50 years after Vietnam, a vow to never forget

It was a time when young servicemen and women were leaving a worn-torn country for one with an angry and hostile society.

Expressions of protest to the Vietnam War were often put into verse. One song by John Lennon stands above the rest, an ethereal reminder of this tragedy.

“Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try.”

Two and one half million troops served in Vietnam, more than those deployed during WWII and Korea. The average age was 19 years.

More than 58,000 Americans killed, 300,000 wounded and 2,000 missing.

“No hell below us, above us only sky.”

Nearly 8 million tons of bombs were dropped during the war. Some 400,000 tons of napalm seared the farmlands and countrysides. Laos, a nation at peace, became the most bombed country during the war.

More than 4,000 U.S. helicopters destroyed. One trillion rounds of small arms ammunition expended.

“Imagine all the people living for today.”

Ten percent of Vietnam’s population (North and South) perished in the war.

The South Vietnamese Army battle deaths neared a quarter million. Enemy combat deaths topped 900,000.

“Imagine there’s no country, it isn’t hard to do.

Nothing to kill or die for….”

The Republic of Vietnam ceased to exist as a nation April 30, 1975.

“Imagine all the people, living life in peace,”

More than 5 million Southeast Asians were afflicted by one-quarter million drums of the Agent Orange toxin sprayed from aircraft. Several hundred thousand of their descendants continue to be born with deformities.

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

I hope someday you will join us, and the world be one.”

Protests of the war abounded across America. Four students were shot and killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University protesting U.S. troops crossing into Cambodia to cut enemy supply lines. Eight more were wounded.

Four million students went on strike at hundreds of campuses throughout the country protesting the shootings.

Congress limited all U.S. operations to within South Vietnam’s boundaries without its approval to expand the war under the War Powers Act. All U.S. ground forces were placed on an unwinnable defensive stance.

“Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can.”

Nearly half of Vietnam’s forests were defoliated by Agent Orange. The toxin was also used in Cambodia and Laos to expose enemy movements along the Ho Chi Minh trail on South Vietnam’s western border.

“No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man.”

Battalions of South Vietnamese Army troops stripped their uniforms and fled the field before the enemy’s drive toward Saigon. In many instances, artillery rounds needed to stave off the advance had to be negotiated on the black market.

“Imagine all the people, sharing all the world.”

It took nearly two decades for the U.S. government to accept claims from veterans afflicted with Agent Orange illnesses, thousands of whom committed suicide, thousands that could still be with us if their claims for treatment were not denied by the Veterans Administration.

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”

The Vietnam Veterans Association, founded in 1978, was instrumental in the enactment of the Agent Orange Act of 1991, getting the VA to finally recognize debilitations caused by exposure to the toxic defoliant.

“I hope someday you will join us, and the world will live as one.”

The brave men and women who fought there, died there, many of them coming home broken in mind, body and spirit, as with all conflicts. Only they were confronted at airport gates by demonstrators who opposed the war.

Vietnam veterans are now dying at a rate of more than 500 a day as their war fades into history.

Yet more than 90 percent of those who went there followed their orders and received honorable discharges. They were decorated for their service to our country, some receiving the highest award for going above and beyond the call by sacrificing their lives so others would live.

America’s involvement in Vietnam ended on this day 50 years ago. Lest we forget those who fought there.

Ron Kurtz lives in Monroe. He served in the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam 1969-70.