Letter from the Editor

by James C. Roberts

Dear Friends,

If you are reading this inaugural issue of Valor: The Veterans of Vietnam, it is likely that you share my feelings toward America’s most misunderstood war. As a Naval veteran of Vietnam, I witnessed firsthand the heroism and sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. They, like the generation before them, served with honor, but were instead treated with contempt by many upon their return home.

Intelligent people can disagree on the necessity of America’s involvement in Vietnam. Some, like Stanley Karnow in his Pulitzer Prize winning history of Vietnam, believe that while America’s intentions were noble, Vietnam proved too complex to be a successful venture.

Others share the view of President Reagan, who in 1981 said that soldiers in Vietnam “who obeyed their country’s call and fought as bravely and well as any Americans (were) denied permission to win” by Washington politicians and bureaucrats.

Still others take a view somewhere in the middle, that mistakes were made on the ground, especially in General Westmoreland’s strategy of “search and destroy” missions in a war of attrition, but that the war was all-but-won once the focus was shifted toward emphasizing the control of territory in South Vietnam. It was when Congress eliminated all support for the South Vietnamese military that Vietnam fell to the Communist North, and led to the deaths of millions in Southeast Asia.

What cannot be questioned is the honor with which the vast majority of Americans who served in Vietnam discharged their duties. War is always hell, but the depictions of American soldiers engaging in widespread raping, torturing, and killing of Vietnamese civilians by some is disgusting, and false. These soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines rose to the challenge, served honorably and never lost an engagement, then returned home to live their lives. Of course, like soldiers throughout history, some were scarred by what they lived through, but for too long we have lived with the stereotype that the typical returning veteran from Vietnam was a drugged-out loser, who could not cope with life. These veterans, like those that came before them, should be treated as what they are: heroes.

For the past decade, I have served as the President of the World War II Veterans Committee, an educational foundation dedicated toward preserving the legacy of World War II history, and its veterans, and passing it on to succeeding generations. I have watched as the public’s interest in World War II history has grown immensely over the last 15 years. As the veterans of World War II have passed from the scene, it seems that Americans of all ages have rediscovered the importance of World War II, and of its veterans.