Vietnam War veteran reflects on war 50 years after last U.S. troops left Vietnam
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- čas přidán 9. 06. 2024
- Wednesday marks 50 years since the last remaining U.S. troops left Vietnam after years of conflict. Vietnam veteran Bill "Doc" McClung, who served as a U.S. Army medic, joined Vladimir Duthiers and Anne-Marie Green to reflect on his time spent in Vietnam, the U.S.' use of chemical agents in combat and his work with the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial and Museum.
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It took 42 years, after coming home in 1970 from Vietnam, for someone to thank me for my service to my country. It's a travesty. I still remember that woman who thanked me.
thank you, sir.
Even though you only peeled potatoes in Saigon, I will thank you for your service
Two million civilians died in a pointless war. Why would people thank you?
Tbf are you wearing your camo uniform often, OP? Random bystanders don't know that you were in Vietnam. Regardless thank you for fighting in a war I wouldn't be apart of
@@acousticnirvana94 I have had US Army-Vietnam decals in the back window of all my cars since 1978...virtually nobody noticed.
My father & I took my Vietnam War veteran grandfather to Washington D.C. several years ago for the first time for him to see the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. He got drafted in the late 1960s & he got injured by shrapnel from a land mine (in addition to getting shot), so he got sent home & received a Purple Heart. However, 6 of his buddies didn't make it back home, so before the trip he made a list of all of their names & where they were located on the wall. As he found each on the wall, he got very emotional knowing that he managed to come home (though injured), get married, have 3 sons, & live another 50 years, but 6 of his friends didn't.
stupid childs killer...
Ba tôi nay đã 93 tuỗi hiện cò khỏe mạnh ông đã nói thế.
The reality is those friends of his never should of been over there wasting away their American Dream for absolutely nothing. Damn right your grandfather was "emotional"...he should have been. He didn't belong over there either.
@@topgeardelhe got drafted, do you really expect a young man who's probably 23 at the oldest and working class to pack his things and go to Canada? What's wrong with you? Blame the politicians not the military guys sent over there especially the enlisted guys.
@@jamilsalih9724 Nothing wrong with me buddy. I didn't just get off the banana boat regarding the Vietnam war. I am a proud Vietnam/Draft resistor. Tell me what I don't know. Humor me.
War is a lesson no one learns from. Government will not stop putting their hand in the fire
We must take care of our Vietnam veterans and their families. We owe them. Thank you for helping the south Vietnamese.
My dad is a south Vietnamese soldier. My husband is a American who was in Vietnam during the war. So I understand how hard it was for both Americans soldiers and south Vietnamese soldiers.
War is a horrible thing and no once want it. But it’s what it is. 😢😢. I do underrated for both side. After 1975 was a horrible situation for us as the south soldiers families. 😢. But it’s 50 years we have to move on and trying to forget about it. It’s not easy. 😭.
wrong! you have to learn from it and make sure it never happens again!
Thank you Bill! We are graceful for your service.
Thank you soldier 👍
To all those who lost their lives in service to this country in Nam..... Gone but never forgotten..God Bless.
Thank you for your service
Thank you Sir and welcome home!
Welcome home my brother. I was a Huey crew chief Vietnam 69-70 I know what you been thru.
Thank you sir for my family's freedom. Welcome home.
Fair & balanced report!👍
Jman
Incredible 👍🏻 🇺🇸 thankyou
Thank you for your service s ir.
the bond of brotherhood deserves to be celebrated
Very nice interview. I feel very badly for what our vets went through when they got home. They didn't deserve to be treated that way, irregardless of one's feelings about that horrible war. Agree there was a tremendous amount of confusion, in the American public as well. Healing is still happening. Understanding the history of it is very important in today's world, lest we make similar mistakes. Our troops need our support.
Appreciate this museum. To share an idea - put together a traveling rendition, like a synopsis, of the museum and what it represents to teach people in our country about what happened. Your view is important. Like a traveling exhibit. This could coordinate with local schools and educational facilities so kids can learn from it. It could be really nicely done, could visit all major cities. Whatever amount of money charged should be reasonable, some of which could go toward a good organization(s) that helps veterans, like Wounded Warriors or the like.
Welcome home, guys!
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for your Service Bill, you are a true American Hero.
US General Maxwell Taylor " ...we don't have a single hero in this war,we're all fools.I myself am among them"
@@havu-oj4qh I appreciate you telling me the truth. Thank you General Taylor
He was 101 68-69. He would never tell me how it was.
The will of the people didn't want to win in Vietnam. It's unfortunate our soldiers we're put in a lost cause conflict that was none of our business. I don't blame our troops as they have a right to survive.
