By Rich Botkin

 

Thirty eight years ago today the war in Vietnam, for Americans, came to its inglorious, ignominious official conclusion.

 
For many millions of freedom-loving Vietnamese left behind, the end of the ‘American War’ would simply be prelude into a longer, near-endless period of darkness and suffering.

Those of us old enough to recall the date April 30, 1975 will forever remember those final newscasts from a Saigon being overwhelmed by invading North Vietnamese infantry and armor, images of multitudes futilely attempting to join the American exodus, shots of US Navy ships steaming offshore crowded with refugees and flight decks awash in helicopters being pitched into the abyss of the South China Sea; the sinking aircraft metaphor to many for the tremendous waste of American blood and treasure.

And since that dark sunset on that day the wounds that were the Vietnam War would never quite heal or be remembered in proper perspective.

Assessing the situation years later it was a long-retired and partially publicly-restored Richard Nixon who would give us, arguably, the greatest two-line observation on our experience in Vietnam when he said:

“No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.”

Read the full article by Rich Botkin at World Net Daily.

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Editor’s note: I have a very personal interest in this article–I am the Social Media Marketing Director for the Ride the Thunder Film Project, which will premiere in SoCal on March 27.

Rich, Fred Koster and I have a passion to restore honor to those Vietnam vets who opposed a sinister enemy (the communists/”The Khmer Rouge”) with the ARVN/TQLC (South Vietnamese Army and Marines) fighting fiercely along side.

Our greatest hope is to re-educate generations of ill and mis-informed Americans of the bravery of our vets and the ARVN/TQLC vets, and to settle the score once and for all: we essentially had the war won until the Democratic-majority Congress passed the Fulbright-Aiken Amendment in August 1973, and further the 93rd Congress made huge cuts in aid while the Russians and Chinese doubled theirs.

There have been many, award-winning movies centered on Vietnam, all of them from a distinctly anti-war viewpoint. Ride the Thunder film will stun audiences with a simple message of truth. Hold onto your hats America–we’re about to make history. Semper Fi.

Tami Jackson