Your opinion please.

Adironduck

I am a member of an honor guard at the national cemetary near where I live.I was recently issued new uniforms and noticed that the tags in the shirts and pants read "Made in Vietnam".I am troubled by this and am tempted to file a complaint.One of the fellows in my squad commented"You buy products made in Japan all the time"what difference is there?Well I have given it some thought and decided there is a big difference.We defeated Japan and at the end of the war they became our ally.Vietnam,as we all know,defeated us and is technically an enemy of the U.S.(communist).I can't help but feel that I am betraying the nearly 60,000 Americans killed in that war.Think about it:A service organization which serves to honor our war dead.Many of them were killed in Vietnam.I am not interested in re-fighting the war,am I over-reacting?

Ray B

First off- North Vietnam/Viet Cong did not defeat the US. North Vietnam was fighting to gain South Vietnam, or rather to unify the country. The situation was analogous to a schoolmate picking a fight with another student, that students bigger brother steps in and mops up on the bully, but at some point the younger student must be able to take care of himself- this never happened in Vietnam. the government operated for the benefit of the one in charge and several of the military posts were commanded by political friends and relatives, rather than qualified leaders. So when the US finally disengaged, the superior leadership of the north overwhelmed the south. Vietnam was unified, which was the goal of the North.

The US wasn't fighting North Vietnam, rather it was fighting "Communism". In the fight against Communism, the US was quite successful. The ante to continue the war resulted in several military defeats of the Communists, very expensive in both lives and material. The reason the Communists didn't invade after the defeats of 1973 until 1975 was that it took two years to get the army regrouped.

Following the financial drain to USSR & China of Vietnam, then Afghanistan put the final tap on their resources. USSR has gone TU and the only thing keeping China together was a dominant political organization.

Vietnam has separated itself from China and is moving as rapidly as it can toward a market society. With the improvement of the lives of the individuals, the movement toward self-government and personal liberties is inevitable. As such, Vietnam is returning to what the US wanted, a non-Communist country.

As such, the lives of the 60,000 can be seen as the price to defeat Communism. A victory in anyones book.

Go ahead and wear the Made in Vietnam clothes- Their freedom was paid for by 60,000 Americans and 4,000,000 Vietnamese.

Adironduck

Ray,I think I stated quite clearly that I do not care to refight the Vietnam war.I am sure we have all heard the arguments regarding who really won the war and who did not.At this point in my life I do not give a da** as it's done and nothing can change that.What I do care about is the respect that we all owe to those 59,000 Americans. Personally,I agree with a good portion of your rational but I think you missed the point.Let me put it another way.If your father,uncle,son,nephew(substitute anyone who you cared a great deal about)was killed in Vietnam fighting communism would you feel good about buying communist Vietnams goods today?I do not feel good about it and my guess is that a good many other Americans,old enough to remember the conflict,do not either.I am not sure I agree with your free-market analysis of communist China and communist Vietnams political ambitions.I think that is yet to be seen.

dheffley

While I understand your concern, and appreciate you caring, we live in a global economy and we trade with Vietnam. If you raise it as an issue, all it will do is hurt you. Let it go. I have. I wouldn't buy from Vietnam, but I can't control who does and who doesn't. Continue your work on the honor guard and do us proud. I would rather be buried on American soil with an American in a uniform made in Vietnam, than the other way around.