character assassinations against Kerry and antiwar vets: a response

by Jimboloco

Posted to Poetry and Politics on 2004-02-14 09:07:00

Parent message is 600116
Jim,
Here`s is the (edited) piece of yours that I put on the “Vietnam
Veterans
Against Kerry” chat page…peace from Ward
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To: VVAK, from Jim Willingham
Sent : Saturday, February 14, 2004 8:15 AM

I was in Vietnam from 4 September, 1970 through August 25, 1971.
It was during a year of steady pulling out from the war. I flew into
every
artillery base in 2,3, and 4 Corps as a C-7A Caribou pilot, U.S.A.F.
http://www.c-7acaribou.com/

We pulled out of a large number of artillery bases, especially during
the
summer of 1971. I personally flew into three deserted artillery bases
just
before I came back to the states. (Perhaps if I’d stayed there flying
Caribous, South Vietnam would still be intact?)
The last base I flew into was Loc Ninh, up on the Cambodian border,
about 90
miles north of Saigon. No one was there. In fact, I was the last
Caribou to
fly in there, because i reported that Loc Ninh was deserted, called it
into
the Airlift Control Center, as well as called over “guard” to an
incoming
Caribou to inform of this, and all further missions were cancelled.
Were the South Vietnamese Army interested in oppupying Loc Ninh? No.
They
had a complete artillery base with bunkers, perimeter of concertina
wire,
land mines,and gun mounts. We’d have left them the guns, too, but they
did
not want the base. In fact, when I radioed over the classified Fox Mike
to
the Loc Ninh artillery, in hopes of getting a South Vietnamese reply,
instead I got the Viet Cong. They were listening from Loc Nonh City
about
two miles away. They were playing a wooden flute and when I interrupted
to
transmit the aircraft calling into the Artillery base, they said, “Lot
Luck!”
When I asked them if’n they were the South Vietnamese Army, “ARVN”,
“arvin”
they started yelling at us in Vietnamese, so we took off and let the
folks
know that Loc Ninh was closed.

About six months later, Tet, 1972, the North Vietnamese Army occupied
the
base. There were no defenders. But the U.S. military planners did the
unthinkable. They made another effort, dropping in Army troops into the
small ring of sandbags, dropping supplies, and carrying out airstrikes.
It
was a massacre of our own, poorly thought out, but no sweat off the
military
planners’ backs, They were fat, dumb and happy back in their officer’s
clubs, playing golf, sipping on sweet scotch and fizzle.
We lost more men, some of them were unnaccounted for. Planes were shot
down
as well.
And then we left. Did the ARVN participate? No. In fact, Loc Ninh
Province
became the provisional government of the National Liberation Front, or
Viet
Cong. Spring, 1972.

Where were the South Vietnamese? We had left them with a huge AirForce,
well
equipped and trained army. What was their problem? Why didn’t they try
to
take back Loc Ninh?

In fact, ask Senator McCain, the republican who led a bi-partisan
effort
along with Senator john kerry, to get information about those MIA’s who
were
lost during the last Battle of loc Ninh. I also gave personal
information
about the physical layout of the artillery base and environ, via my
contacts
at the C-7A association, per request of those searching the grounds for
evidence of the last MIA’s there.
In fact, look up the Vietnam Veterans of America, http://www.vva.org/ ,
and get onto the forum there and ask them why the war was “lost.”

You will find many former VVAW folks there, as well as a variety of
opinion.

Why we lost the war?
The south Vietnamese did not have the will to fight for them selves.
The entire original infrastructure of the Viet Cong was either killed,
or
died, or imprisoned.
We militarily shut down massive areas of VC operations.
We equipped and trained a large South Vietnamese Army, Air Force,
Navy.We
spent billions of dollars. We sacrificed 58,000 dead, plus many times
that
wounded.
And we performed our duties well, while we were there.

The vote to end the war came about in 1973. It was made by the
congress, the
senate.
It was called the Church-Hatfield Amendment to end the funding for the
bombing, as we’d changed the war into air war, with most ground troops
out.
And then we stopped the bombing in exchange for our POW’s in Hanoi,
including Senator John McCain.

VVAW started in 1968. There were large antiwar demonstrations over a
period
of several years. These included students, veterans, other citizens.
The
anti-war movement reached a critical mass when the congress and the
senate
and finally the president agreed to stop it.

Vietnam was about to surrender? There is no way.. In fact when they
went
into the south, it was a cake walk. It was the South Vietnamese who
were not
willing to fight.
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FROM SOME UNINFORMED MEMBER OF YOUR “CLUB”…:::
“word it coming out that vvaw is responsible for the
>united states losing
>the vietnam war. vietnam was about to surrender, but
>due to the work of
>your organization, they didn’t need to. we pulled
>out as a loser due to
>you. brave soldiers’ lives for naught because of
>your organization”
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VVAW was a part of the antiwar movement, yes. But we won