The troops have to take responsibility for allowing themselves to be chumps and pawns and sent to Vietnam. It wasn't rocket science to figure out what Vietnam was all about. I was and am a proud Vietnam/Draft resistor. The "will of the people didn't want to win in Vietnam"?? That's BS. Your Government and the military/industrial complex didn't want victory. Then the American public became unsupportive.
tell that to LBJ!
Good job journalist
My uncle Max Beilke was the last guy on the last plane. Died at the Pentagon on 9/11
Seen a doco on that. Sorry he died in the Pentagon lie
Kann mich gut erinnern
Vietnam won this war
No. I am Vietnamese of origin. US military retreated because of the politicians in White House and the 1973 Paris Accord.
Welcome Home
Correction to the headline: ....50 years after last US COMBAT troops left Vietnam. We still had troops on the ground -- Marines guarding the embassy who were there until Saigon fell in April 1975
Wish to know more to understand my father
It was a bad time for service people.
How'd you not lose the war
I don't think we lost that War, politicians did🙄 my Dad served two TODs in Nam, guys I love you all, thanks for your service and welcome home😊
Sound like Hitler ' We were stabbed in the back by traitors at home' . Think man Think and abandon delusion.
@@olearyma57 I would rather say that US (completely) failed to achieve their main goal of support and build South Vietnam to the level they could stand on their own, just like Afganistan. US military did not suffer a major defeat compared to nazis in berlin 45'. Also, US did not have the intention to completely beat North Vietnam like they tried and failed in North Korea when China intervened.
Sorry Paul, but don’t lie to yourself. We absolutely lost that war. It is an undeniable fact.
Did he say that we won that war? Umm so many questions about him now
Not 50,000 but 58,200 U S soldier casualties In Vietnam the worst since WW2.
Vietnam was never a declared war.
True...
Before I went to Vietnam on 28 November 1969, I had two weeks' leave at mum and dad's.
But before that I had two, or perhaps it was three weeks Jungle Training at Canungra, Qld.
We also had indoctrination classes to convince us all commies were evil **muthafukkers.
Lecturer: Any questions?
Me: Why don't we just drop an atom bomb on Hanoi - it worked in Japan?
Lecturer: We can't cos, “it's not a war, son - it's a police action”.
My memory suggests he got a slow clap but that might just have been in my head.
Suffice to say, I'm pretty sure we all became a little more cynical.
~
Most war these days are not declared
@@stevenbaksh5545 That's why they are not wars, they are conflicts.
@@janesevy4372 Oh yea so Ukraine is a conflict and the Iraq was a conflict too declaring war is old fashioned no one sends a document these days declaring war on each other they just go to war
yes kind of ''special military operation'' lol
Fifty years ago? My unit with the Big Red One in Kansas were honor guards for the burial of Eisenhower. My french Adidis Stan Smith tennis shoes were made in France. My current pair are made in Viet Nam. In 1985 I spent 13 weeks working tax-free on Johnston Atoll. Where the military had stored all the toxic gases used in Nam. They were building a incinerator. 74 & 75 I was on Ford Island Hawaii. The Armys map makers of the pacific. The top-secret spy plane pictures showed the build up from the north. The spring of 1975 they were sending admin specs. to Guam to process the Nam refugees.
And Old people these days talk crap about youngsters, when they treated their veterans like crap back in the day.
🦅🇺🇸🦅 When I came home through LAX in California ,I had obscenities garbage, dog poop and rotten vegetables thrown at me and my fellow veterans disembarking , Sad DAZE 4 American Veterans , David Staudohar USMC USN SS USCG ret ‼️
Va wilie Sheppard
Dirty government play with innocent lives
Vietnam war from of view were not necessarily needed. A war because the France got kicked out of the COUNTRY. Because this is what Ken Burns quoted on PBS TV station.
After the French colonialists were thrown out in 1954 the CIA moved in…CIA Coup in S Vietnam. (1963)
Do you believe everything Ken Burns reports as true?
If we had more mustaches like that, we could have taken all of Asia Minor.
Extremely sad America learned nothing from that war after wasting over 20 years in Afghanistan.
They were two very different wars
@@khabbad Not their not.
@@robertisham5279 yes they were. South Vietnamese requested the American aid and presence. The Americans never intended nor did they invade North Vietnam they were defending the South. None of that was the case of Afghanistan, it was an invasion that was over really fast with a new government out in place, then the Americans spent 20 years rebuilding a nation for what? Just to watch them all give up the second the Americans hinted they were leaving. Very very different wars, almost nothing similar about them
Resources
I'm interested to help carry on your own legacies in my own way you also are more aware of those b4 you than we are inc us Gen x of course
Using A.I, to preserve, etc but mostly love & gratitude
Well PRESERVE your memories, REST WELL!!
