General Westmoreland

[sn-e3]

Just read a story on yahoo news General William Westmoreland died today in Charlston South Carolina.. I salute you General and may you find peace in Heaven

[Stick]

Westy, your mission is now complete. God knows you couldn't finish one here.

[39mto39g]

I never thought he was a very good Gen. He was just a yes man to the white house. Any 1st LT. could have done as good as he did.


Ron

[Boats]

Mixed emotions but wish him a peaceful rest.

[Bill Farnie]

May he RIP

[Gimpy]

Stick, sn-E3, Boats and Bill Farnie said.

[DMZ-LT]

Rest in Peace , Soldier

[exlrrp]

A final salute to Westy--another paratrooper gone
He sure looked good. Thats about the best I can say for him.
I don't blame him for what happened, it wasn't his fault.
But he didn't help the situation much.

" Do not ask for whom the bell tolls
It tolls for thee"
John Donne

Stay good
James

[BLUEHAWK]

He served our country, as an officer, and did his best I feel sure.

Godspeed, and Welcome Home.

A brief biography (cannot speak for the accuracy):



GENERAL WILLIAM WESTMORELAND

"Born: March, 26, 1914

Place of Birth: Spartanburg County, South Carolina

Military University: West Point

Wars Fought:
-World War II
-Korean War
-Vietnam War 1965-1968

Military Decorations:
-5 Honorary Degrees. 17 Battle campaign in 3 wars.
-4 Distinguished Service Medals.
-Decorated by 16 foreign countries. (4 from S. Amer., 5 Eur., 7 Far East.

Vietnam War:
From 1964 until 1968, General Westmoreland acted as the chief of the Military Assistance Command in Vietnam, the American establishment formed to help South Vietnam in its battle against Communist forces. In that year, a large Communist force fell upon South Vietnamese and upon American troops under General Westmoreland's command during the Vietnamese Lunar New Year known as Tet. Though the Communists suffered major casualties, the offensive had the effect in the United States of seeming to undermine both public and official will to pursue the war.

On the whole, General Westmoreland pursued a conservative course militarily durng his four years of command in Vietnam, where he spent most of his time - in starched green fatigues - in the MACV headquarters in Saigon, known as Pentagon East. After United States combat units began to arrive in 1965, at his urging, he is said by fellow officers to have preferred to employ those units and to relegate Vietnamese Army forces to secondary roles in maintaining local security.

General Westmoreland's strategy was one of a "war of attrition," in which he sought to kill infiltrated and indigenous Vietnamese Communist soldiers more rapidly than they could be replaced.

The general followed a plan of "search and destroy" missions in which well-trained and armed American Units would try to find and bloody so-called main-force Communist forces. However, General Westmoreland was under constant pressure from Washington to avoid the kind of disaster that befell the French Army during the 55-day siege at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 that ended the French effort in Indochina.

For this reason, he normally forbade any military operations by units smaller than a battalion of about 750 men. He also developed a somewhat unusual method of operation in which artillery guns were airlifted into fire bases and troops were, for the most part, forbidden to proceed past the 11,000- to 20,000-yard "fan" of the artillery."

[Packo]

I have had the pleasure of meeting Gen Westmoreland three times in my life. Once at the Pentagon while he was Chief of Staff, once at a Welcome Home Parade for Vietnam Vets, and once more at the Marine Corps Air Station here in Beaufort. He remembered me at the Air Station from the welcome home parade and I was impressed with that. It had been more than 10 years. His speech at the Parade was impressive and I believed what he said.

I was in the Army less than 3 years and obtained the rank of Sergeant, of which I am very proud. I was a Paratrooper, which I am even prouder of. I cannot make a judgement on Westy because 2 1/2 years of service and about 10 months of Combat does not give me the qualifications I would need to judge something as complex as a General trying to run a war we had never fought before. All I can say is that after meeting him, I came away respecting him.

Airborne Sir! Thanks so much for caring about us the way you did.

Pack