The absence of the U.S. ambassador, Marc Knapper, wasn't just a missed opportunity -- it is a disgrace. The US IS petty and weak because that is who our president is.
Amb. Knapper is a career diplomat. This is all Stephen Miller's doing, oh and the man with the brain of a pea who also happens to be a draft dodger - and it wasn't for principle, it was for straight out cowardice and it would be cutting into his social life. Remember, he's the man who told Howard Stern that his Vietnam was not contracting a sexually transmitted disease. I think he was wrong on that....
I was not aware of this ugly snub. Viet Nam was a powerful time. I was hs class of 73 and had older siblings who both had friends who died there. I was anti war at age 14 but always pro veteran. I'm afraid we will continue to have embarrassing missed opportunities as long as The Felon, his cabinet and the GOP are in power and the damage will be deep. Thank you for your service and sharing your experience with us.
Like many people my age, I have friends on the wall in Washington: two of them in my case, but there are people who lost many more.
The names are like fossils caught in the amber of that era. The memorial is a testimony, not to the war we lost, but to the US we are losing. Reactionaries tried to block the building of the wall once they learned the winning design (chosen in a "blind" competition) had been submitted by a woman, Maya Lin, the daughter of Chinese immigrants.
They wanted Trump style art-or perhaps Harlan Crow style--State Statuary: triumphant, sneering, militant, Orwellianly crude--and marketable (the art of the deal at all times: maybe throw in a little bitcoin).
But veterans who visit Maya Lin's wall, and have done for decades, know only that they are in the presence of the spirit: when they go to that quiet place and see the lovely names of the fallen, they are taken to a place beyond nations, beyond words, beyond politics. They pray and weep and remember and are swept up in a soaring kind of grief and pride together.
Halfway around the world, others remember their fallen, their war: the same war. Men from opposing sides, brothers in death--in death they have transcended petty politics and imperial ambitions.
The legacy is one of reconciliation: of the cold weight of history once truth is acknowledged. That should be remembered and honored on both sides of the world.
But in the time of Trump and Mafia governance, "honor" is a concept without meaning: at least, not in official Republican circles.
This is such a beautiful story. I'm from the Vietnam era. Although I had not lost anyone personally, being at the wall was still a tremendous experience. Even thinking about it....
My Charlie. My Tommy. Others of my high school class who served and died. Friends Jim and John, who suffered in everyday life after their life-changing experiences in the unjust war. My lover from PA, who ended his life in despair. So much destruction. I live to bear witness to their suffering, alive and dead.
Thank you for this article. The Vietnam War is my generation. You do a great service to all to remind of of the unfathomable cost of that War and the inspiring work of reconciliation that is ongoing.
I'm not sure for myself it is enough to lay all the blame on the current regime. Americans forgot and forgot to care and pay attention. I feel the shame for this pettiness and weakness is on me as well. Americans have to do better.
Thank you Sir, for your service during the Vietnam war. Thank you for your dedication in coming together with other veterans from both sides to support one another, celebrate the progress that has been achieved over the last 50 years between the US and Vietnam, and to grieve together over the many losses that occurred when we were at war. Thank you.
I served for 15 months in Nam. First on a landing ship that took supplies from Da Nang to the DMZ & then on another LST (the USS Garrett County) that was part of the River Patrol Force (TF 116) in Mekong Delta. I was a gullible volunteer who had seen too many John Wayne & Steve McQeen movies. It wasn't until about 72 or 73 that I realized that I had been had. We (politicians & the American people) didn't learn and did the same thing again in Afghanistan. The climate & geography were different and we fought Islamic fanatics instead of Communist fanatics, but the story was essentially the same. I have a 4 yr old grandson. When will the next Vietnam be?
I was a gullible high school student back then, waving the flag. Remember how hard we came down on Jane Fonda? Remember how beastly the returning veterans were treated? So much shame and sorrow.
All the diplomats who were ordered not to participate should have resigned in protest.
Did the Administration give a reason for this disgraceful order?
Does Trump realize the commemoration's purpose was not to celebrate the war, but rather to acknowledge that, despite the horror of war, a lasting peace can be achieved?
This is just one of many bungled messages of the current administration. Take away, give back. Threaten, make deals. Say yes, say no. We could use swivel chairs to watch the debacles unfolding every day. The Vietnam era was an extremely difficult time to live through. I commend your spirit of reconciliation and understanding.
I remember going to Vietnam for the first time in 2008. My friend and I didn't want to go, but were unable to take a side trip to Thailand. What we got by going to Vietnam was a beautiful surprise. It was wonderful to see a thriving country. I know some of my high school classmates died over there, which I am sorry about. But I'm very glad that Vietnam came out of the whole debacle in good shape. It's really sad that our diplomats were told not to attend commemoration ceremonies. We belonged at those ceremonies.
The absence of the U.S. ambassador, Marc Knapper, wasn't just a missed opportunity -- it is a disgrace. The US IS petty and weak because that is who our president is.
Amb. Knapper is a career diplomat. This is all Stephen Miller's doing, oh and the man with the brain of a pea who also happens to be a draft dodger - and it wasn't for principle, it was for straight out cowardice and it would be cutting into his social life. Remember, he's the man who told Howard Stern that his Vietnam was not contracting a sexually transmitted disease. I think he was wrong on that....
There is no bottom inside Stephen Miller. He is missing many vital parts that define a human.
When we show them who we are they should believe it. Petty and weak.
I was not aware of this ugly snub. Viet Nam was a powerful time. I was hs class of 73 and had older siblings who both had friends who died there. I was anti war at age 14 but always pro veteran. I'm afraid we will continue to have embarrassing missed opportunities as long as The Felon, his cabinet and the GOP are in power and the damage will be deep. Thank you for your service and sharing your experience with us.
