Last month in this paper a fellow Vietnam veteran expressed his disagreement with my Jan. 31 column opining that the Ken Burns/Lynn Novick film on the Vietnam War is more propaganda than history. He asked that I be “muzzled.”
Really? However much we disagree, we are each entitled to our views. From this particular column of mine taking a swipe at that so-called documentary, I am still receiving responses from vets as that column gets passed from one to another to another.
Of those responses so far, 370 are supportive, 5 disagree. I sent all of these responses to the editor in one document just to back up those numbers.
A reading of those responses (114 pages, so not a short read) would reveal overwhelming agreement, appreciation and compliments to me, but I’m smart enough to know it isn’t at all about me.
The observations in my column merely stirred what those vets already carry deep inside: pride in having served their country well even though America believed the worst about them, a permanent feeling of a terrible wrong that can never be set right, frustration from our country sending us to a war worth fighting but with rules that prevented victory, profound regret that our country trampled its honor by turning its back on commitments to our ally, sad that the people and free country we fought for was betrayed by America with scant attention paid to the mass murder and other miseries when the commies took over, and disappointment that America never knew that we upheld the honorable battlefield traditions of our fathers.
So is there a visceral rejection of renewed leftist distortion and a widespread desire among those vets for the truth to be told about them and the war? Absolutely, even though we don’t all agree on everything.
If you read to find the truth about Vietnam, reader beware: the body of work is so extensive you can find material to support the ideological slant of your choice. That includes my own book, even though I believe it to be true.
Terry Garlock
Peachtree City, Ga.
[email protected]
