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General Westmoreland Dies at 91
Military.com ^ | July 19, 2005 | AP Wire

Posted on 07/19/2005 4:18:02 AM PDT by DJ Taylor

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Retired Gen. William Westmoreland, who commanded American troops in Vietnam - the nation's longest, most divisive conflict and the only war America lost - died Monday night. He was 91.

Westmoreland died of natural causes at Bishop Gadsden retirement home, where he had lived with his wife for several years, said his son, James Ripley Westmoreland.

(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: generalwestmoreland
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Goodbye General. It was an honor serving under you.
1 posted on 07/19/2005 4:18:03 AM PDT by DJ Taylor
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To: DJ Taylor

Wow, I had no idea he was still alive! Rest in peace, soldier.


2 posted on 07/19/2005 4:19:43 AM PDT by Tax-chick (Democrats ... frolicking on the wilder shores of Planet Zongo.)
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To: DJ Taylor

A General not allowed to do his job.


3 posted on 07/19/2005 4:20:17 AM PDT by RazorGhost
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To: DJ Taylor

We lost?


4 posted on 07/19/2005 4:22:55 AM PDT by tgusa (USN A-6 pilot)
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To: DJ Taylor

Rest in peace, General.


5 posted on 07/19/2005 4:23:53 AM PDT by Old Grumpy
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To: tgusa
"We lost?"

Yeah, that little aside burned my a$$ too. As I remember it, a Democrat controlled U.S. Congress betrayed and abandoned a valiant ally.

6 posted on 07/19/2005 4:28:23 AM PDT by DJ Taylor (Once again our country is at war, and once again the Democrats have sided with our enemy.)
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To: DJ Taylor
A great soldier and a great American who had the misfortune to serve for four years under one of America's worst presidents.

Any son of mine could do a lot worse than emulating that noble man General Westmoreland.

And no dog of mine could do much worse than emulating LBJ.

7 posted on 07/19/2005 4:30:29 AM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: tgusa
"We lost?"

Yep. Two years after we left.

8 posted on 07/19/2005 4:31:13 AM PDT by Jaxter ("Vivit Post Funera Virtus")
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To: tgusa
We lost?

WE didn't try to win.

The US has never lost a war it tried to win.

May Westmoreland RIP and Johnson BIH!

9 posted on 07/19/2005 4:32:35 AM PDT by evad (No action to secure borders, No action on judges... NO MONEY!)
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To: DJ Taylor
"As I remember it, a Democrat controlled U.S. Congress betrayed and abandoned a valiant ally."

But Gerald was the commander in chief. If it had been me I'd have nuked Hanoi. And the democrat congress could have kissed my a$$.

10 posted on 07/19/2005 4:34:02 AM PDT by Jaxter ("Vivit Post Funera Virtus")
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To: DJ Taylor
When I left Vietnam in '67; I lost my ride down from Hue (to Danang) to 'hot' medevac... I managed to get on Westmoreland's C130 (with special instructions to "NOT TALK to the General - unless spoken too").

Shortly after getting up in the air, the General strolled to "the back of his bus" and visited with a couple of us. Being the only 'Marine' (actually a Navy Corpsman in Marine utilities) on his ride, he came over and asked me "how's it going - son". I told him it was really going well now that I was on my way home from my second tour. He asked if I was going to make a career out of the Navy and I said "probably not". When he asked why, I said "fate has had it's last chance in Vietnam to take my life and now I'm outta here for good."

He gave me kind of a stunned look and said; "Best to you, and I hope all you seek from now on - comes your way." He shook my hand, and moved back up to the front of his bus.

11 posted on 07/19/2005 4:38:45 AM PDT by harpu
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To: wideawake
A great soldier and a great American who had the misfortune to serve for four years under one of America's worst presidents.

Did you mean to say five years and two months?

12 posted on 07/19/2005 4:40:55 AM PDT by leadpenny
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To: harpu

Good story. Thanks for sharing that.


13 posted on 07/19/2005 4:42:44 AM PDT by leadpenny
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To: leadpenny

I thought he didn't take charge of MACV until 1964.


14 posted on 07/19/2005 4:44:47 AM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: wideawake

Oh, right. June of 64.

I was thinking of the five years and two months he and many of us had to serve under LBJ.


15 posted on 07/19/2005 4:46:56 AM PDT by leadpenny
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To: tgusa

exactly! This revision of history is sickening; we did not lose the war. In fact, when Nixon pulled us out in 72, the ARVN were more than capable of defending their country, asking only - and getting the word of our USofA to that effect - that we supply them with the necessary materiel and air support should the NVA come across the wire again. As usual, MSM-enabled (thanks, Cronkite - Lenin would be proud!) revisionist history extrapolates what was certainly a loss of political will on our part into a concrete defeat. And, as usual, such revisionists conveniently neglect to mention the facts that decry their self-appointed and arrogant painting of what really happened.

Comes the '75 offensive, in which Giap sends the equivalent of 10 armored divisions to attack the South, and our then-democrat controlled Congress reneged on our solemn pledge to support an ally.

Why so much hardware? Because Giap, fully expecting the overwhelming weight of American airpower to plug the gap between initial commitment and the time when supplies would have started arriving to replenish the ARVN, calculated this force to be strong enough to withstand the expected heavy losses from such an air campaign. That we didn't do as expected was a boon for him, led directly to the fall of South Vietnam, and forever marks any democrat associated with this decision with the proverbial fleur-d'lis.

This stain on our honor is tragically one we all must bear - and the only way to best ensure that we never, ever falter again is to keep the kerry/clinton/reid/kennedy's of the nation from ever being in a position of power again!

May all the traitors of our nation and of freedom rot in Hell; may our allies the South Vietnamese forgive us for not being strong enough to defeat our own fifth column, and may all who seek freedom and look to the United States not lose hope in our example... we are taking back our country a bit at a time!

CGVet58


16 posted on 07/19/2005 5:00:59 AM PDT by CGVet58 (God has granted us Liberty, and we owe Him Courage in return)
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To: DJ Taylor

I liked this quote from the article regarding his lawsuit over CBS' report that he had deceived then President Johnson about the war:

At the time, Westmoreland said the question "is not about whether the war in Vietnam was right or wrong, but whether in our land a television network can rob an honorable man of his reputation."

That is exactly what CBS tried to do...and it obviously didn't learn its lesson.


17 posted on 07/19/2005 5:03:51 AM PDT by fatnotlazy
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To: tgusa
The US Military won every battle it fought. It repeatedly destroyed the North Vietnamese Army, and let's face it folks, that was the primary opposing force. After the 1968 Tet Offensive, which the enemy lost as well, the so-called "Viet Cong" ceased to exist as a viable fighting force. Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and the rest of the MSM Whores convinced the American People that we were losing. Thanks to Talk Radio and the INTERNET, they aren't as successful to day.

The miltary war was not a loss, but the DemocRAT politicians betrayed and abandoned the South Vietnamese Government and People after we pulled out.

It was a RAT sellout, plain and simple.

18 posted on 07/19/2005 5:11:32 AM PDT by Redleg Duke (BOHICA!)
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To: Redleg Duke; All

As a man born during Vietnam, I'm learning more about it in this thread than what history told me. Thank you all for your service.


19 posted on 07/19/2005 5:13:38 AM PDT by Sybeck1 (chance is the “magic wand to make not only rabbits but entire universes appear out of nothing.”)
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To: Sybeck1

That is why FR exists...to perpetuate TRUTH in a world of revisionist historians!


20 posted on 07/19/2005 5:21:40 AM PDT by Redleg Duke (BOHICA!)
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