USAHEC Educators' Toolbox: Vietnam War

An innovative and controversial look at Vietnam, Dr. Mark Moyar's lecture brings to light new evidence about the conflict, the overthrow of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, and how these events affected United States policy. Moyar, the Kim T. Adamson Chair of Terrorism and Insurgency at the United States Marine Corps Academy, graduated from Harvard and Cambridge University and has published numerous books and articles on military history.

Captain Roger H.C. Donlon commanded Special Forces Team A-726 at Camp Nam Dong, Vietnam, west of Da Nang near the Laotian border. The Green Berets provided physical security and health and welfare service to over 5,000 local villagers, and advised some 300 South Vietnamese personnel assigned to the camp. On July 6, 1964, more than 900 Viet Cong soldiers attacked Nam Dong with mortars, grenades, small arms fire and automatic weapons. The attack proceeded all night, and many of the South Vietnamese defenders were wounded in the fierce fighting. Donlon was wounded, and two of his team were killed. For his actions, Donlon received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the first Special Forces soldier so honored. In this talk, Donlon reflects on the influences from childhood through his Army career which shaped his life.

Traveling back to the red-dirt battlefields, commanders and veterans from both sides make the long and difficult journey from old enemies to new friends. After a trip in a Russian-made helicopter to the Ia Drang Valley in the Central Highlands, with the Vietnamese pilots using vintage U.S. Army maps and Galloway's Boy Scout compass to guide them, they reach the hallowed ground where so many died. All the men are astonished at how nature has reclaimed the land once scarred by bullets, napalm, and blood. As darkness falls, the unthinkable happens-the authors and many of their old comrades are stranded overnight, alone, left to confront the ghosts of the departed among the termite hills and creek bed.

In 1964, Hoa Pham, a South Vietnamese fighter pilot, was shot down by Viet Cong antiaircraft fire while flying in support of American advisers and ARVN troops. When Saigon fell to the communists, his 10-year-old son, Quang, escaped with his mother and three sisters to America. Thirty years later, Quang, now a U.S. Marine pilot turned successful entrepreneur, retraces a uniquely spirited yet agonizing journey from the Vietnam War to peace, from blame to forgiveness, and an eventual surprise reunion with his father who survived twelve years in post-war prison camps. Quang explores the inner conflicts of a young man caught in the often contradictory forces of national identity, loyalty, truth and trust in the aftermath of America's most divisive war. It reveals the turmoil of a family torn apart and reunited by the fortunes of war. It is an American journey like no other.

Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc Hue were two of the brightest young stars in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Both men fought with valor in a war that seemed to have no end, exemplifying ARVN bravery and determination that is largely forgotten or ignored in the West. However, while Hue fought until he was captured by the North Vietnamese Army and then endured thirteen years of captivity, Dinh surrendered and defected to the enemy, for whom he served as a teacher in the reeducation of his former ARVN comrades.
An understanding of how two lives that were so similar diverged so dramatically provides a lens through which to understand the ARVN and South Vietnam’s complex relationship with Americas government and military. The lives of Dinh and Hue reflect the ARVNs battlefield successes, from the recapture of the Citadel in Hue City in the Tet Offensive of 1968, to Dinhs unheralded role in the seizure of Hamburger Hill a year later. However, their careers expose an ARVN that was over-politicized, tactically flawed, and dependent on American logistical and firepower support. Marginalized within an American war, ARVN faced a grim fate as U.S. forces began to exit the conflict. As the structure of the ARVN/U.S. alliance unraveled, Dinh and Hue were left alone to make the most difficult decisions of their lives.
Once both military superstars, Dinh is viewed by a traitor by many within the South Vietnamese community, while Hue, an expatriate living in northern Virginia, is seen as a hero who never let go of his ideals. Their experiences and legacies mirror that of the ARVNs rise and fall as well as the tragic history of South Vietnam.

Is this man the real reason the Vietnam War was lost? How did he get there, why did he fail, and how did he last so long? Unless and until we understand General William Westmoreland, we will never understand what happened to us in Vietnam, or why. An Eagle Scout at fifteen, First Captain of his West Point class, Westmoreland fought in World War II and Korea, rising rapidly to command the 101st Airborne Division and become Superintendent at West Point, then was chosen to lead the war effort in Vietnam.

