Editor:
Stephen J. Lyons’ well-crafted April 14 commentary (“Today’s Vietnam underscores folly of America’s wars”) focuses on 1968 and its long-term impact on American infantry veterans. Serving at Fort Ord, Calif., proves his point. Draftees from western states poured in, many of them physically and/or emotionally challenged. For some, their first plane ride was to Da Nang Air Force Base: the next to Hawaii in body bags for autopsies.
After grueling infantry/jungle survival training, some couldn’t meet the requirements but were deployed anyhow. We tried to help them but had limited success. The Vietnam experience was overwhelming.
For some of us a change in orders hours before deployment resulted in a lifetime of survivor’s guilt unassuaged by veterans support groups, long-term care facilities, etc.
What they confronted in the jungle defies description, facing the Tet Offensive with a lack of support. North Vietnamese Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap completely outmaneuvered U.S. Gen. William Westmoreland. American troops dealt with inflated body counts, cancers caused by Agent Orange and their gallant field commanders being stymied by higher command. There was totally unnecessary loss of life and grievous injury, and for those who limped home, an angry America.
For our gallant brothers in arms, 1968 started badly and ended worse. We remember them every day.
Jay N. Abramowitch
Wyomissing