Trump’s Vietnam commemoration debacle: amateur hour

Diplomats were told not to attend ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

By John F. Terzano

This week I traveled on a train in Vietnam from the city of Hue to Ho Chi Minh City. The trip took about 21 hours. There is nothing like a leisurely train ride. It is an extraordinary opportunity for a veteran of the war to just sit back, relax, reflect, and enjoy this beautiful country absent the time-frozen images of war.

I have traveled to Vietnam many times since I spent my 20^th and 21^st birthdays here in 1971 and 1972. When I left Vietnam on a Navy destroyer in December 1972 for what I thought would be the last time, I was never so happy to leave a place. My memories of those days are not pleasant—memories of war never are. I didn’t realize at the time that I would return to Vietnam many times over the years.

In 1981, I was part of the first delegation of veterans to return to Vietnam after the war. That put me on the road to work for reconciliation between our two countries. Among other things, I am in Vietnam now to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the end of the war. This year also marks the 30^th anniversary of the establishment of normalized relations between our two countries.

We have come a long way from April 30, 1975: From enemies to two countries with normalized relations who signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement in 2023.

The road has not been easy. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “[t]here is no handy roadmap for reconciliation…. Creating trust and understanding between former enemies is a supremely difficult challenge. It is, however, an essential one to address in the process of building a lasting peace.”

Many people do not realize that wars do not end when the peace treaty is signed. Wars live on in the lives of those who have been affected by that war. And, as we know, those affected go well beyond the combatants, even affecting succeeding generations.

More than 58,000 names of Americans who gave their lives or remain missing from the war are inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. But every wall has two sides. On the other side of “the Wall,” over 1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers were killed. Innocent Vietnamese civilian casualties exceed 2 million people and about 300,000 Vietnamese remain missing.

The United States dropped more than 7.5 million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—double the amount dropped on Europe and the Pacific during World War II. The United States also sprayed 19 million gallons of herbicides such as Agent Orange on 4.5 million acres in Vietnam—almost the size of New Jersey.

Given what transpired between our two countries during the war, it is not surprising that legacy of war issues remain the cornerstone of U.S.-Vietnam relations. The effects of exposure to herbicides and the amount of unexploded ordnance—bombs and landmines left from the war—remain a daily issue in the lives of countless Vietnamese. In fact, more than 100,000 Vietnamese have been killed or injured as a result of unexploded ordnance since the end of the war. Accordingly, the United States has provided hundreds of millions of dollars for herbicide and unexploded ordinance cleanup operations and millions to programs focused on victims of unexploded ordnance and exposure to herbicides. The United States also assists Vietnam in locating and identifying some of its missing people. These initiatives build on and reciprocate Vietnam’s 40 plus years of working with the United States to help identify the remains of American MIAs.

Which is why it came as a surprise when the New York Times reported last week that U.S. diplomats in Vietnam were told not to participate in events and activities commemorating the end of the war. For Vietnam, it is “an opportunity to honor values of forgiveness, peace, reconciliation and healing, and the spirit of moving beyond the past toward the future.”

For Vietnam it is a day of unity. As of Tuesday, the ban had been lifted, and the U.S. consul general attended a reception. However, the absence of the U.S. ambassador, Marc Knapper, was a missed opportunity. Given that the U.S. ambassador is also the son of a Vietnam veteran, his presence would have been symbolically significant and seen as the passing of the torch from one generation to another in the spirit of reconciliation.

It is unclear who made the decision—the White House or a state department functionary. But it does not matter because the decision did not make sense. Then again, neither did the decision earlier this year to abruptly terminate the War Legacy programs noted above. And though the decision on the War Legacy programs was reversed, the disruption has set the programs back months, causing significant damage.

The truth is the whole debacle makes the United States seem petty and weak. Strong and mature nations acknowledge and confront the past, honor the sacrifices made on both sides and move toward the future. Intending to boycott such a historical event contradicts all the progress made between our two countries since the end of the war and mocks the whole notion of reconciliation.

Moreover, Southeast Asia is on the frontline of U.S. competition with China. Vietnam plays an important role as a counterweight to China’s ambitions. By not standing alongside Vietnam, America’s image as a reliable and pragmatic partner is weakened. Indeed, China would like nothing more than to drive a wedge between the United States and Vietnam. A petty gesture such as this makes it easier for China to portray the United States as unreliable, arrogant and stuck in the past and claim it is the pragmatic, reliable partner in the region.

Even a cursory review of U.S.-Vietnam relations since World War II would show an incredible number of missed opportunities and wrong decisions. The planned boycott, even though it was eased somewhat, was just one more.

I will be at the events, as will many other American and Vietnamese veterans from the war—former combatants standing together in peace, friendship and an undying hope for a prosperous and just peace. To me, that is the true reconciliation.

John F. Terzano lives in Ludington, Mich., where he works as a social justice and human rights advocate, locally and around the world.

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