LIKE MILLIONS OF AMERICANS WE HAVE BEEN watching the Vietnam War series on PBS. As a veteran myself I was hoping Ken Burns’ presentation would shed some light on my ambivalent feelings about my service but after ten episodes I am just as conflicted as I was before. The only difference is that it is on my mind now, not tucked away.
Although he focused on both the hawks and doves, Burns obviously had a point of view he wanted to come across. A friend — a veteran and prisoner of war — suggested that Ho Chi Min helped to write the script. While I wouldn’t go that far, Vietnam totally overlooked the 2.5 million of us who did our job then returned to normal lives. We were niether heroes nor villains and didn’t see much action. Only one in ten GIs was involved in regular combat. We weren’t hooked on drugs, didn’t protest or whinge and mostly didn’t talk about our service afterwards. We returned to our jobs or continued our education. We got married and raised families. And we’re still not sure what it was all for.