I agree more than I don't there about whats CHANGED, I grew up into it, much of its already existed it just went into full play now
Past ww2, Korean, Vietnam, etc vets I offer a toast, to the undiscovered country!
This was the start of our fall. We lost to those people and it's been downhill ever since military wise
You didn’t lose to “those people”. The friends you were defending couldn’t hang on after you left. Vietnam is hardly the reason things have been downhill for the Americans
Lost me when this vet denies losing the war. I’m tired of the lies. I’d bet my life he’s a January 6 denier.
Clean up own house first
The gun problem!
LOL. Leave it to the anti-2nd whack brigade to use a totally unrelated topic to push the agenda 🤡
Us left Vietnam in 1975 it hasn't been 50 years lmao
Google...
When did the US completely leave Vietnam?
March 29, 1973
On March 29, 1973 the last U.S. combat troops left South Vietnam, ending direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.
Military advisers to the South Vietnamese Army remained, as did Marines protecting U.S. installations, and thousands of Defense Department civilians.
~~~~~
What happened in 1975 in Vietnam?
The South Vietnamese stronghold of Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) falls to People's Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong on April 30, 1975.
The South Vietnamese forces had collapsed under the rapid advancement of the North Vietnamese.
~
I was thinking the same thing. The headline should've read the last COMBAT troops left Vietnam
The war ended in 1975 but the US pulled out in 1973
Reus rinaldi ve5eran vietnam botak de gan dapot
Why The US not let South Army Vietnam join to sign Peace Accord?. That led South Army Vietnam become figurehead. Actually Vietcong & North Army lost almost 70% troops after Tet Mau Than 1968. Le Duan was commander (not Ho Chi Minh). At that time, Duan tried to put HCM aside & anounced to people that HCM taken to overseas medical treatment . Ho Chi Minh was really sad about that because he lost many experienced soldiers which made him sick. They would have lost if US soldiers came back & support South Vietnam.
Too bad, NVA and VC still remain active more than ever. And South Vietnam has no legitimacy as an country which was built by foreign power. Defeat is inevitable!
🔪
No I disagree you lost the veitnam war
USA USA!! 1# region destroyer!! 😂
America’s brightest and best!
Never declared War by America, Police Action in Vietnam
Got news for you the U.S. hadn't declared war since 1941. Its all been b.s. police actions since. Congress "authorizes" things.
What a waste of time and energy as well as all these men's civil selfs! L boomers, but to those who were drafted I'm sorry you shouldn't have gone through that!
Watch the video on the my Lia massacre and you know why they got spit on
south Vietnam= Taiwan
Taiwan can never possibly become independent as long as they called themselves Han and speak Chinese language.
I hope some of those "protestors" were given a sound thrashing.
As for the veterans of previous wars, the troops didn't lose the war, the CIVILIAN LEADERSHIP did, mostly out of fear of escalation with the Soviet Union and Red China.
Many of them are in Congres and are the 1%. They became yuppies during the 80s
What a complete BS statement. I am a proud Vietnam/Draft resistor. The "protesters" were the only ones grounded in reality. To say the troops didn't lose the war is ridiculous and hugely short-sighted.
From the get-go, escalation with Russia and China was to be avoided.This was a political decision, as it should be.
It was a just cause, fighting Communists in Asia. Just as much as it was fighting Nazis in Europe............if you wanted the Communists to win in Vietnam, you're the criminal, not the US soldiers who fought there.
Tom Selleck albino edition?
here's to the Viet Kong for beating back western imperialism!
No shortage of Vietnam veterans talking about their stories. Too bad they didn't put their collective power and influence together and keep the US out of other "Vietnams" in the following decades. They failed in Vietnam....they failed in the decades after Vietnam. It's all about them....their experiences, their lack of support, their need for Welcome Home, their legacy etc etc.
They were chumps and pawns of the US Government. If they would have stood up for what is right back then...there would have been NO Vietnam. They are a part of America's disaster just like the Government, the politicians and the unsupportive American public that they blame.
where has Merica! been successful?
Do you think the Vietnam vets have no one to blame but themselves?
They brought tons of weapons to Vietnam then finally retreated in humiliation !!!
yes!
Retreat in humiliation? Not sure if you’re a history buff but the Americans left after the Peace Accords which was two years prior to the end of the war
@@khabbad
Whatever
@@khabbad You can't talk facts with a liberal.
US General Maxwell Taylor " ...we don't have a single hero in this war,we're all fools.I myself am among them"