[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11222-11224]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




FIFTY YEARS LATER, RECALLING THE VIETNAM WAR AND THOSE WHO FOUGHT IN IT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this week the United States held a special 
ceremony to commemorate one of the longest wars in our Nation's 
history--the Vietnam war. It was a ceremony to honor the men and women 
who served in that long and searing conflict, especially the more than 
58,000 young Americans who did not come home from the battle.
  The Congressional ceremony was held to commemorate what organizers, 
including the Department of Defense, call the 50th anniversary of the 
Vietnam war. The milestone is a little ambiguous. You see, it was 50 
years ago, on March 9, 1965, that the first U.S. combat forces--3,500 
members of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade--arrived at the port 
city of Da Nang, in what was then the Republic of South Vietnam.
  The arrival of those young Marines marked the beginning of a massive 
U.S. military buildup that lasted nearly a decade. But America's 
military presence in Vietnam actually began several years earlier, with 
the deployment of military advisors to assist the South Vietnamese 
armed forces.
  All told, 9.2 million Americans served in uniform during the Vietnam 
war; 7.2 million Vietnam-era veterans are still with us, along with 9 
million families of Vietnam-era veterans.
  Most of the men who served in Vietnam came home to build successful 
careers and strong families. More than a few went on to serve in 
Congress and we have benefited greatly from their wisdom and continued 
commitment to duty.

[[Page 11223]]

  I think of my friend, Senator John McCain, who endured unspeakable 
cruelty for years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. He could have 
been released from that hell years earlier but he refused to leave 
while other American servicemembers remained captive.
  Senator McCain has been a powerful voice in calling for America to 
honor our commitments under the Geneva Conventions to never use 
torture--to remain true to our word and our values even in war. I 
respect him deeply for his principled stand.
  I think of other friends and former members of this Senate who served 
in Vietnam. Bob Kerrey, the former Governor and U.S. Senator from 
Nebraska, lost a leg while serving as a Navy SEAL in Vietnam. He was 
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
  Chuck Hagel, another Nebraskan, served as an Army sergeant in Vietnam 
alongside his brother Tom. He came home to build a successful business 
career, got elected twice to the U.S. Senate, and went on to serve as 
America's Secretary of Defense.
  John Kerry was a diplomat's son--truly, a ``fortunate son''--who 
served with distinction in Vietnam as a Navy lieutenant from 1966 to 
1970. When he returned home, he became an eloquent voice among those 
calling for an end to the war in which he had fought. He went on to 
serve his State of Massachusetts as Lieutenant Governor and then 
represented his State for nearly 30 years in this Senate. He now 
represents our Nation's interest on the world stage as U.S. Secretary 
of State.
  One of the bravest men I have ever met served in Vietnam and then 
served in this Senate. His name is Max Cleland. Max went to Vietnam as 
a 6-foot, 2-inch marine. One day in Vietnam he stepped on a landmine. 
The explosion ripped off both of his legs and one of his arms. Max 
Cleland went on to serve in the Veterans Administration under President 
Carter and later as a member of this Senate--an amazing man.
  In all, more than 153,000 U.S. servicemembers were gravely wounded in 
Vietnam--wounded seriously enough to require hospitalization.
  Others sacrificed even more; 58,220 American servicemembers were 
killed in action during the Vietnam war.
  The Americans who died in Vietnam ranged in age from 6 years old to 
62. Six in 10 were just 21 years old or younger. Their names are carved 
into that sacred slab of black marble, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 
on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
  In the four decades since the end of the war, thousands more Vietnam 
veterans have died from physical and psychic injuries suffered in that 
war--dying from causes ranging from cancers caused by exposure to the 
deadly chemical defoliant Agent Orange, to the agonies of post-
traumatic stress.
  Fifteen years ago, Congress authorized the placement of a plaque near 
``The Wall'' to honor these ``men and women who served in the Vietnam 
War and later died as a result of their service.'' We remember and 
honor their service, too.
  Every American my age and a decade or so younger knows someone who 
died in Vietnam or a friend whose father, brother or husband never came 
home. These young men are still missed deeply by their families and 
friends and remembered by a grateful nation.
  The city I grew up in, East St. Louis, IL lost 56 young men in 
Vietnam.
  The City of Chicago lost 959 young men in the Vietnam war. Let me 
tell you about one of them: Marine Lance Corporal Mike Badsing. He was 
among those first 3,500 Marines who landed at Da Nang 50 years ago--a 
rifleman in the 3rd Marine Division, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, C 
Company. The 1st Battalion suffered the highest casualty rate of any 
Marine battalion in any war--a grim distinction that led North 
Vietnam's Communist President Ho Chi Minh to call them ``The Walking 
Dead.'' The nickname stuck.
  Mike Badsing attended St. Edward grammar school, where he played 
football, basketball, and ``Chicago 16'' softball. He was the youngest 
of five kids. One of his older sisters is a nun today.
  He left Chicago for Vietnam on Christmas Eve 1964. About 10 months 
later, Sept. 6, 1965, his platoon came under fire and Lance Corporal 
Badsing was hit in the abdomen by a sniper shot, becoming the first 
Chicago-area Marine killed in combat in Vietnam.
  He was buried in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, IL. A half-
century later, Marines still visit his grave, often drinking a few Old 
Style beers in their friend's memory.
  My adopted hometown of Springfield, IL--also President Lincoln's 
adopted hometown--lost 40 young men in combat during the Vietnam war. 
Among them was an Army helicopter pilot named Captain Michael Davis 
O'Donnell.
  Mike O'Donnell died on March 24, 1970, when a rescue helicopter he 
was piloting crashed in dense jungle in Cambodia, 14 miles over the 
Cambodia-Vietnam border. He had gone into Cambodia to rescue a Special 
Forces reconnaissance team that was about to be overrun by enemy 
soldiers. He and his crew had gotten all eight members of the Special 
Forces team safely on board and were taking off when their ``Huey'' 
helicopter was hit twice by enemy missiles. It was 1 week before 
President Nixon announced publicly that American forces were even in 
Cambodia.
  All 12 men aboard Mike O'Donnell's Huey died, but it wasn't until 
2001 that their remains were identified and returned. Today, they lie 
buried together at Arlington Cemetery.
  Mike O'Donnell was 24 years old when he died. He was promoted 
posthumously to the rank of major.
  In addition to being a soldier, Mike O'Donnell was a talented 
musician and a poet. During his life, he shared his poems with only a 
few close friends. After he died, soldiers in his unit found a notebook 
he kept, filled with 22 of his poems, which they saved and brought 
home.
  Just as ``In Flanders Fields'' has become the unofficial homage to 
World War I, a poem by Michael Davis O'Donnell has become the 
unofficial poem of the Vietnam war. It begins with the words, ``If you 
are able, save them a place inside of you.'' Google that line and you 
will find nearly 75,000 hits.
  Mike O'Donnell's poem was carried in combat by untold thousands of 
men who served in Vietnam. It was read at the dedication of ``The 
Wall,'' the national Vietnam War Memorial, in Washington, DC. and it is 
etched into many smaller Vietnam memorials across America.
  Here is the whole poem:

