Posted on 06/09/2018 12:16:49 PM PDT by rktman
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, in which the North Vietnamese orchestrated a massive coordinated attack throughout South Vietnam. A book out in paperback on May 8, entitled The Odyssey of Echo Company: The 1968 Tet Offensive and the Epic Battle to Survive the Vietnam War, takes readers on the journey of Stan Parker. Americans need to be reminded of soldiers like Parker who fought patriotically for this country.
While in Afghanistan, researching another book, Horse Soldiers, Doug Stanton met Sergeant Major Stan Parker, one of the U.S. Army's longest serving soldiers. Parker convinced him to write a book about the stories of the men he served with in Vietnam. Like many in Echo Company, a Recon Company in the 101st Airborne Division, Parker enlisted to fight for his country against the evils of communism. They arrived in mid-December 1967 in Vietnam just prior to Tet. Parker speaks to Stanton about the unending list of horrors, losses, and miseries, not just overseas, but also on the home front, that he and his peers endured.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
It's true they were willing to do that. But we didn't have to lose millions to win if we had fought an all-out war (think WWII) to win. Too many strategic targets were off limits.
On Walter Cronkites 1968 “revelation” that we had to “get out of Vietnam,” from a speech given in October 2000 by General Fredrick Weyand;
“After Tet, General Westmoreland sent Walter Cronkite out to interview me. I was in Command of the Forces in the South around Saigon and below and I was proud of what we’d done. We had done a good job there. So, Walter came down and he spent about an hour and a half interviewing me. And when we got done, he said, ‘well you’ve got a fine story. But I’m not going to use any of it because I’ve been up to Hue. I’ve seen the thousands of bodies up there in mass graves and I’m determined to do all in my power to bring this war to an end as soon as possible’.”
“It didn’t seem to matter that those thousands of bodies were of South Vietnamese citizens who had been killed by the Hanoi soldiers and Walter wasn’t alone in this because I think many in the media mirrored his view…”
“When I was in Paris at the Peace Talks, it was the most frustrating assignment I think I ever had. Sitting in that conference, week after week listening to the Hanoi negotiators, Le Duc Tho and his friends lecture us. Reading from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Herald Tribune, the Atlanta Constitution, NBC, CBS, you name it. Their message was always the same. ‘Hey, read your newspapers, listen to your TV. The American people want you out of Vietnam. Now, why don’t you just go ahead and get out’?”
Full speech transcript: http://www.i-served.com/weyandspeech.htm
Rot in hell, Walt
I was lucky enough to get stationed at Vung Tau Airbase the entire time. We were mortared/rockets only twice and that was during TET.
I had 3 months left in service when I returned so they gave me an early out and I never looked back.
I was drafted Aug. 10 1966 and don't regret one day of it.
No, uncle Wally said the war is unwinnable. After that Macnamrra pissed in his pants and resigned. Then In March 68 LBJ called it quits politically opening the door for RFK to get whacked. 68 was a horrible year for this country.
My dad’s second tour was because of Tet.
3rd Bde 82nd Airborne Division.
But according to Giap, if the bombing of the north lasted another day or two they would have been begging to surrender.
But thanks to Komrade Kronkite, Komrade Rather, and the rest of the enemedia they saw that there was no public support which gave them hope and strengthened their will to win.
“I had heard about the reception that troops got when they were separated, especially at SF and steeled myself for it. I and an infantry guy were walking together on Hayes and market Streets right after separation and before our buses were scheduled to take us out of there. We were not in uniform except for our boots but surely we looked like new returnees. I saw many signs and graffiti but no untoward attitudes on the street. I think that was a weird hiatus because others who followed me a couple of days later got the treatment.”
Your experience is similar to mine. We flew into El Toro on a KC-130, and then took a civilian flight into San Francisco because that’s where my buddy lived on Greenwich St.
We had no problems with hippies spitting on us or calling us “baby killers.” In fact, people in saloons bought us drinks. At Fisherman’s Wharf, we bought bags of crabs for a few bucks, and the fishermen shook our hands and thanked us. At the Italian bakeries, the bakers gave us slices of Italian pizza.
Maybe it was a fluke, but we met all nice, grateful people in San Francisco. Then again, if any damn hippie dared to spit on us, we would have stomped their commie nuts into the concrete.
Cheers, ThanhPhero.
Then the NVA / VC got their asses handed to them by those US forces commanded by Officers who listened and believed what WE told them was coming.
ASA LIVES ! CEWI SUCKS !
I guess some would call it a ‘draw’
1968 Tet Offensive troop deaths
US Forces 1,536
ARVN 2,788
NVA/VC 45,000
If you use real fuzzy math or common core.
9 posted on 6/9/2018, 1:02:43 PM by redcatcherb412
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