Past me put this together. It’s starting my #Thursday. #VietnamWar #playlist. Sadly, still hits. Enjoy. With tears.
The absolute legendary story of Ho Chi Minh and how Vietnam Communists kicked America's ass! 
#socialism #communism #capitalism #marxism #leninism #marxismleninism #vietnam #vietnamwar
Tempe veteran recalls Vietnam War horrors | News https://www.byteseu.com/886684/ #Conflicts #PatLittleUpah #TempeVeterans #TetOffensive #VietnamVeterans #VietnamWar
https://www.alojapan.com/1232263/okinawa-exchange-brings-military-community-together-to-honor-vietnam-war-heroes/ Okinawa Exchange brings military community together to honor Vietnam War heroes #AAFES #exchange #heroes #MilitaryCommunity #news #Okinawa #OkinawaNews #VietnamWar #沖縄 National Vietnam War Veterans Day (Army & Air Force Exchange Service Public Affairs) CAMP FOSTER – As a 50th Anniversary Vietnam War Commemorative Partner, the Okinawa Exchange will host a pinning ceremony for the final time at the Foster Exchange at 1000 on 29 March to honor a…
Takeaways from the AP's report on how USAID cuts are imperiling Agent Orange cleanup [in Vietnam] (AP News, 2025-03-19)
“At a former American air base in southern Vietnam, work abruptly stopped last month on efforts to clean up tons of soil contaminated with deadly dioxin from the military’s Agent Orange defoliant.
“The Trump administration’s broad cuts to #USAID also halted efforts to clear unexploded American munitions and landmines, a rehabilitation program for war victims, and work on a museum exhibit detailing U.S. efforts to remediate the damage of the Vietnam War.
“In addition to exposing thousands of people to health hazards, the cuts risk jeopardizing hard-won diplomatic gains with #Vietnam, which is strategically increasingly important as the U.S. looks for support in its efforts to counter a growingly aggressive China.”
https://traffic.libsyn.com/yinhistory/EP93-Vietnam1.mp3
Japan occupies Vietnam temporarily, after defeating the French during WWII. After WWII, the French come back and Vietnam gets divided into North and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh becomes the leader in the North. The French support ex-Emperor Bao Dai in the South, but the US supports his Premier Ngo Dinh Diem. The conflict starts when the US refuses to hold elections in 1956 per the Geneva Accords of 1954.
#history #VietnamWar
#VietnamWar Vo Nguyen Giáp led Vietnamese communist forces to victories in wars against Japan, France, South Vietnam, the United States, and China. Giáp was the military commander of the Việt Minh and the People's Army from 1941 to 1972. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B5_Nguy%C3%AAn_Gi%C3%A1p
Mar 17, 1950 #VietnamWar Vietnamese Defence Minister, Vo Nguyen Giap, has outlined the new strategic plan for the Liberation Army. Mobile warfare, with emphasis on the study of positioned warfare, must replace the conception of guerilla warfare, he said. The Defence Minister called on delegates to the national military congress to develop and consolidate the field army and to mobilise all forces "to annihilate the enemy."
#US #army Maj Gen #CharlesCalvinRogers
Received the highest #military decoration in the #USA, the #MedalofHonor
On Nov 1 1968, the #VietnamWar, despite a horrific injury, Rogers rallied his men in defense of their base and led the battalion until a major attack was repulsed
The #Trump regime removed him from the #DoD website
Not only is his page now 404, they changed the URL
The word "medal"
in the URL
for the bio of this exemplary man
was changed to
"deimedal"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/defense-department-black-medal-of-honor-veteran
The ‘Iron Mountain’ hoax: how anti-Vietnam war satire sparked today’s conspiracy theories https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/iron-mountain-hoax-anti-vietnam-war-satire-conspiracy-theories #Farright(US) #JohnFKennedy #Socialmedia #Thefarright #TheKennedys #USpolitics #Vietnamwar #Worldnews #USnews #QAnon #Media
The entrance of a Buddhist temple on Galang Island. A historical relic of Vietnamese refugee camp in 1979
Causland Memorial Park in Anacortes, Washington
This public park features intricate stone architecture, mosaics, and walkways.#vietnamwar #worldwari #parks #section-Atlas
Causland Memorial Park
R-Point (2004): Ghosts & Ghoulies Vietnamese style https://mikesfilmtalk.com/2013/01/30/r-point-2004-ghosts-ghoulies-vietnamese-style/ #BokorHillStation, #FilmReview, #HorrorFilm, #JacobsLadder, #Movie, #MovieReview, #R-Point, #SouthKorea, #SouthKoreanHorror, #UnitedStates, #VietnamWar, #Vietnamese, #WarHorrorFilm, #WorldCinema
Hugh Thompson Jr. saved innocent civilians from slaughter, put a stop to the Mỹ Lai Massacre, the notorious war crime committed by U.S. troops during the #VietNamWar.
