It’s not too late to honor Vietnam War casualties

Dear U.S. Soldiers Named on the Wall,

“Why” is the overwhelming question. After 50 years, the best answer is there is no “good” reason to explain why you died, no “good” reason to explain the deaths of millions of Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians.

I remember volunteering for the draft in 1966, believing that the U.S. war in Vietnam was a mistake but being fatalistic about it. I did not go to Nam, I spent U.S. Army time in Germany. It wasn’t until after I got out that I really began to understand the awfulness of “our” war in southeast Asia. But I attributed the war to the crazy liars in the White House, Johnson and Nixon. When the U.S. finally got out, I thought the dead may not have died in vain if we learned our lesson to not intervene in other countries’ internal affairs and if the horror of the Vietnam War soaked into our being. I took too much comfort in the ending of the war and in the resignation of Nixon.

We did not learn useful lessons from you, or we haven’t yet. We must remember you quietly and somberly. We must honor you by building peace. I swear it’s not too late.

Ed Flaherty

Iowa City