Vietnam War Flashback -- As a U.S. Army combat infantryman in Vietnam, I saw the wraths of war up close and personal. There were many MOS ( job descriptions ) assigned to our soldiers. My units job was to hunt down and capture or kill enemy soldiers. Many of the enemy that we encountered were Viet Cong. Most were poor peasants from surrounding provinces in the Mekong Delta Region. We were required to turn in the clothes of the deceased enemy to track body counts. In most cases the enemy soldier had no money. The most money we ever found on any of them was $ 17. They would almost always have two items on them. One was a picture of their Communist Vietnam leader, Ho Chi Minh, wrapped in plastic and the other was a cigarette lighter. The picture of Ho Chi Minh was their inspiration to fight us. The lighter would be used to smoke the cigarettes that they stole from villagers while they were stealing their food. Ho Chi Minh died at the age of 79 in Sept. 1969 in Hanoi of heart failure. His name means he who enlightens . He definitely inspired many of his countrymen. Nearly 3 million North & South Vietnamese were killed in this war. The 2 Vietnams reunified into one country in 1975.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Mar 2014 19:08:08 +0000
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