Comments delivered for Veterans Day: Johns Creek, Georgia
Memorial Dedication
November 9, 2013
Keeping
Faith
And
The
American Dream
Wayne,
John, Robby, Gerry, members of the Johns Creek Veteran Association, and town
administrators, thank you for allowing me to participate in this dedication.
What a
lovely memorial. I can picture it completed, see citizens coming here, walking
through, or sitting, contemplating the plaques, the names, the events, the
meanings.
And
what a lovely country we live in. What an exceptional country we’ve inherited.
Memorials remind us that this has been at great cost.
I
would like to tell you some of my thoughts on The American Dream, and on Keeping
Faith with those who have gone before us, with those who have sacrificed so
much, with those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and from whose hands we’ve
taken the torch to hold high.*
I am thinking of friends who did not make it back. Thinking of
advice heard many years ago. “There is a reason why you are here and they
are not. It is your duty to find the reason, and to live your life in such
a way as to make their sacrifice not in vain.”
We have been given days, and years, and decades
which others have not. How do we Keep Faith with them?
What responsibility, what duty, do we
have--not just those of us who made it back, but we, The American Citizenry—what
duty do we have to those who made it possible for us to be here today in this
wonderful nation?
Does Keeping Faith mean more than
saluting the flag and standing for the national anthem before a ball game? Is
saying, “Thank you,” enough? Or does Keeping Faith mean something more?
Does it perhaps mean understanding our
Rights and Freedoms as American citizens? Does it perhaps mean being vigilant
and protecting those Rights and Freedoms when they are being attacked from
without or being eroded from within?
Does it mean overseeing national
decisions as to how our current military is used, and ensuring that it is not
being abused?
Our troops—soldiers, sailors, Marines,
airmen and the coast guard, in Viet Nam, in today’s wars, throughout our
history—have been the will to defend, the will to pull the trigger. Without
that will no nation can survive. Keeping Faith with them requires of our
leaders, and of all of us, that we do not waste the will.
Let me back up.
As you know, I am a veteran of the fight
opposing Hanoi’s war of expansion which sought communist hegemony over all of
Southeast Asia. In 1970 and 1971 I was an Army combat correspondent with the
101st Airborne Division (Airmobile). Our area of tactical
responsibility—we referred to this as our Area of Operation or AO—was northern
I Corps, below the DMZ, from the South China Sea west through jungled mountains
and across the A Shau Valley to the Laotian border. Our mission was to provide
security for the civilian population in the densely populated lowlands by
engaging a heavily armed, infiltrating force in the sparsely inhabited
mountains.
When I was writing The 13th Valley in the latter part of the 1970s, the
media was filled with negative stories about American troops. I wanted to tell
the story of what I’d seen, of amazing soldiers doing impossible things in this
unforgiving terrain. I wished to set the record straight for the 101st.
I knew the media definitely had it wrong about my unit—and assumed they were
talking about the Marines. I did not know, at the time, about Dai Do. For me that
came later… John (K** -- present him
with copy of book)… you’ll find a story of Dai Do beginning on page 115 of Carry Me Home... The Marines, too, were pretty awesome.
How can we keep faith if we don’t know
what these men did; why they fought; what was the cause; who was the enemy, and
why did we oppose that enemy? Why did we engage in the fight in the first
place? Who are we, We Americans, to go on extended excursions to foreign lands?
To answer to those questions would, of
course, take semesters, but allow me to mention a few seldom recalled details
about the origin of the war; and let me also mention that knowledge—truthful
knowledge, not politically correct propaganda—is a miracle elixir… It lifts the
spirits, and ameliorates the suffering of PTSD.
Let’s go back to I Corps—before
America showed up. And to Hanoi. In January 1959—more than five years before
the Gulf of Tonkin Incident—the politburo of the Communist Party of the
Democratic Socialist Republic of Viet Nam [North Viet Nam], met in secret
session in Hanoi and declared war on the South. During that month-long meeting
three logistic routes from the north to the south were authorized. These were
known as Routes 559, 759, and 959, for the month and year of their inception.
