now when you might learn more about one of the most emotional and political events in world history, the Vietnam War, that coldly began in 1955 and ended, also coldly in 1978. For me it was yesterday, sitting in a McDonald's restaurant in Mobile, Alabama where I was writing a blog on presidential candidate Newt Gingrich ( 10 reasons why he can never be president.)I am no stranger to the aftermath of the Vietnam war and met many Veterans in San Francisco who landed on the streets there and remained.
It was a poring rain and the gentleman had already eaten, was hanging around until he could get to his car. He volunteered to tell a few of us his experience, his take on Vietnam, and shared that he was retired and under psychiatric care due to exposure to Agent Orange and the sheer experience of what he saw and perhaps did.
He didn't say his name so I will call him Ralph. He wanted us to know about the My Lai Massacre, reminding us that he was there and he spoke to persons directly involved in the assault. There had been problems coming from the village. It's been revealed many times that women and children were trained as snipers and were often as skilled as men at hitting their mark - perhaps more so in some cases. It was determined that injuries and deaths of some American soldiers were coming from the My Lai village. Ralph pointed out that North Vietnamese soldiers were adept at using villagers as cover and mingling with them as a method of protection against the enemy. In this case their ploy did not pan out.
Military brass in Vietnam ordered the destruction…