I love it when you call DJT.... The Felon it says so much....
Like many people my age, I have friends on the wall in Washington: two of them in my case, but there are people who lost many more.
The names are like fossils caught in the amber of that era. The memorial is a testimony, not to the war we lost, but to the US we are losing. Reactionaries tried to block the building of the wall once they learned the winning design (chosen in a "blind" competition) had been submitted by a woman, Maya Lin, the daughter of Chinese immigrants.
They wanted Trump style art-or perhaps Harlan Crow style--State Statuary: triumphant, sneering, militant, Orwellianly crude--and marketable (the art of the deal at all times: maybe throw in a little bitcoin).
But veterans who visit Maya Lin's wall, and have done for decades, know only that they are in the presence of the spirit: when they go to that quiet place and see the lovely names of the fallen, they are taken to a place beyond nations, beyond words, beyond politics. They pray and weep and remember and are swept up in a soaring kind of grief and pride together.
Halfway around the world, others remember their fallen, their war: the same war. Men from opposing sides, brothers in death--in death they have transcended petty politics and imperial ambitions.
The legacy is one of reconciliation: of the cold weight of history once truth is acknowledged. That should be remembered and honored on both sides of the world.
But in the time of Trump and Mafia governance, "honor" is a concept without meaning: at least, not in official Republican circles.
This is such a beautiful story. I'm from the Vietnam era. Although I had not lost anyone personally, being at the wall was still a tremendous experience. Even thinking about it....
My Charlie. My Tommy. Others of my high school class who served and died. Friends Jim and John, who suffered in everyday life after their life-changing experiences in the unjust war. My lover from PA, who ended his life in despair. So much destruction. I live to bear witness to their suffering, alive and dead.
Thank you for this article. The Vietnam War is my generation. You do a great service to all to remind of of the unfathomable cost of that War and the inspiring work of reconciliation that is ongoing.
I'm not sure for myself it is enough to lay all the blame on the current regime. Americans forgot and forgot to care and pay attention. I feel the shame for this pettiness and weakness is on me as well. Americans have to do better.
Trump is re-writing history. He is taking out all reference to Jan. 6 out of White House records.
All while he calls it a Love Fest...he knows it was an attempt to overthrough the vote.
We are going to have so much to fix and replace after we boot him out. Soon please.
I am grateful to YOU for being there and participating
Thank you Sir, for your service during the Vietnam war. Thank you for your dedication in coming together with other veterans from both sides to support one another, celebrate the progress that has been achieved over the last 50 years between the US and Vietnam, and to grieve together over the many losses that occurred when we were at war. Thank you.
People who fail to grasp the concept of honor can’t possibly understand the purpose of diplomacy—or truth, reconciliation, justice, and restitution!
I am surmising that you had neither a heel spur or a crooked doctor... nor a cowardice.
I served for 15 months in Nam. First on a landing ship that took supplies from Da Nang to the DMZ & then on another LST (the USS Garrett County) that was part of the River Patrol Force (TF 116) in Mekong Delta. I was a gullible volunteer who had seen too many John Wayne & Steve McQeen movies. It wasn't until about 72 or 73 that I realized that I had been had. We (politicians & the American people) didn't learn and did the same thing again in Afghanistan. The climate & geography were different and we fought Islamic fanatics instead of Communist fanatics, but the story was essentially the same. I have a 4 yr old grandson. When will the next Vietnam be?
I was a gullible high school student back then, waving the flag. Remember how hard we came down on Jane Fonda? Remember how beastly the returning veterans were treated? So much shame and sorrow.
That is so sweet of you to remember Jane Fonda.
Her husband sent her there alone and she had no help to see
what was happening. I read her book of course.
She explained they put her in front of the machine guns and she pleaded
with the photographers not to use it. She would not have stood there
if she hadn't been shunted around with no one to assist her.
She was used... inclufing by the husband who she divorced after
he wiped out all her money. She had to start over again.
Not far off I'm sad to say.
Every day brings another petty vindictive example of the soulless behaviors of this administration. Thank goodness for people like John Terazano
The truth is the whole debacle makes the United States seem petty and weak.
Like President, like Nation, I suppose.................
But Don the Con doesn't speak for me.
I love this name too... Don the Con..
I have a new one....DJT the King of Bankruptcy.
All the diplomats who were ordered not to participate should have resigned in protest.
Did the Administration give a reason for this disgraceful order?
Does Trump realize the commemoration's purpose was not to celebrate the war, but rather to acknowledge that, despite the horror of war, a lasting peace can be achieved?
Probably not. And he probably doesn't care.
NO, no, no. He is denying all history. He is anti-woke, which is only the concept
of looking back at our history and acknowledging that we are human too...
We've made mistakes. The important thing is that we are aiming at a fairer,
kinder country as we face the future
This is just one of many bungled messages of the current administration. Take away, give back. Threaten, make deals. Say yes, say no. We could use swivel chairs to watch the debacles unfolding every day. The Vietnam era was an extremely difficult time to live through. I commend your spirit of reconciliation and understanding.
Thank you for working for reconciliation.
Thank you for being there.
I remember going to Vietnam for the first time in 2008. My friend and I didn't want to go, but were unable to take a side trip to Thailand. What we got by going to Vietnam was a beautiful surprise. It was wonderful to see a thriving country. I know some of my high school classmates died over there, which I am sorry about. But I'm very glad that Vietnam came out of the whole debacle in good shape. It's really sad that our diplomats were told not to attend commemoration ceremonies. We belonged at those ceremonies.