Vietnam Veteran’s Day, March 29, recognizes a precious sacrifice. North Vietnam agrees we won all the battles, but asserts it made no difference. During Tet, the US and ARVN shattered VC main force units, causing an irreparable loss of face. In March 1972, the ARVN destroyed an invading NVA army.
The Democrat Party secured defeat. Responding to Tet, those that got the United States into war cut and ran. In 1972 a Democratic Congress refused funding to restore South Vietnamese forces, which had defeated the invading NVA army. Soviet and Chinese support brought NVA victory in 1975.
A few examples from the History Channel show the disinformation campaign waged against Vietnam Veterans. U.S. forces took extraordinary steps to avoid civilian deaths. The VC and NVA murdered over 36,000 by targeting village leaders, teachers, and medical workers. Two-thirds of Vietnam vets volunteered compared to only one-third of those serving in WW II. Over 90% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served and 74% would serve again knowing the outcome. Compared to non-veterans, they were more likely after serving to be employed and then earned 18% more.
Ronald Reagan said of them, “ours was a noble cause. A small country (including ethnic Chinese, Catholic Vietnamese and others fleeing Communism) newly free from colonial rule sought our help in establishing self-rule and the means of self-defense against a totalitarian neighbor (Tonkinese) bent on conquest.” He said to consider otherwise dishonored the memory of over 58,000 who died in the cause.
Statistics about the Vietnam War http://vhfcn.org/stat.html
The USA may have won all the “battles”. But when a Division stumbles around for a couple of weeks, takes a couple hundred casualties from booby-traps and never finds a single NVA trooper, that is a lost battle. It was never about winning battles. Ho’s strategy of wearing us down worked. The WWII-trained Generals and their staffs never really figured it out. And the media lied shamelessly to support the communists. The anti-war groups in the USA were run by the KGB, as was discovered after the fall of the USSR. It was the treason of the Kerrys and their ilk that took the day.
As usual the grunts pay the price.
I remember hearing the first rocket coming down on our area at midnight on Tet Offensive. It killed 19 of our guys, but the rest of the attacks hit nearby landing strips so no planes could land plus hit all of the parked helicopters.