|
30 NOVEMBER, 2000
This article is a composite of the articles written by the Vietnamese Marines who fought in the war. It is the story of bravery and sacrifice for a country they loved. In the interests of brevity I have selected only one battalion of Marines. Most of the time I do not include the supporting units. To do so would complicate the story.
I write letters to the Bellingham Herald and I thought that doing a letter on the Vietnam Moving Wall Memorial would be a good subject. The editor of Sempter Fi, the Marine Corps League newsletter, assigned me to do an article on the Wall as well. When I began to do my research on the Moving Wall in Ferndale I chose to go on the day the Vietnamese would be honoring their own.
I knew about the American losses in Nam first hand. I served three years in the U.S. Marine Corps and one year in Vietnam attached to the 2nd Light AntiAircraft Missile Battalion in Chu Lai. A Surface to Air Missile (SAM) unit. My tour encompassed late 1967 thru October of 1968.
The American people lament their losses. They sacrificed much as their sons and daughters spilled their blood on foreign soil. Listening to the speeches I began to realize the magnitude of the loss to the Vietnamese people and particularly the Vietnamese Veterans. Many of the people attending the speeches had lost their families, property, and country. Some had been in reeducation camps and had escaped the communist paradise in leaky boats or thru the jungles.
This web site is dedicated to the men and women of the Vietnamese military who sacrificed everything, except their honor, in a desperate fight to stop the spread of communism. These same veterans continue to fight for the liberation of their homeland thru non-violent means.
Sheila L Richardson
|
