#vietnam

He ran as he'd never run before, with neither hope nor despair. He ran because the world was divided into opposites and his side had already been chosen for him, his only choice being whether or not to play his part with heart and courage. He ran because fate had placed him in a position of responsibility and he had accepted the burden. He ran because his self-respect required it. He ran because he loved his friends and this was the only thing he could do to end the madness that was killing and maiming them. ↗

— Karl Marlantes

#inspiration #marine-corps #officer #running #vietnam

We discovered in that depressing, hellish place where death was our constant companion that we loved each other. We killed for each other, we died for each other and we wept for each other. And in time we came to love each other as brothers. In battle our world shrank to the man on our left and the man on our right and the enemy all around. We held each other's lives in our hands and we learned to share our fears, our hopes, our dreams as readily as we shared what little else good came our way. We were the children of the 1950's and John F. Kennedy's young stalwarts of the early 1960's. He told the world that Americans would go anywhere, pay any price, bear any burden in the defense of freedom. We were the down payment on that costly contract, but the man who signed it was not there when we fulfilled his promise. John F. Kennedy waited for us on a hill in Arlington National Cemetery, and in time, by the thousands, we came to fill those slopes with our white marble markers and to ask on the murmur of the wind if that was truly the future he had envisioned for us. ↗

— General Hal Moore (We Were Soldiers)

#love #soldiers #vietnam-war #war #death

The conclusion that many uniformed military came away from Vietnam with was that political interference, dominance of strategy and even tactics were a very bad way to conduct a war, and that indeed, if that was going to be our practice, that we shouldn't wage conflict again. ↗

— Robert McFarlane

#away #bad #came #conclusion #conduct

The object of my relationship with Vietnam has been to heal the wounds that exist, particularly among our veterans, and to move forward with a positive relationship,... Apparently some in the Vietnamese government don't want to do that and that's their decision. ↗

— Ho Chi Minh

#among #apparently #been #decision #exist

Obviously all of us have thought about Vietnam, particularly in my generation in Australia that were part of conscription and fought there. Our friends came back, forever changed. So there were a lot of questions. ↗

— Phillip Noyce

#australia #back #came #changed #conscription

I have been to several wars to draw. I went to Vietnam. And made drawings in Vietnam during that period of the war there, and found that to be a very very sad situation. ↗

— Gerald Scarfe

#draw #drawings #during #found #i

Now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place. ↗

— John F. Kennedy

#making #now #our #place #power

I can remember as a young lieutenant being sent into the DMZ in the divided Vietnam, from North Vietnam. ↗

— Oliver North

#divided #i #i can #into #lieutenant

We should bomb Vietnam back into the stone age. ↗

— Curtis LeMay

#back #bomb #into #should #stone

Nobody gives way to anybody. Everyone just angles, points, dives directly toward his destination, pretending it is an all-or-nothing gamble. People glare at one another and fight for maneuvering space. All parties are equally determined to get the right-of-way--insist on it. They swerve away at the last possible moment, giving scant inches to spare. The victor goes forwards, no time for a victory grin, already engaging in another contest of will. Saigon traffic is Vietnamese life, a continuous charade of posturing, bluffing, fast moves, tenacity and surrenders. ↗

— Andrew X. Pham

#motorcycles #saigon #traffic #vietnam #equality