BECAUSE IT IS RIGHT  by Capt. Dennis W. Lid

To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required … because it is right. ⁽¹⁾

        Pick up a newspaper any day of the week and chances are you will find at least one article on recent developments in Vietnam. Most of these articles are pessimistic about the way things are going over there.  It doesn’t matter what the subject is, whether it be the present political regime, the Buddhist and student demonstrations, a Viet Cong ambush, you name it, the theme remains the same — we are losing  ground;  the situation in Vietnam is getting worse.  Along with the pessimistic tone of these articles there is a simultaneous outburst from a few babbling politicians demanding that something be done to change the course of events in Vietnam and turn them in our favor.  “Let’s go all the way in or get all the way out . . . .” Other people in high places pick up the chorus by parroting the same line or by expounding some equally ridiculous alternative.  “It’s time for peace talks and neutralization of Vietnam.”  All this is reminiscent of a poem entitled “The Tom Toms Beat and the Shimmy Began.”  The net result of these articles and statements seems to indicate, more than anything else, obvious character weaknesses of the American people — American impatience and misunderstanding.

        Is it possible that we Americans have lost sight of our goal in South Vietnam? Is it possible that we have aborted those good intentions which initially led us to give assistance to the people of South Vietnam? Is it even a remote possibility that Americans have so quickly grown weary of that tedious struggle in Southeast Asia that we are ready to give up the fight and settle for something less than victory? When are we going to realize that there is no quick and easy solution to the dilemma which faces us in Vietnam? What’s more, how can we expect the South Vietnamese to solve their own problems as long as we continue to force-feed them with our way of thinking, our vacillating policy, our priority of tasks and other incessant demands? Surprising as it may seem, the Vietnamese are a proud, individualistic people who have their own likes and dislikes and their own way of doing things. Unfortunately for us Americans, some Vietnamese’ desires and methods are not in accord with what we think they should be. It is true that both our nations have a common desire to defeat the communists and keep South Vietnam a free and independent country. Their desire to defeat the Communist Viet Cong stems from the fact that they want to be left alone to determine their own destiny. Quite bluntly, this means that they don’t want to be coerced by the west any more than they want to be pushed about by the communists. Nor are they willing to be used as an international pawn in a gambit by the west.

         The South Vietnamese have been fighting the communists for the past twenty-five years. They are weary, but they continue the fight. Their earth has tasted the blood of thousands of their own people who have fallen in that struggle. They know that thousands more may fall, and still they fight midst political chaos, social turmoil, and. economic stagnation. Their purpose remains firm. They will fight the Communist Viet Cong to the death. Their courage cannot be assailed, nor can their patience be denied. If only our courage and patience could but match their own.

       Why is it that we must not fail in Vietnam? We must succeed primarily for those “peoples in the huts and villages;” ⁽²⁾ to those whom we have sought to help. The little people who till the soil, who harvest the crop, who tend the shops--those people are Vietnam. Those same people are most often thought of least. They are pushed into the background until we feel the need of justifying our presence in Vietnam either to others who challenge our right to be present or to ourselves to still our own groaning conscience.

       There are other reasons which dictate the need for success in Vietnam. The “Domino Theory” expresses the belief that if Vietnam is lost to the communists a chain reaction will be initiated threatening the eventual loss of all of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and possibly even India. We cannot allow this theory to become a proven fact. To go a step further, we cannot afford defeat in any measure, not even in compromise. Laos illustrates the fa1cy of compromise through neutralization and a coalition government. The seeds of total defeat through compromise with the communists are already taking root in Laos. American prestige as the free world leader is beginning to dwindle. Can we afford the loss of still more international prestige? Can we afford to neglect our moral responsibility to those whom we have promised to assist? Our policy toward a people who struggle to remain free, and who ask our assistance in retaining their freedom, must never vacillate. Circumstances change, but truth and good remain constant. If our policy be directed here, then it need never change.

        In the final analysis, then, what is it that ails the American conscience? What do we most fear with regard to the present situation in Vietnam? Is it that we fear learning something from the people we assume to assist and advise? Is it the loss of international prestige, of more American lives, of peace, or is it a combination of all these and more? And what might be the ultimate price? Might it be the cost of freedom for others as well as ourselves, the expense of the truth and the right, or the loss of dignity, honor, and self-respect? Isn‘t it time to take a firm, unwavering stand both at home and abroad — to persevere in that stand by being patient, tolerant and understanding yet strong and determined? Isn’t it time to make our policy clear to the entire world in unequivocal terms? And if done, what will be our reward?

       The rewards will be many, but not material in nature. Neither riches nor possessions will be our return. Good wishes and thanks from those we help may even be lacking. Perhaps their cooperation also will be lost. What, then, will our compensation be? Perhaps our gains will be marked only by the qualities of right conscience, respect and silent admiration, and by the knowledge that we have done something good because it was right to do so. Isn’t this reward enough? We will have answered the “call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribu1ation -- . . . a struggle against the common enemies of man:  tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.” ⁽³⁾

Written in 1964 by CPT Dennis W. Lid

Roster #107, Adv Gp #13, Car #1

(1) John F. Kennedy - Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961

(2) Ibid.

(3) Ibid.