Trail 959—September 1959—went west from Hanoi into Laos, then south into
Cambodia; 759 was a series of sea lanes and landing areas, including the
circumnavigation of the Ca Mau peninsula to land men and materiel at the
Cambodian port of Sihanoukville; and 559 became the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail
in eastern Laos with spurs crossing the DMZ, running south, down through I
Corps, through the A Shau valley and the mountainous jungles west of Hue.
The first waves of communist fighters using
these infiltration routes were political terrorists. One should make no
mistake—our involvement, though not known at the time by this term, was a War
on Terror. By 1960 communist terrorists from the north were assassinating
between 50 and 100 South Vietnamese hamlet, district or province officials—including
school teachers—each and every month! The terror grew to 100 assassinations and
approximately 800 kidnappings per month by 1962. Terrorists terrorize! Hanoi dubbed
this policy the ‘Elimination Of Tyrants’ campaign. Tyrants, I guess, meant to
them hamlet chiefs and school teachers!
The
1962 numbers for South Viet Nam would be the 2013 equivalent of terrorists
killing or kidnapping more than 250,000 American. A quarter million victims! And
this was happening before the war “heated up.” At that time U.S. forces in Viet
Nam numbered 900 in 1960, 12,000 at the end of 1962.
So were we right to engage in this fight?
Could
anyone knowing and understanding what was happening question whether or not our
forces were on a humanitarian mission?
The
next six years, to Tet of 1968, received the far more, but not necessarily far
more accurate, attention from our media.
Some
less known but interesting facts and figures: Following the 1968 Communist Tet
Offensive, the South Vietnamese citizenry, previously untrusted, was armed.
Over the next three years, while US forces were reduced by 58%, communist
terror attacks (assassinations, abductions and bombings) on villages and
hamlets dropped 30%, small-unit attacks dropped 41%, and battalion-size attacks
dropped 98%!
At
the same time, rice production increased by nearly 10%, war related civilian
injuries dropped 55%, and enemy defections increased to the highest levels of
the war. Armed, the South Viet Namese citizenry became an effective force in
protecting themselves and their property from an organized terror campaign.
Ahhh… but were we ever told this?
Or
had our national focus shifted? In the pursuit of freedom errors and abuses had
been made. Our attention was no longer on the pursuit, but only on the errors
and abuses.
For
those of you who served in later wars, feel free to extrapolate this scenario.
Some things have not changed.
Critics
of the War in Viet Nam called all tactics into question. You may recall Ted
Kennedy condemning U.S. military operations in I Corps, in the A Shau valley,
at Dong Ap Bia, at Ripcord and Khe Ta Laou. Seemingly he had forgotten that
terrorists were infiltrating via this very route.
His
focus, along with that of much of the media, had shifted. Recall the My Lai
massacre: from exposure of that incident in 1969, to 1972, 473 nightly TV news stories
focused on that one atrocity, yet not a single story was aired about the 6000
communist assassinations of South Vietnamese, non-military government personnel in 1970
alone.
If
we perceive American troops as barbarians—as undisciplined baby killers or drug
addicts; or if we are ignorant of the foes atrocious acts and ultimate aims—can
we say we have kept faith with those who fell?
Errors
and abuses were addressed; American ground forces were withdrawn by early1972;
the armed southern population carried the bulk of their own local defense; yet America’s
focus remained on “the American atrocity.”
This
political momentum led to the abandonment of our allies, and the people of
Southeast Asia. The abandonment can be inferred by economic support. The US budget
for the war, adjusted for inflation, fell by over 95% from 1969 to 1974.
Weapons and ammo in the South became relatively scarce. In comparison, the
final communist offensive which toppled the Saigon government employed 500
Soviet tanks, 400 long-range artillery pieces and over 18,000 military trucks
moving an army of 400,000 troops down the Truong Son Corridor—that is through western
I Corps below the DMZ, past Ripcord and Dong Ap Bia, through the A Shau Valley,
and south. 400,000 troops!
U.S.
abandonment of the South Viet Nam lead directly to 70,000 executions in the
first 90 days of communist control; to the death of millions in Cambodia, to a
half million Boat People fleeing the new oppression—many of those dying at sea;
to more than a million people being incarcerated in gulag re-education camps;
and to the communist ethnic cleansing of Laos.
