THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504300040
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
INFOLINE FEEDBACK
The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star asked readers to comment on former Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara's memoirs, in which he concludes that the Vietnam War he helped direct was a tragic mistake. Here is a sample of what they said.
I served in Vietnam in '66 and '67. Although 58,000 men were killed in the Vietnam War, a little known fact is that 60,000 veterans committed suicide in the first three years after the war. I think McNamara is using his book to settle something mentally that we've all had to settle ourselves.
I served in the Navy on the aircraft carrier Constellation. We bombed 24 hours a day. . . . In '67 we dropped more bombs in Vietnam than all the bombs that were dropped in World War II. . . .
I was gung-ho when I went over there. I volunteered; I was a hawk. I tried to ignore all the protests. . . . It was a waste, not letting us finish the war. Now McNamara's saying we couldn't have won it. I'd hate to think that was true, that they knew we couldn't win the thing going into it. It really took a toll on young men's minds. I think everyone who went over there in this war was counting the days until they came back. We were a bunch of young boys trying to take somebody's country away from them. I'm 50 now. I still kinda feel like I was cheated.
We've been dragging this stuff up for 25 years now. I think everybody ought to be quiet. I think McNamara should have kept his mouth shut.
- Tom Frizielle, Portsmouth
The U.S. in Vietnam can be compared to the British in the American Revolution. McNamara doesn't diminish the honor of the veterans as far as I can see, but it does place equal value on the protesters, which it should. People seem to want history to be black and white, but it isn't. It's no more dishonorable to protest than it is to be obedient. Politicians are only people, driven by ambitions and traditions. McNamara waited to speak. Whatever his reasons, I'm glad he has finally expressed his real personal feelings. . .
- Margaret Leafe, Virginia Beach
He has a lot of guts to write the book, but he is totally wrong. He has upset a lot of Vietnam people. The war was not necessary; it was not needed and cost a lot of not only money, but lives. It's stirring up one hell of a hornet's nest when it should be left alone. It's too late. He's trying to put himself in a place in history, trying to vindicate himself.
- Christina Dickey, Portsmouth
I'm a Vietnam vet. I think it's absolutely wrong for McNamara to dig this up. If he wanted to ease his conscience, he should have taken us out of there in '67. He shouldn't have said anything about it now.
- John Hopkins, Virginia Beach
I disagree with McNamara. I think the war was winnable. I just don't think he wanted to win it.
- Gordon Smith, Virginia Beach
I think it's too bad that McNamara didn't take his revelation to the grave with him. And now that it's in print, a grateful nation should do no less than to charge him with treason or malfeasance.
- Robert J. Brehm, Chesapeake
I think he should have kept his mouth closed. Everyone in the military was angry with him when it was going on. He shouldn't have reopened those wounds.
- Anna Wood, Virginia Beach
I think he did it to clear his conscience. And I think in doing so, he has cleared the consciences of a lot of men who ran away rather than serve, even though it has hurt a lot of people who died.
- Judy Brunk, Jamesville, Va.
I think it's a diabolical scheme to help out his best friend Clinton, and he's spitting on the graves of 58,000 men.
- Ronald Clement, Norfolk
I grew up in the '60s. My husband went to Vietnam five times. Tears clear the vision. He is more of a man to admit his mistake. I was against the war, but let me tell you, he was a man to do what he did.
- Jackie Trudel Lane, Virginia Beach
I think it's a travesty, and I put it right up there with the Holocaust. All those boys' lives wasted.
- Mary Virginia Austin, Norfolk
This is a tragedy. This doesn't vindicate him. It indicts him even further. We knew him real well back then. He was pushy, arrogant, opinionated, non-negotiable. He divided his country. . . . What about Kent State, what about all the suicides, the divorces?
- Michael O'Tool, Virginia Beach
As assistant logistics officer on the staff of the Navy's Philippines command in the early '50s, I assisted in the evacuation of American civilians from Saigon when the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu. When the United States decided to get into Vietnam, I could not believe it. There was always wonder in my mind that we thought we could be successful there when the French couldn't. . . .
I believe President Kennedy was about to announce that we were going to withdraw from Vietnam when he was assassinated. I think people who were making a buck off the war had him killed. . . .
- Cmdr. Douglas Murray (retired), Virginia Beach ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
THE VIETNAM WAR
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: VIETNAM WAR by CNB