Posted on 04/18/2015 6:09:34 PM PDT by TurboZamboni
In what was described as the first occasion of its kind in the country, a memorial to the Southeast Asian forces who fought as allies of the U.S. during the Vietnam War era was dedicated at Fort Snelling on Saturday. The plaque, in the cemetery's Airborne Circle, memorializes the Hmong, Laotian and Khmer special forces units that served in Cambodia and Laos. "I believe that this is probably the first time that they have been recognized specifically in a place like this," Trudell Guerue, president of the Chapter XV 173rd Airborne Brigade Association, said during the dedication ceremony. For Khoa Ingixiengmay of Brooklyn Park, who served during the Vietnam War, formal recognition felt like it had been a long time coming.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
I recognize a couple of people I work with in those photos.
The Cub Scout pack I lead is going there in a couple of weeks to watch a pow wow. Can’t wait!
Bump.
Good. It’s about time.
I worked in the refugee camps in Thailand back in 1979/1980, primarily the Hmong camp at Ban Vinai. Met some very tough and loyal people, heard some sad stories.
Those Tiger Stripe uniforms brought back a few memories.
It sure is great to honor these forgotten warriors. I often wondered what happened to many of them that were not lucky enough to get out of VN when the US Congress deserted them (cut off funding) and the country fell to the commies in 73. What a damn shame. It was a stain on the honor of the United States.
It is just a fleeting memory for me now but still very vivid when I see articles like this.
Karma
Barack Hussein Obama, a man with no record of personal accomplishment, no leadership experience, and a man with strong connections to terrorists, criminals, racists, and anti-American Communists pulled it off and was elected then re-elected President of these United States. What does this mean and what does it say about the American people? Could it be that karma will finally bestow the consequences of dishonorable behavior on the American people?
Why do I say this? In answer to my question, let me remind you of this statement and where these words took the American people:
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
John Fitzgerald Kennedy Inaugural address, Friday, January 20, 1961
With these words ringing in our ears, my generation went to Vietnam and promised the Vietnamese people we would stand shoulder to shoulder with them until their freedom was secure and the enemies of liberty were defeated. But, it is to America's eternal shame and disgrace that the American people soon grew tired of this noble undertaking and betrayed the very people who had believed and trusted us.
The American people elected Democrats to our Congress who had rather see American soldiers killed and our country defeated than allow a Republican President to receive credit for defeating our enemies. This Democrat led Congress (the infamous 93rd) cut off funding for the Vietnam War and forced the withdrawal of American combat troops in 1973, but we departed with the hollow promise that we would return if the Republic of South Vietnam was invaded by communist North Vietnam. As everyone must remember, this, again, was a lie.
The tactic we had taught the South Vietnamese was to, when invaded by the North, fall back to a defendable position, stall the communist advance, force the communists to mass their forces before South Vietnam's defenses, and this would allow time for American forces and air power to return to assist them as we had promised. South Vietnam did just that; for twelve days, outnumbered ten to one, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) held and stalled the communist's advance outside Saigon near a little town called Xuan Loc.
Outside Xuan Loc during April 1975, in an effort as gallant as that of the Spartans at Thermopylae, the ARVN 18th Infantry Division held two North Vietnamese Army Corps at bay for twelve days. Every infantryman in the ARVN 18th Infantry Division died in that stand. None ran away and none survived. They died to a man fighting overwhelming odds and believing to the end we Americans would return as promised.
Just before the last ARVN soldier of the 18th Infantry Division died, he might have rolled over on his back and looked to the sky hoping to see the contrails of American B-52 bombers and he saw nothing. This last ARVN soldier then knew that he, along with all the Vietnamese people, had been betrayed. With his dying breath, this soldier must have then turned his gaze heavenly and beseeched God to Damn America.
Yes, there is such a thing as karma where dreadful consequences are meted out in recompense for dishonorable behavior. The American people's just rewards for abandoning a valiant ally during their time of need could have been that the chickens came home to roost on the American people with an Obama Presidency, a Nancy Pelosi Congress, a Harry Reid Senate, a John Roberts Supreme Court, and it couldn't have happened to a more deserving people.
The election of 2008 and re-election of 2012 was about more than just Obama, his arrogance, his empty resume, and his traitorous comrades. Just as karma provides consequences for dishonorable behavior, there are also adverse consequences for irresponsible behavior. As a people deserve the government they vote into office, they also deserve the consequences resulting from that government's actions or inaction. The consequences of a government not securing a country's borders is that a people will lose their country as we are now losing ours to an invasion of illegal immigrants. The consequences of not securing a country's electoral processes to prevent voter fraud is the country will lose its Democracy to a Thugocracy as we have lost ours to a Chicago-mob run Coup d'état.
But the final insult to our Democracy is with the election of Barack Hussein Obama, an avowed Marxist Communist, a significant chapter in American History finally closed. Our sixty-odd year long Cold War with Communism is over and the Communists won the war.
These words precede those of President Kennedy, so no one can say we didnt see this coming:
"We cannot expect the Americans to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans small doses of Socialism until they suddenly awake to find they have Communism."
Nikita Khrushchev, 1959
As we Americans continue to live out the old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."
by
DJ Taylor
A Vietnam Veteran
“...the US Congress deserted them ...”
It wasn’t the ‘US Congress’ in toto, it was the Democrats; they controlled the Congress.
Very sad, but very true. I hope you won’t mind me reposting this.
the Montagnards must be the “other” special operations veterans.
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