I didn’t go to Vietnam, though I spent years worrying I might have to. I initially had a student deferment, and then, when I was 19, a draft lottery system was adopted in which birth dates were randomly assigned a number.
There were only five numbers left when my birthday was drawn. Three were low enough to make it almost certain that you would be called, a fourth was iffy. But for the only time in my life, I won through the luck of the draw, and ended up with 294, which meant I was safe.
That was in 1971, long after anyone believed victory was possible or that there was anything glorious or noble about that war. Being sent to Vietnam then was a good idea only if you wanted to become a heroin addict, as tens of thousands did.
History has always been my first love, and I believe that in many ways, the Vietnam War was the worst thing that ever happened to this country. Yes, the Civil War was far bloodier, and half of America lost. But both sides knew why we had gotten into that war, and when it was over, it settled something: States did not, after all, have the right to secede from the union.
Vietnam settled nothing. Nor did America ever really figure out what it was about, or why we were there, dying by the thousands, and killing tens of thousands.
The war destroyed vast areas of Vietnam, and when it ended, with those last overcrowded helicopters leaving the embassy roof on the last day of April, 1975, most Americans still would have had a hard time explaining why we were there.
But not only did Vietnam settle nothing. I think it deeply corroded our belief in our leaders as decent, honorable and honest, and our belief in America as a virtuous country that always tried to do the right thing. Instead, what Vietnam was from the start, was best captured by the title of reporter Neil Sheehan’s book: A Bright Shining Lie.
Our leaders knew for years we couldn’t win, and yet refused to end the war. Fifty-eight thousand Americans died for nothing. We were pulling our last troops out when the Watergate scandal began to explode, and our illusions about the Presidency were also shattered.
South Vietnam finally collapsed less than nine months after Nixon resigned in disgrace, as he and Henry Kissinger had known it would. Today we have normal relations with Vietnam, take vacations there and sell them Pepsi and Coca-Cola.
But forgetting the war would be a terrible mistake. Those who don’t learn from the past are indeed, all too often, condemned to repeat its mistakes. And it would be an even bigger mistake to forget our Vietnam veterans, men who, in some ways were greater heroes than those who served in World War II. Vietnam veterans did not come back to parades. Instead, they were called baby killers and spat on. But they too were just pawns, young men and a few young women who trusted their country and answered its call to service, and were very cruelly used.
Michigan Vietnam veterans have risen above that, taken care of their buddies and themselves and vowed that never again would the veterans of one war turn their backs on those who served in another. Their war may have been a horrible mistake.
But to me, what they’ve done since makes them heroes, just the same.
