U.S. Aircraft Carrier to Visit Vietnam
The irony of the following announcement hasn’t been lost on this long time Laguna resident and father of three. Last week, Defense Secretary James Mattis confirmed that a U.S. aircraft carrier will visit Vietnam soon. It will be first time since the war in Vietnam ended more than 40 years ago, that a ship of this size and magnitude will port in Danang. Many speculate that the presence of the aircraft carrier will be welcomed by several countries nervously eyeing China’s island-building activities in the South China Sea.
Because I was an undergrad at USC from 1966 to 1970, I remember that today marks the 50th anniversary of the bloody Tet Offensive in Vietnam. In many ways, Tet was the beginning of the end of U.S. involvement in the war. The coordinated attack by 85,000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese targeted dozens of major cities and towns in South Vietnam. To say that it caught US-led forces by surprise is an understatement.
Named after the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, Tet was a holiday the North and South had previously observed together. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces eventually regained control of the areas they lost during Tet; still, it became a wake-up call for Americans back home who, by now, were watching the horrific news about the war unfold before them daily on TV. After hearing famed CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite declare the war unwinnable, President Lyndon Johnson told his aides, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, then I’ve lost Middle America.”
More than 58,000 U.S. troops died in the Vietnam War. No telling how many North and South Vietnamese were killed during the war. I often have wondered what life would have been like for the tens of thousands of young Americans who died there had they lived. Two who came home, John McCain and John Kerry, ended up running for president. My hope is, in an odd way, this impending visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier will help heal the many wounds of that terrible war.
Denny Freidenrich
Laguna Beach