The Golden Valley Rotary received a few unique glimpses into history at the service club’s Nov. 8 meeting.
The Vietnam Experience was sponsored by Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Quad Communities and moderated by the organization’s president, Marshall Tanick.
Three panelists, Vietnam War veteran Donald Fernstrom, Vietnamese native and government official Thomas Tran and professor and author Karin Aguilar-San Juan, answered questions about the Vietnam War. Aguilar-San Juan is author of “The People Make the Peace: Lessons from the Vietnam Antiwar Movement” and “Little Saigons: Staying Vietnamese in America.”
Did we lose the Vietnam War? If so, why?
“You’re going to be hard pressed to get me to admit we lost the Vietnam War,” Fernstrom said. “We were treated when we returned from Vietnam as if we had lost the Vietnam War, which was very unfortunate because I don’t know of any major battle in Vietnam that we didn’t prevail.”
According to Fernstrom, the public turned against the war in the United States and politically, it was decided that the troops would exit the war and leave the Vietnamese to their fate.
“I thought that was rather unfortunate because we had identified that most of the Vietnamese people didn’t want to be involved in a wartime situation at all,” he said.
Fernstrom recalled returning from the war and not talking to any civilians about his experience overseas.
“It wasn’t until about 10 years ago when I started going to my unit reunions, that I turned around my whole attitude towards my Vietnam experience,” he said.
What was the consensus among Vietnamese, at least in South Vietnam, as to how they felt about the war and the United States involvement in the war?
“The Vietnamese appreciated the presence of the Americans in Vietnam,” Tran said.
Tran said there are 1.8 million Vietnamese in the United States today.
“That means Vietnam veterans did not come back alone,” he said. “We are witnesses to prove that you fought so valiantly and were brave and did a very noble thing. What we have right now is because of your sacrifice.”
What do we learn about the antiwar movement from your book?
“The war is very complex and up to today, many people feel they’re in opposition to whatever side they hear,” Aguilar-San Juan said. “I think the lessons of the antiwar movement are almost as complex as the war itself. A lot of the people who were a part of the antiwar movement see mistakes but also a lot of conviction, youthful idealism, a lot of love of country. Some of the people we present in this book violently disagree with each other. People you might encounter in this book, some believe every nation gets to decide their future.”
What did we learn from the Vietnam War that affects our military outlook today, particularly with respect to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq?
“Our strategy in Vietnam left something to be desired,” Fernstrom said. “I think the focus was too much on body counts and not enough on maintaining control of territory. That was reflected in military leadership. They wanted tangible results and the only way they could quantify tangible results was body counts. That lead to a lot of misinformation from the lower level units to the higher level units. It wasn’t a good thing. It wasn’t a healthy thing.”
Fernstrom remembers pacifying an area in Vietnam and leaving only to have it occupied by Viet Cong again. He admits there likely was not enough soldiers to hold all the territory they were pacifying anyway.
Unlike most wars where there was a front line and rear line, in Vietnam, everyone was on the front line.
Fernstrom was stationed in a free-fire zone.
“We could fire on them without clearance from higher ups,” he said.
In Afghanistan and Iraq, soldiers are able to hold on to the territory they pacify.
“And we’re making a huge effort in Iraq and Afghanistan to limit civilian casualties,” Fernstrom said. “The amount of clearances you have to go through to get clearance to fire artillery, bombing is unbelievable. Even if you identify targets, you’d have to clear it through higher command before you do anything.”
How has Vietnam experience affected the U.S. today?
According to Aguilar-San Juan, the demographics of the U.S. changed following the Vietnam War.
“Because of the Vietnam War and the Secret War in Cambodia and Laos, we have large Vietnamese and Hmong population,” she said.
Vietnamese Americans feel a need to remember where they came from so they build little Saigons.
“They also faced racism, especially when they first came here, people could not distinguish them from the enemy,” she said.
Have you encountered what you consider racism?
Each person has a different perception on racism, Tran said. Foreigners with a home and job face less racism than those without, he said.
In 1975, when he immigrated to the U.S., it only took him a month to land a job. He went on to earn his master’s degree and study law, at which point he earned another job.
“I felt good,” he said with a laugh. “No racism.”
Tran’s friend experienced the U.S. differently. He found it difficult to get a job and did not continue schooling because he was not fluent in English.
Do you think part of the reason we venerate our veterans so much is because of the shame and guilt we feel for how we treated you and your colleagues?
“I definitely feel that,” Fernstrom said. “I think that the beginning of the change of attitude toward Vietnam veterans was the Gulf War in 1991.”
Fernstrom said after the success of liberating Kuwait during the Gulf War, troops returned to parades and gratitude.
“About three years ago, Minnesota had a Vietnam veterans welcome home celebration at the State Fair,” he said. “There were about 3,000-4,000 veterans that marched in that parade. That’s among the first times anyone thanked me for my service in Vietnam.”
Now, he said, people thank him at the grocery store, bank and other places when he is wearing his veterans hat.
The Rotary’s event coincided with Veterans Day Nov. 11.
Contact Gina Purcell at gina.purcell@ecm-inc.com