[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 149 (Thursday, November 10, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2326-E2327]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      COMMENTS FROM A USMC VETERAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MARK E. SOUDER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 10, 2005

  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to submit comments of USMC 
veteran, Barry Yeakle, about the Vietnam war, delivered at the Whitley 
County Veterans Observance in Columbia City, Indiana, on November 6, 
2005, for the Record.

       Try and picture this: I am a green 19-year-old, just off 
     the boat from Indiana. I'm 9,000 miles away in Viet Nam. A 
     delegation of Vietnamese peasants approaches me. Their 
     appointed spokesman steps forward and very formally gives me 
     to understand by an amazing mixture of Vietnamese, French, 
     English and even Japanese (but mostly by waving his arms 
     about wildly) that they have heard that the United States 
     intends to send a man to the moon. They are incredulous. To 
     make sure I understand which moon they mean, they keep 
     tugging at my sleeve and pointing to it.
       Looking back, what amazes me most is the matter-of-fact way 
     I answered him: Sure, absolutely, we're going to do it. I had 
     never doubted it. That story illustrates the times. We were 
     idealistic and maybe a little naive. We believed in our 
     country and it wasn't hard to convince those peasants that 
     they could believe in us as well. Is it any wonder that they 
     believed we could protect them from communism?
       When I was fourteen, this country elected its youngest-ever 
     President. He was very charismatic and taking office, this is 
     what he said: ``Let every nation know, whether it wishes us 
     well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, 
     meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in 
     order to assure the survival and success of liberty.''
       It was an amazing promise; looking back, perhaps a foolish 
     or impossible one, but the cold war was a great reality in 
     our lives and his message was heard in the Soviet and Chinese 
     empires. It was also heard by my generation, many of whom 
     were sons and daughters of the men who'd won World War II. We 
     believed that what he said was possible. We believed it was 
     our duty.
       The story of this country's longest war can be told 
     briefly. Nine years after the Japanese Army was ejected from 
     Viet Nam at the end of WWII, the French lost a huge battle 
     against the communists and Viet Nam became two countries with 
     a communist government in the North and republican government 
     in the South. There was a time period in which citizens could 
     decide in which country they would live. Not surprisingly, an 
     overwhelming majority emigrated to the South, while virtually 
     no one emigrated to the North.
       At once, the communist government under the sponsorship of 
     the Soviet Union began a guerilla war. As the new democracy 
     began to totter under the terrorism, President Kennedy 
     decided to give it military aid against the fear that 
     communism could spread throughout all of Indo China.
       It was a near thing in the beginning and as American 
     soldiers arrived to advise and train, the escalation of the 
     guerilla war continued. By the summer of 1965, President 
     Johnson sent the 3rd Marine Amphibious Force to keep the 
     critical city of Da Nang from falling. We had been trained 
     for grand amphibious assaults in the Pacific and great land 
     battles in central Europe. Although we as Americans had a 
     legacy from our own Revolution, we scarcely remembered how to 
     fight a guerilla war and it was painful to learn it again.
       Still, the Communist soldiers kept invading from the North, 
     and always the men who died along side me seemed the least 
     the United States could afford to lose. Besides being 
     courageous, they always seemed to be the Eagle Scouts, the 
     valedictorians and class presidents. Two thirds of them were 
     volunteers, the very opposite of WW II.
       An opposite type fled to Canada to evade the draft. Though 
     non-combat service was offered them, others cleverly 
     transferred from college to college to evade service. Each 
     time, someone else had to serve in their place. Some tell me 
     that these actions were consistent with their honour, but 
     they don't look me in the eye when they say it. 
     Interestingly, when the draft ended, all campus objection to 
     the war seemed to end with it.
       By the end of 1967, we had thousands of troops in Viet Nam 
     and had brought the enemy to certain defeat. In a desperate 
     gambit, they broke a truce they'd requested themselves and 
     launched assaults all over South Viet Nam. In this the Tet 
     Offensive, they suffered one of the most lop-sided defeats in 
     modern history; but an impatient television newsman named 
     Walter Cronkite, who didn't understand the imprudence of the 
     communist's desperation, reported it otherwise. He influenced 
     many Americans. Those of us in the field were horrified that 
     all the sacrifice we'd witnessed could be wasted if the 
     country turned against the war.
       A famous American actress went to the enemy capital. She 
     wore their insignia. As the photographers clicked away, she 
     pretended to sight-in an anti-aircraft gun, a gun that had 
     but one purpose: to shoot down American warplanes. Little was 
     made of her treason; she went on to become an even bigger 
     star. This apathy of the American people was very hurtful to 
     the returning servicemen. And it got worse. There is a 
     decorated man in this room who was abused when he got off the 
     airplane in California. His experience was not unique.
       A new President, known to be tough on communism, Nixon, was 
     elected and the war went into a sort of stalemate. An accord 
     was reached with the communists that made it possible for the 
     American troops to leave. Our faithful allies were promised 
     that we would respond if the country were to have its 
     sovereignty threatened. When that did indeed happen, still 
     another President, Ford, did nothing. South Viet Nam, our 
     ally, fell.

[[Page E2327]]

       Though American arms had lost only one battle, the war 
     itself was lost. Nearly all of us were home by that terrible 
     day in 1975. Choked with emotion, I ran to my church for 
     comfort and found it empty and locked. I realized I would 
     have to keep my sorrow to myself for years to come and that 
     is exactly what happened.
       Over 58,000 American men and women--more people than live 
     in Whitley County--died. Thousands more have died since from 
     causes born in the war. Our friends from Australia, South 
     Korea, Thailand and the Philippines lost over 6,000 more, and 
     the Army of South Viet Nam's losses were nearly a quarter of 
     a million. Future generations will ask to what avail, since 
     Viet Nam became one more brutal communist dictatorship. Here 
     is the answer I like: There are some who say that Viet Nam 
     made WW III unnecessary. That so many brave men could stand 
     so firmly against a bully 9,000 miles away deeply impressed 
     that bully.

                          ____________________