Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Vietnam's early history, its people, dynastic struggles and invasions. The French, the Japanese in WWII and the rise of communism in 1941. The emergence of Ho Chi Minh, nationalism into communism. The effect of the domino theory, JFK's assassination and the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The US were drawn into conflict.
In 1968 the Vietcong Tet Offensive turned the tide, the TV war began in full, anti-war demos, the Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinations and My Lai massacre the war was now being shown on the nightly news for the first time. Over half a million US troops are deployed. In 1972 Nixon orders the majority of US troops back. In 1974, after Watergate, he resigns. The US embassy is evacuated on April 30th 1975. In Vietnam the South face a backlash from the North and US veterans face dishonour and neglect back home.
Today Vietnam is the world's second largest coffee producer, still ruled by a communist government and moving at the pace of China.
