A "Firsthand Experience"

When I was in the the Air Force (1979-1983), I had the chance to talk about the Viet-Nam war with some of the older Veterans. I will share these along with your contributions.

A Recollection from Mr. X:

"I remember when we went into Diehm's Palace. We tore it apart looking for the (expletive deleted). The walls were torn down by artillery and we pissed off a lot of his friends and allies (many were shot during the attack). There was a lot of energy, like we were getting rid of some (expletive deleted) that was a tyrant to his own people. One thing we never thought about was the consequences. A lot of his connections went over to the other side. It was a no win situation from the beginning."

Mr A:

"People weren't always against the war ya know. They had parades for us in the beginning when we came home...like we were heroes. I still feel we were. We were there to stop the Communists. People forget how many atrocities these dictators committed against their own people...they were murderers and "Brain washers". The people could care less about the "government". They just wanted to work their rice paddies without being shot at. The Viet-Minh were mostly from the cities. Not that well trained. Mostly students and agitators that wanted to reunite their country. Poor suckers never new they were just cannon fodder being used by the commies."

Mrs. 1:

"We used to hide under our desks for heaven's sakes! Just in case we were bombed. I always used to wonder how a 2 inch piece of wood was going to protect us from an atom-bomb!" We were scared that we would be "hit " in some kind of surprise attack. People had "fall-out shelters" in their back yard. We couldn't afford one."