Keeping
Faith means knowing these things. It means remaining vigilant when the
propagandists are stressing the errors or abuses that we as a nation have committed;
yet simultaneously omitting the good, the honorable and the valorous we accomplished.
Even worse, when they ignore the evil which we opposed.
Let me digress.
America the beautiful: it has been miraculous.
Exceptional. A beacon… the shining light on the hill guiding those seeking
freedom.
This is not genetic. We are the great Melting Pot, a land
which has welcomed the diverse, huddled masses… a land which once celebrated
the diverse aspects of all cultures, but that also subordinated diversity to
unity—e pluribus Unum, Out of Many, One.
So if not genetic, could it be the system
established by our Founding Fathers? A
system derived from concepts of the High Renaissance, forged in the rough
environs of the new world, and perfected in conflict with tyranny?
Is it not that which we defend; which we
proffer others; for which we risk our lives, the lives of our
countrymen, the lives of our sons and daughters?
A number of years ago I came across the
following thought, but I have rarely seen it repeated.
American Exceptionalism begins with the
phrase: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of -------- Property. Yes, property! That
was the 1774 wording from the Declaration of Colonial Rights drawn up by the
First Continental Congress.
The concept of happiness, as you might
suspect, was quite different 240 years ago… you know, back before TV, Movies,
X-boxes, NASCAR or Atlanta Falcons. At the time Property and Happiness were
almost synonymous. The hot topic of the day was Citizen versus Subject… A
citizen could own property; a subject could only use the property of the
sovereign, and then only with the sovereign’s permission.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of property:
this is the American Dream. The pursuit of property means a person has the
unalienable right to earn, to build, and to keep much of the fruits of his
labor, ideas and diligence—without them being taxed to the extent they are
taken away. This standard exhorts all to go forth and excel; it tells us that
from our exertions we can, and should, benefit. The American Dream is not the
house with the white picket fence, but the freedom to build, to have, to own
and to be secure in that house.
This culture which the founding principles
foster—through all the ups and downs and bumps and warts of the centuries—has
provided not just the highest standard of living in human history, but the greatest
liberty to develop self and family, ideas and ideals, associations and
institutions.
Academics have interview infantrymen to
discover why they fight. Scholars tell us that soldiers fight for their
buddies, for the guys next to them, for the team. But they tend to miss the
fact that motivation is not singular, nor is it always understood by the
individual. The academic view, beyond a doubt, is accurate, but it is also
shallow.
Protecting Mom, apple pie, and The American
Way against all enemies foreign and domestic are all elements of that motivation.
Yet the last may be subconscious. It is certainly more difficult to express.
After all—my guys, Mom and apple pie are tangible; the American Spirit and a
constitution establishing a government given rights by citizens, versus a
regime in which subjects are given rights by a ruling elite—that’s a bit
esoteric.
We fought and fight for all these reasons and
more; but if we contemplate the sacrifice of so many, if we truly believe they
did not die in vain, apple pie (and I love apple pie) comes up short.
So… when we—those of us given years others
have not been given—judge ourselves, the criteria must include how true our
lives have been to the great founding documents of our nation.
Without knowledge of our founding principles,
without an accurate understanding of our foes and why we engaged in battle, we
are at peril of losing the way—not simply for ourselves but for future
generations. Let this be a challenge—a gauntlet thrown at our feet.
It is the preservation of American
Exceptionalism that is worth fighting for, worth living for, worth risking life
and limb for. It is the perpetuation of that Exceptionalism—built upon the
dreams, aspirations and labors of free citizens—which makes the ultimate
sacrifice of so many not in vain.
We
have been given days, and years, and decades which others have not. Have we
lived our lives in such a manner they would approve?
To
those who have not had the years and decades, I wish to say: From your failing
hands you threw us the torch to hold high; and you said, “If ye break faith
with us who die; We shall not sleep…”*
To
you, dear brothers, and dear sisters, I wish to tell you that there are many
here, and millions across this beautiful land, who have not and will not break
faith with you.
Rest easy. We have your backs.
*From:
Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD
**John
K: Marine, 2/4 @ Dai Do; highly decorated; Purple Heart
