Vietnam War Deaths

Nguyen Cao Ky: Former South Vietnam leader personified dilemma posed by ...

At the height of his considerable power as wartime leader of South Vietnam in the mid-1960s, Nguyen Cao Ky projected an image of dashing military style. A helicopter pilot (he piloted himself to safety when the U.S. Embassy in Saigon fell to communist forces in April 1975), Ky, who died at 80 this week in Malaysia of respiratory complications, was partial to leather aviator jackets, colorful scarves and stylish pilots' sunglasses.

The former South Vietnamese Air Force commander served as wartime leader for two years (1965-1967) and later as vice president in the regime of his sometimes arch-rival, Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu. As a personality, Ky, who cultivated an image as a playboy and favored purple scarves, was rivaled only by the glamorous Madame Nhu, a power broker often referred to as the "Dragon Lady."

In many ways, Ky's career and personality aptly summed up the conundrum that Vietnam posed for U.S. foreign policy for the better part of a generation. He was held in universally low regard by top U.S. diplomats, and yet was viewed as the most effective choice to guide the U.S.-backed regime through troubled waters in the mid-1960s.

Guided by the "domino theory," which postulated that if South Vietnam were permitted to fall into the hands of the nationalist/communist forces led by Ho Chi Minh, all of Southeast Asia would come under communist domination, U.S. strategists were all too often driven to make such Hobson's choices.

Ky's successful flight eventually led him to the United States, where he lived for many years in California, eventually going bankrupt while managing a liquor store.

History will make its judgment about Gen. Ky in the larger context of the Vietnam War. From the American point of view, that judgment inevitably will be forged against the backdrop of a bloody tally — more than 58,000 American casualties.

There can never be a full measure of consolation for those deaths; but as time passes, Americans, and Houstonians in particular, can identify a rich and enduring gift that has come out of the tragedy of war.

It is, of course, the diaspora of Vietnamese refugees that has deeply enriched this city both economically and culturally. The welcome tide of humanity that arrived here was bought and paid for with American and Vietnamese blood and suffering a generation ago. It has yielded a legacy that will continue for generations.

Iraq War Deaths Exceed Vietnam War Numbers : Deadline Live With ...

By Gary Vey for viewzone

More Gulf War Veterans have died than Vietnam Veterans. This probably is news to you. But the truth has been hidden by a technicality. So here is the truth.

The casualties in the Vietnam War were pretty simple to understand. If a soldier was dead from his combat tour, he was a war casualty. There are 58,195 names recorded on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.

Some of these brave men died in the jungles of Vietnam while others died in Medivac units or hospitals in Japan and America. A dead soldier can surrender his life anywhere in his service to his country. It really doesn’t matter where this happens. The location of a soldier’s death in now way colors his sacrifice to his country.

But something odd has happened with the Iraq War. The government, under the Bush administration, did something dishonest that resulted in a lie that’s persisted since the war began — and continues to this very day. They decided to report the war deaths in Iraq only if the soldier died with his boots on the ground in a combat situation.

What’s the difference, you might ask?

The combat in Vietnam was in rural areas, far removed from medical treatment centers. Injured soldiers were treated by a Medic. Most died at the scene of the battle before they could be evacuated. Many died on route or were declared dead at the medical treatment facilities. The situation in Iraq is vastly different.

Fighting in Iraq is mainly in urban areas. Soldiers who are injured are quickly evacuated with armored personnel carriers or helicopters. It’s a much more efficient system than what was possible in Vietnam, but for those that are seriously injured it means that death is more likely to happen while they are in transit or at the treatment facility.

Under the new reporting system, deaths that happen en route are not counted as combat deaths. This is why the number seems unusually low — a little over four thousand as of 2009.

The actual figures have been hidden from the American public just like the returning, flag draped coffins were censored from the press. But the figures are now available and we can only hope that the American people will be outraged when they learn how they have been misled.