9 Replies to "Video: Vietnamese Cultural Center vigil honors those who fought for freedom"

• Aman May 1, 2012 (8:00 am)

  Thank You to all of those who served. Condolences to all families whose loved ones made the ultimate sacrifice. The efforts of all of those who fought will not be forgotten.

• Bui duc Can(caanr) May 1, 2012 (7:18 pm)

  To Dinh tho phuong Quoc To Hung Vuong la mot dieu rat nguong mo.Do la mot bieu tuong cho con dan Viet huong ve coi nguon, ma doan ket gan bo, dau tranh cho mot VN Tu Do, Doc Lap, Chu Quyen Toan Ven- No Am, Hanh Phuc.
  To Dinh to chuc ngay Quoc Han 30/4/75, voi le nghi trang trong, cung hinh anh cua 5 vi tuong da
  tuan tiet, khong de roi vao tay giac!
  Co dieu dang tiec la dong bao tham du khong duoc dong du!
  Kinh chuc To Dinh phat trien thinh dat, trong y nghia cao ca phung tho Quoc To; va mong dong huong tich cuc huong ung hoat dong cua To Dinh.,.

• RG May 2, 2012 (10:11 am)

  Bui duc Can (caanr),
  .
  Are you speaking of National Hatred Day? Can you please post a translated version of your post?
  .
  Thank you.

• WSB May 2, 2012 (10:48 am)

  RG, I put it into Google Translate. Seemed relevant (as clunky as the translation turned out); do you have reason to think otherwise? – TR

• RG May 2, 2012 (1:05 pm)

  No, no. I’m sure it’s a relevant post. I’m just trying to get a grasp on the history of the war and the different perspectives and experiences of its conclusion, and what led up to it. I wasn’t taught anything about the Vietnam War in school. At most it was a footnote in our textbooks. And though I’ve spent time with vets from that era as a hospice volunteer, not one spoke of it.

  • WSB May 2, 2012 (1:26 pm)

    History teaching isn’t going much better these days, I hear from the front lines … not necessarily teachers’ fault, curriculum. Thanks for clarifying. Once in a rare while we get posts in other languages and while most are spam caught by the filter, this one seemed to be genuine – after all, our video is in both Vietnamese and English – so I checked on it and then approved it … TR

• Peter May 2, 2012 (9:34 pm)

  Dear those who wants to know more about Vietnam war and history,

  **
  I just recently finished my major of Political Science & currently pursue Political Economy at UW, and I hope I can help some of you here.

  **
  U.S did not know a lot about Vietnam until the genocide, called “land reform,” that happened in Vietnam where it officially took 500,000 people plus another “unofficial” about 500,000 political opponents during the years of 1953 through 1955 or so. That was when the U.S started getting seriously involved in Vietnam –to first help stop killing and secondly to stop the spread of the communists in a program called “containment”.

  **
  U.S got USSR to seat down for the Geneva Convention in Switzerland that forced the North Communists of Vietnam to allow those survivors who were labeled “evil rich,” mostly landlords, or “evil landlords” at the time to escape to the South –under the protection of UN and U.S. Many of them were secretly murdered still when they were on the way to South.

  **
  U.S also got USSR agree to force Vietnam, to agree as well, to split the country in halfs. North is occupied by the Communists and the other is by the South Republic of Vietnam, a free state, under the protection of the U.S.

  **
  At first, it was peaceful and it was supposed to be peaceful –like Germany, but the story became more complicated. The North violated the peace by secretly forming coalitions to internally cause conflits in and to the South Vietnamese government. U.S at first only sent advisors and aids to the South, but later it increased its presence in Vietnam since things became more ugly, and finally, U.S sent troops. U.S-Vietnam war fully started.

  **
  Not many people truely know what, why, or when and how the war started because, according to the history researchers, US-Vietnam war was 1) became so controlversial and distorted by the anti-war politicians, and 2) most of history witnesses are still alive and each of them only know “a partial story” of the war. Witnesses greatly help historians, but they can be very confusing for history learners. For example, the man who was in the very first top picture, Mr. Khoi, who his father and mother was murdered, burried alive if I am not wrong, by the North Vietnamese in 1953. Most of them have sad stories.

  **
  The last reason why not many people know all about the war, according to Professors again, is that the Commmunists of Vietnam are still in power, and Vietnam does not yet have its own true history for the younger generations to learn from. As the result, most of us, even the Vietnamese, know only one side of the story unfortunately. It takes time to be “a history”.

  Anti war folks are all about natural resources and oils or weapon sales… Most of us, including the Americans do not know the primary reason why the U.S got involved in Vietnam, the genocide “land reform” in Vietnam in the 1950s and the generosity of millions of the men and women Americans who spent and lost their lives to help the people, and Vietnam is merely like Korea or Germany. American people never want to occupy any countries, but you now can google for further information from here:)

  **
  Hope it helps you a little,

  **
  Peter Phan.

• RG May 3, 2012 (11:59 am)

  Thank you so much Peter. Thank you for putting it into a context that I can understand. The history is so unreal and I can only begin to imagine the long-term struggles and the hardships that the Vietnamese have had, and continue, to endure. I am going to forward this on to others so that they can learn as well.
  .
  Good luck in your studies Peter. And thank you again for taking the time to help others understand a bit more about the Vietnam War.

• DucLy Bui May 5, 2012 (9:59 am)

  Thank you Peter,
  As young Vietnamese American you were well learned the history of the Vietnam War
  through college’s resources and family.
  Thank You to all of those who served to free Viet Nam. Also thanks to WSB to cover this event.

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