton's opinion, when the United States withdrew from South Viet- nam, they pulled the plug and left the South Vietnam- ese to be washed down the drain. Myself and all the other offi- cers who left dur- ing that time- frame agreed that within one to two years, South Vietnam would dissolve,” he concluded. “The South Vietnamese military wasn't prepared to defend the country without the United States because the civilians were not much of a force to stop the North Viet- namese. The U.S. political leadership knew very well they were pulling the plug on the country. There is no doubt in Hamilton's mind that the Vietnam Conflict could have been won had the American public and its government fully supported the effort. Hamilton: Yankees' Homecoming Some fled to Canada. Others at- tended college. Johnny went to war! Little 18-year-old Johnny Jones from Anytown, USA might have been the only kid in his neighborhood to go to Vietnam because some divided up and went to Canada while others went to col- lege, Hamilton said. “When Johnny came back, he was alienated from his hometown and soci- ety because he had experienced tre- mendous things that were different from what his friends had experienced, he said. “His eyes had been opened to other cultures and places in the world, he added. “He was better educated in the school of hard knocks, real experiences and was a better-rounded person. John- ny had a better perspective on how life and death really are in the world, and what’s important in life. “None of Johnny's buddies had those perspectives. He found himself not sharing the same things in common with his friends and he may have been gone only a brief year or two. Johnny had lost many of his friends just due to a brief split in their directions, Hamilton said. The Vietnam Conflict drafted some people while it left others untouched, he said. People got away with fleeing the country and evading the draft. Large numbers had deferments and the ser- vice ended up with a poor cross sec- tion. He explained that the primary ene- my was the lack of public support from the United States. “It was de- moralizing to the soldiers in Viet- nam to be told that they were serving in what was considered a worthless cause, Hamilton said. The country wasn’t committed to the effort, he continued. It wasn't be- hind its sons and daughters over there. The Vietnam veteran became the object of public scorn because of the war. The veteran of World War II was a hero; he met his country's call and had the total nation behind him. The country supported rationing and everything that went along with the war effort here at home. Those guys did their best and were welcomed home as heroes. Hamilton said the news media had a dramatic effect on the public’s attitude toward the Vietnam Conflict. The media can be viewed from two perspectives. One view is that the media did its job and did it reasonably well by reporting what was happening so the American public could make up Its own mind on how to perceive Vietnam, he said. The other view sees the media los- ing its sense of loyalty to the U.S. gov- ernment, military and its soldiers. It made the conflict look as bad as possi- ble and put a bad taste in the mouth of the American public, he said. When America could come home and watch Johnny get shot on TV. that has a great deal of impact on people, He said. Hamilton said modern transporta- tion also played a role making Vietnam different from previous conflicts. Soldiers could be sitting home in Mom's kitchen eating apple pie on Wednesday and could be in Vietnam on Saturday, he said. On Monday they could be involved in a firefight with the enemy. This could all happen within a week. It's very hard for a person's men- tality to accept and adjust to it. The reverse could happen. They could spend a year over there, facing life I t was demoralizing to the soldiers in Vietnam to be told that they were serving in what was consid- ered a worthless cause. ” — Hamilton 20

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Vietnam continued taught us all the functions but they never taught us what to do when the commun- ists jumped out of a hole two or three feet in front of us, Tonthat said. The North Vietnamese would not have been able to defeat France or the United States without military and finan- cial assistance and training from China. “Many of the enemy’s pilots were train- ed in China, he said. The Vietcong were determined to win because they knew if they held on long enough, they would be victorious. “They were willing to sacrifice a whole generation on behalf of the next generation,’’ Tonthat said. “They were highly motivated and nationalistic, and willing to die for the independence of the country.” Tonthat believes the United States could not have won the Vietnam conflict even if they had been allowed to invade and annihilate North Vietnam. “Even with a half million American troops and two and a half million South Vietnamese troops, there wasn’t an inch of ground in South Vietnam that was safe,” he said. He attributes the danger to Vietcong infilitration within the Ameri- can