     If you are able,
     save them a place
     inside of you
     and save one backward glance
     when you are leaving
     for the places they can
     no longer go.
     Be not ashamed to say
     you loved them,
     though you may
     or may not have always.
     Take what they have left
     and what they have taught you
     with their dying
     and keep it with your own.
     And in that time
     when men decide and feel safe
     to call the war insane,
     take one moment to embrace
     those gentle heroes
     you left behind.
       Captain Michael Davis O'Donnell
       1 January 1970
       Dak To, Vietnam

  Less than 3 months after writing those words, Mike O'Donnell died.
  Along with the 58,220 Americans who died there, the Vietnam war 
claimed the lives of more than one million Vietnamese men, women and 
children.
  It is fitting, and it is overdue, for America to thank all of those 
who served and sacrificed so much in the Vietnam war. But we owe them 
more than speeches and ceremonies. As President Lincoln told us in his 
Second Inaugural Address, we have a solemn duty ``to care for him who 
has borne the battle.''
  Six years ago I asked my friend, then-Senator Hillary Clinton, if I 
could introduce a bill she had been working on before she moved on to a 
bigger and better gig. She agreed, and I introduced a bill creating 
what is now called the Veterans Caregiver Program, to help the families 
of U.S. servicemembers severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[[Page 11224]]

The program provides family caregivers of post 9/11 veterans who have 
suffered catastrophic injuries with training and a small stipend so 
they can care for their loved ones at home, rather than sending them to 
nursing homes. The program helps these families know that they are not 
alone and not forgotten.
  Today, 20,000 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan participate 
in the caregivers program. That is more than five times the number the 
VA originally estimated would sign up.
  The Veterans Caregiver Program doesn't just help those families; it 
helps American taxpayers. Caring for severely injured veterans in the 
caregivers program costs the VA $36,000 per veteran, per year. Compare 
that to the average $332,000 per veteran, per year it costs the VA to 
care for these veterans in nursing homes.
  When we started the caregivers program, we had to limit it to post-9/
11 veterans and their families. But we know now that it works. It saves 
families and it saves taxpayers money.
  When he chaired the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, our colleague, 
Senator Bernie Sanders said repeatedly that we should expand the 
Veterans Caregivers Program. He was right.
  So last March--nearly 50 years to the day after those first, young 
Marines landed in Da Nang--Senator Baldwin and I introduced a bill to 
expand the program to U.S. veterans of all wars. Our bill is called the 
VA Family Caregivers Expansion and Improvement Act.
  They were young once, but today the average Vietnam veteran is 
retired. Many still struggle with old wounds gained in service to our 
Nation.
  As our Nation and this Congress thank them for their service 50 years 
ago, I hope that we can also work together in this Senate to provide 
Vietnam veterans the medical care and support that they and their 
families need today.

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