A Vietnam Veteran Speaks Out: “The First Person I Killed in Vietnam”

A Vietnam Veteran Speaks Out: “The First Person I Killed in Vietnam”

(EXCERPT) By Jack Dalton Vietnam Veteran 24/12/2003 I am a disabled
Vietnam veteran. I was stationed at the Marine Corps base at Marble
Mountain on the Tienshaw peninsula (across the river from DaNang -
about 20 miles). Sometimes I had the impression the Viet Cong (whoever
they were) used Marble Mountain for mortar practice to hone their
skills, which were already very good.

I enlisted in the Marine Corps less than a year behind the end of the
Cuban missile crisis. The fear of a Russian-led (not to mention China)
invasion/war against this country had a lot of my generation
enlisting. We wanted to protect and save this country from anyone who
we perceived wanted to do it (us) harm. Then, in 1964 things started
to really heat up in a country most of us had never heard of, Vietnam.
The line went something like this: the communist North Vietnam, led,
By Ho Chi Minh, was aligned with our other great “enemy” - China - and
was attempting to invade South Vietnam and overthrow the legitimate,
US-backed “democratic” government. If they succeeded, as the story
line went, North Vietnam would then be in a position for a possible
invasion of the US, unfortunately for the people of Vietnam (north and
south), and for us who believed what was being spoon-fed us (I will
never get over the guilt of being so blind and stupid, but then, I
grew up believi...

U.S. and friendly nation laws prohibit fully reproducing
copyrighted material. In abidance with our laws this report
cannot be provided in its entirety. However, you can read it
in full today, 24 Dec 2003, at the following URL. (COMBINE
the following lines into your web browser.) The
subject/content of this report is not necessarily the
viewpoint of the distributing Library. This report is provided
for your information and discussion.

http://www.islamonline.net/english/I...ticle_07.shtml

---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com