and South Vietnamese forces. The Chinese considered western forces to be “paper tigers” which meant Westerners had strong fronts but could be worn down by their adversary, he said. The United States felt their conven- tional fronts were strong enough to overpower China’s doctrine of guerilla warfare. Tonthat said the Vietnamese people did not want their country to be the testing ground of these two opposed doctrines. He explained that the Vietnam con- flict was a civil war between the North and South. Tonthat explained, “By day, a village might be controlled by Saigon and, at night, the communists might con- trol the area. Both sides drafted soldiers from the same villages, and in some cases, the same family.” L C hey couldn’t defeat the United States on I the battlefield. The communists said they would de- feat the United States on their col- lege campuses and American streets. They were right. ” — Tonthat Tonthat concluded that he is sorry for all those he knew in Vietnam who now live under the communist regime but he appreciates the United States’ efforts on behalf of the South Vietnam- ese. Magstadt: Politics and Vietnam Political constraints on the U.S. mili- tary and protest from the American pub- lic played a large role in the outcome of the Vietnam Conflict, according to KSC Political Science W Department Chair- man Thomas Mag- stadt. There were constraints on the military. U.S. politi- cal leaders wanted to contain the con- flict in Vietnam. They feared the conflict could es- calate into a direct confrontation with the Soviet Union or China. “We were defeated militarily be- cause we couldn’t use the military means we had at our disposal,” Mag- stadt said. Because the United States is a democratic society, public opinion plays a large role in decision-making. The pub- lic provides funds for Congress to allo- cate and when the public no longer supports a war, funding is cut off, he said. “Domestic politics played a key role in the outcome of Vietnam,” he explain- ed. There was a ready-made formula for massive protest because those fighting the war would be college age. “There were several universities lo- cated near Washington, D.C.,” he said. “When the protest really got going, you had an army of college students demon- strating in and around the Capital. I was there and I saw tremendous demonstra- tions. “Public pressure and the fact that the war dragged on were two primary reasons for the United States' withdraw- al from Vietnam,” Magstadt continued. “If it had been a quick war, that would have been one thing, but a prolonged war is quite another thing. 1 The war was, in a sense, lost in the United States, he said. “Democratic societies operate at a distinct disadvan- tage in a contest against dictatorships.” Magstadt said a dictator can move much more quickly when it comes to decision- making. The United States opposed a com- munist regime and therefore backed South Vietnam. The Vietnam Conflict grew through a series of stages, he said. “Eisenhower said that the United States would help the South Vietnamese help themselves,” he explained. “Kennedy committed military advisers e tend to define that contest as though it were a super power contest. We see it as the United States versus the Soviet Union, us- ing Vietnam as the battlefield. It was actually a civil war between the North and South. ” — Magstadt but they weren’t considered combat troops. Johnson ordered the bombing of the North. “Because we had bombers over there, we had to protect the perimeters around the bases. To protect the bases and pilots, it takes infantry. The Army and Air Force were both in- volved in de- fense. A few skir- mishes arose, and by 1968, we were committed and had a half a million troops over there.” Magstadt said it would be difficult to place a finger on any one reason for the involvement in South United States’ Vietnam. There were a variety of rationale and explanations for the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. One of the rea- sons was keeping Vietnam free of com- munism, he said. Maintaining the commitment to the United States’ allies was another rea- son. Because France was the United States’ ally, the United States could not withdraw from South Vietnam without losing credibility with France, he explain- ed. There was also a theory called the domino theory. By pre- venting the North from conquering the South, the rest of Southeast Asia would be saved from communism, Magstadt said. “There was the belief that if South Vietnam fell, there would be a series of falling dominoes in which even- tually communism would rule the entire area,” he said. “In retrospect, there was some va- lidity to that theory, although it was wide- ly dismissed at the time. Shortly after South Vietnam fell, Cambodia and Loas fell.” The Vietcong, North Vietnamese sympathizers, were communists but they were also nationalists, Magstadt said. “We seemed to have addressed the problem as if it were international com- munism when, in fact, it was national communism,” he said. “It was a nation- alist movement that was inspired by a Thomas Magstadt 22