Saturday, April 29, 2000 10:57 PM
Subject: 25 years ago: End of Vietnam War

Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.  I hadn't even noticed until I started seeing all these commentaries being made about "the war that America lost."  The media, especially the television media, with their so-called "Vietnam re-visited" documentaries, have once again put the anti-war, dope-smoking, Hippie spin on it all.  They did it 30 years ago, and they are still doing it.  In these things, Vietnam veterans continue to be portrayed as some sort of pitiful, long-haired, dope-smoking, anti-war, Hippie types, wringing their hands and whining, "Why me, man? (sniff, sniff)."  It is usually some guy whining about the war who never in his life saw real combat.  It's usually some guy wearing on a filthy Levi jacket, the Purple Heart he got when an incoming rocket exploded a mile away and he fell down and scraped a knee.

This slanted "journalism" is just as hurtful now as it was 30 years ago. Not only hurtful to the thousands upon thousands of Vietnam veterans who willingly served their country, but most importantly, hurtful to America.  America tried to save Vietnam, and the region, from the tyranny of Communism.  That is continually portrayed as being misguided and wrong.  It was not wrong.  History's 20-20 hindsight proves it.  One has only to remember the aftermath of the Communist takeover of South Vietnam with its pervasive repression, purges, and "re-education" camps.  Tyranny, repression, purges, brain-washing, loss of liberty, and depraved living conditions continue to rule there, as they always have in Communist regimes.

I spent as much time fighting that war as anyone, so I guess I have the right, maybe even the responsibility, to say some things.  First, I want to make it clear that I willingly spent my entire young adulthood fighting that war. In 1965, at age 21, I flew my first mission over North Vietnam, and in 1972, at age 29, I flew my last.  During those intervening years I made 5 combat deployments to Vietnam, flying missions mostly over North Vietnam, but also a few over South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.  I spent even more time in training for Vietnam when back in the U.S.  The Vietnam War was in me, heart and mind, from 1964 to 1973.  I am very proud of my service in Vietnam, and of what the United States tried to do there.  I would gladly do it all over again.

I am especially proud of the raw courage I saw, day-in and day-out, from my friends and fellow shipmates.  Some were wounded, some killed, and some taken prisoner.  None of them ever wrung his hands and said, "Why me?"  They saw their duty and they did it.  Some say America doesn't have heroes anymore, at least, not like we used to have.  Well, these are my heroes, and I commend them to you.  They saw clearly what was right and they did it.  They knew America stood for Good, and when America called, they served.  They willingly answered America's call at a time when it became increasingly popular for lesser men and women to cower from that duty.  They were super-patriots.  After all, they were the sons of the World War II generation.  They had been taught by the example of their fathers and mothers....... Duty, Honor, Country.  They could do no less.

When you think about The Vietnam War, consider this: who should you be proud of, the dope-smoking, free-love, tune-out & turn-on, counter-culture, draft card burning, "hell no, I won't go," Hippie protestors who sought to weaken America, or the guys and gals who put their lives on the line, sacrificed their own interests for the Common Good, and who by serving when called, supported and defended the Constitution, The Great Experiment, and our form of government.  Unless you've been irrevocably brain-washed by the media, the answer is obvious.

Celebrate the end of the war by finding a Vietnam veteran who willingly served, and say thanks.

Also, FYI, there were 5 Milams killed in the war.

Take care,
Lonzo Oliver Milam