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Vietnam 101
Why it still matters
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Vietnam still matters in this election year because it tells us
something about a person’s character, judgment, and life
perspectives. I am a member of the Vietnam generation as is
President Bush. We have a lot in common from those years. We both
attended prestigious New England universities during the
1960’s. Our grades were barely passing gentlemen C’s.
We joined fraternities. And we both ducked service in Vietnam. Like
Vice President Cheney I used a string of legal deferments to stay
out. Bush used his family name to vault over 200 ordinary Americans
to secure a place in the Texas National Guard. When asked if he
would accept an overseas assignment, Bush checked the “I
don’t want to go” box. Well, just about all of my
college classmates did the same thing – all except for John
Sherman, a guy with a big laugh, and a head of wavy, red hair. I
don’t know why he didn’t just duck like everyone else.
Perhaps it was just too shameful knowing that literally millions of
other young Americans were answering their country’s call to
duty with quiet dignity and apprehension. Like Bush, John Sherman
learned to fly airplanes in the military. He flew for the marines
in Nam whereas Bush signed up with the so-called
“champagne” unit of the Texas National Guard in
Houston.
Every now and then I recall John Sherman, and I feel a twinge of
conscience. Today, only his name survives. It’s etched in my
memory, and on a long black wall in Washington DC. I wonder if
President Bush has ever had a pang of conscience about Vietnam, and
all the young Americans whose lives were cut short there. Did he
ever think about Agent Orange, or napalm, or carpet-bombing, or
Vietnamese children running down a dusty street with flames
engulfing their gentle bodies? Did he ever think what it means to
go to war on the basis of deceit like President Johnson did with
the Gulf of Tonkin incident? Or what it might have taken to win the
hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people? Or the military strategy
needed to win a war and the peace, not just the battles? Did he
learn any of the painful lessons that the Vietnam War should have
taught us? Looking at the mess in Iraq today, somehow I don’t
think so.
John Sherman’s remains were only recently returned to the
United States thanks to the unwavering efforts of John McCain and
John Kerry. Their successful endeavor to bridge over the deaths of
58,000 Americans and 1,800,000 Vietnamese, including 400,000
civilians, is a testament to their perseverance and skilled
diplomacy, both at home and abroad. In 1995, twenty years after the
war’s end, U.S.-Vietnam relations were normalized. MIA
accountability was a prerequisite. Today, many an American mom can
sleep easier knowing that her son has finally come home thanks to
the steadfast commitment of John Kerry and many others.
The Vietnam War still matters thirty years after its end because it
provided a test of character and judgment that many failed. John
Kerry passed with flying colors. He could have ducked Vietnam
service, but he didn’t. He served with valor. Upon his
return, he could have turned his back on the maelstrom of political
discussion swirling through our country, but he didn’t. The
guy stood up and was counted. It’s as simple as that. It says
something good about the man, and his aspiration to be our next
president.
John Sherman graduated from Brown University in 1962. He was shot
down over Quang Ngai province on March 25, 1966.
Bob Gregg
Special to the Arbiter