That turned out to be a disaster. He failed to understand a complex war, choosing a flawed strategy, sticking to it in the face of all opposition, and misrepresenting the results when truth mattered most. In so doing he squandered four years of support by Congress, much of the media, and the American people. The tragedy of William Westmoreland provides lessons not just for Vietnam, but for America's future military and political leadership.

On May 10, 1970, deep in the Cambodian countryside just beyond the border with Vietnam, Specialist Leslie Sabo Jr. sacrificed his life for another Soldier by throwing himself upon a grenade during an ambush. In his last moments, he went on to save more American lives by charging the enemy and dispatching them with his own grenades, all while mortally wounded. On Wednesday December 16, 2015 at 7:15 PM, author and reporter Eric Poole will give a lecture at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, about the stories of Sabo and his brothers in the 3/506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Based on his recent book, Company of Heroes: A Forgotten Medal of Honor and Bravo Company's War in Vietnam, Poole's lecture will explore how narratives stemming from the Vietnam War affected the men he profiled.

The Vietnam War was the first conflict in which the American people received unfiltered news on the actions of their nation's combat troops, immediately establishing narratives, both deliberate and inadvertent. The narratives had a profound impact on the Soldiers on the ground and may even have influenced the war's outcome. Poole's book, Company of Heroes: A Forgotten Medal of Honor and Bravo Company's War in Vietnam, tells the story of Leslie H. Sabo Jr., a child born to refugees who fled war-torn Europe to the tiny steel town of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. Sabo was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army only five years after taking the oath of citizenship and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's storied 506th Infantry Regiment. Sabo's distinct heroism in Cambodia earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2012, forty-two years after his sacrifice. Based on interviews done with Sabo's comrades, Company of Heroes follows the veterans through their struggles in dealing with the effects of war and their unified quest to see a fallen brother receive the recognition he earned.

Eric Poole is a reporter and columnist for the Ellwood City Ledger (PA). A retired rugby player and a former steelworker, Poole has worked for 20 years as a full-time newspaper journalist with more than 30 regional, statewide, and national awards. In 2009, he wrote a self-published book which directly influenced the speeches of President Barack Obama, former Chief of Staff of the Army General Raymond Odierno, former Secretary of the Army John McHugh, and former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at Sabo's Medal of Honor ceremonies. Poole's book, Company of Heroes: A Forgotten Medal of Honor and Bravo Company's War in Vietnam, was released in March 2015 by Osprey Publishing.

Deep in the A Shau Valley of Vietnam, a routine mission for veteran U.S. Army troops turned into a botched operation with combat casualties, due to poor leadership in the chain of command. A firefight with North Vietnamese troops erupted from communication errors and leader confusion, and at the center, was a young Army officer, groomed for command and assigned to lead the doomed platoon on its fateful reconnaissance mission. The young officer and his band of survivors have since lived with the graphic memories of the action and the grueling months that followed, resulting in a lifetime of severe trauma, guilt, grief, and anger. Mr. Chuck Newhall will present a lecture based on his experiences as that young officer, and the years after, as part of the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center's Brooks E. Kleber Memorial Lecture Series. The presentation will be based on his memoir, Fearful Odds: A Memoir of Vietnam and Its Aftermath.

In 1972, as the Paris Peace Accords drew to a conclusion, young William Reeder, Jr. was a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to an AH-1G Cobra Attack Helicopter in Vietnam. For many servicemen and women, the Vietnam War was over for the U.S. military. Reeder was afraid he missed the opportunity to see combat as a Cobra gunship pilot. The North Vietnamese had other plans, however, and the Easter Offensive changed Reeder's life forever. On Wednesday, November 15, 2017, Dr. William S. Reeder will present a lecture at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, describing how fighting in the spring of 1972 led to his capture while defending the American base at Ben Het in Vietnam, and how he survived the horrifying ordeal of being a POW in Vietnam.