Reprinted from The Atlanta Constitution

Jim Marshall - For the Journal-Constitution
Sunday, May 8, 2005

The following remarks are excerpted from a talk given by U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) April 29 at the Carl Vinson Veterans Hospital in Dublin. Marshall was an Army Ranger Recon platoon sergeant in Vietnam.

Today is the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. And I'll bet most Americans would be surprised to know that Ho Chi Minh is among the tens of millions of people who have quoted the words that begin America's Declaration of Independence. He did so on Sept. 2, 1945, before a huge crowd in Hanoi — more than 500,000, by one estimate.

In declaring Vietnam's independence from French and Japanese rule, Ho used Thomas Jefferson's language about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In fact, he began his speech with Jefferson's words.

And here's a fact even more surprising. When Ho gave this speech, American military personnel stood with him at the podium.

In 1945, America was Ho Chi Minh's ally. He actively courted our support for the independence of Vietnam. His speech alongside members of our military was the high point of American/Vietnamese relations for the next 50 years. It was not until 1995 that an American embassy was opened in Hanoi.

I fought in Vietnam for parts of 1969 and 1970, the low point, exactly midway through the half-century from Ho's 1945 speech to embassy opening. It amazes me that my military service is 35 years behind me. When I look through these eyes speaking to young soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, I see myself. But then I recall what I look like in a mirror. I am more than twice their age.

So much time has passed since my year in country, and yet so many of my memories seem so clear, as if the events happened yesterday. Combat, military service, does that, sears some memories like nothing else. Many veterans have service memories even older than mine — just as vivid, just as real. You know it. I know it.

It's the memories that should commemorate this day. Not words, except to the extent that words prompt recollection, prompt memories.

With apologies to the younger folks here today, let me offer a collage of things, names, places, statements. For me, each prompts images and memories beyond my ability to describe, images and memories of the time this country fought in Vietnam. Let me say them slowly. I will raise my voice only once. You'll know why.

The Truman Doctrine. Eisenhower's domino theory. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Johnson's buildup. Nixon's Vietnamization. Watergate.

The Tet Offensive. The Ho Chi Minh trail. Laos. Cambodia. Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge. Millions massacred. A Buddhist monk burning himself to death.

Hue. Da Nang. Quang Ngai. Quin Hon. Tay Ninh. Saigon. Khe Sanh. Pleiku. Dakto. Banmethuot. The DMZ. The South China Sea.

General Giap. General Abrams. General Westmoreland. General Dung.

Enlistees. Draftees. Student deferment. The lottery. Conscientious objectors. Legal draft dodgers. Illegal draft dodgers.

Operation Rolling Thunder. The Hanoi Hilton. Hueys. Chinooks. Cobras. Puff the Magic Dragon.

M16s. AK 47s. Bombs and artillery. Sappers and booby traps.

Incoming! Medic! Where's that damn medevac! "Six, Six, is my leg still on? Is it on, Six? Am I gonna die? Am I going home?"

C Rations. Mess halls. Hooch maids. Warm beer. Bas muis Bas. Jungle boots. Flak jackets. Agent Orange. Dear John letters.

A naked young girl burned by napalm. My Lai. Thanh Phong.

Flower children. The Beatles. Pot. LSD. Woodstock.

Watts. Detroit. U.S. gold and silver medalists with their fists clenched on the Olympic podium, mutely defiant as our anthem is played.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. John F. Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy.

Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Students for a Democratic Society. Jane Fonda in Hanoi. The Pentagon Papers. Kent State.

Nixon's "Peace with Honor." A helicopter lifting from the roof of our embassy in Saigon, desperate South Vietnamese hanging from its skids. The Boat People.

A Purple Heart for America.

The Wall.

The average age of American soldiers in World War II was 27. In Vietnam, it was 19.

When Ho Chi Minh was asked how he could possibly hope to beat a power so great as the United States, he replied, "They will kill many of us. We will kill a few of them. They will grow tired of it."

God bless you all. Thank you for your service. God bless the United States of America. Let her learn the lessons of Vietnam and not repeat them.