For that, he was deemed a traitor by many.
Now recognized a hero by history.
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/vietnam-war/hugh-thompson-jr.html
Feb 14, 1950 #VietnamWar US defence authorities now regard Southeast Asia as the most dangerous area in the East-West #ColdWar. United States had invited France to make recommendations for the supply of American arms to the French-sponsored State of Vietnam in Indo-china.
@CodieneC I'm old enough to remember very well the last time that happened: #VietnamWar. Met many draft resisters, worked with a few, some were closest friends. Could happen again.
And, btw, Canada DEFINITELY came out ahead on that one.
It's getting dark…
War crimes
Image: Peasants' feet, My Lai, South Vietnam, 1968. Cropped from a larger Wikipedia image
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_massacre#Helicopter_crew_intervention
American heroes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Thompson_Jr.
Don't expect any love from me for cowards, especially those cosplaying "leaders". Little people, pretending to "admire" heroes, but never attempting to be one. They steal respect and recognition from those who truly deserve it.
They only deserve contempt.
Vietnam: The War That Changed America. A Review of Then and Now
The recently released Apple TV+ documentary Vietnam: The War That Changed America left me with a lot of mixed emotions. Not about the documentary itself. It’s well done and deserves attention. Both as a reflection of our past history and also how it projects forward into our present moment.
The documentary itself is excellent work. The six episodes splice together historical footage-some already famous, some new-with interviews from those who were actually there, on all sides of the conflict. We’ve seen similar story telling techniques in other historical documentaries. This time around we get to hear not just from Americans, but also from North Vietnamese and Viet Cong voices. These moments are certainly compelling, as are some of the stories of the journalists and other non-combatants involved.
Add to that what I’ll call the reunion factor. Each episode features a couple of individuals who served together to tell their stories, often with completely different views on the war and its aims. In the episode’s conclusion they are then reunited. It’s effective and at times emotional and effectively reveals the folly and tragedy of division.
As good as the series is at chronicling an inflection point in American and world history, what got me thinking was again witnessing scenes of anti-war protests. While I’ve seen many such scenes before, watching them through the prism of this contemporary moment of peril we’re trying to find our way through in the U.S left me curious and unsettled.
There’s no doubt that those anti-war protests had an impact on America culturally and politically. That tumultuous era created new alliances and divisions over root causes that we are still fighting over today. But as I watch those surging crowds of protesters, knowing how history often repeats and/or rhymes, I remind myself that was a different age. One without the organizing tools like social media and mobile communications that we have at our disposal now.
As I and many others anguish over the lack of leadership defying what is happening currently in Washington DC, I’m left wondering, given the tools we have at our disposal today, what it will take to effectively take advantage of those tools and galvanize, as was done then, to meet the challenges of today. Certainly the forces we’re now in contest with have bought and pillaged some of those services and learned how to use them more effectively than those in the reluctant opposition.
Perhaps we lost this round when most of us left Twitter to avoid the cesspool of Elon Musk’s making, instead of sticking around and forcing them to toss us off.
It took time in that era for anti-government pressure to come together and coalesce with enough momentum to bring change. And yes, it also took events like the murders of student protestors at Kent State, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy, not to mention the too many casualties of war.
Let’s hope we don’t need the time, or that type of violence, for leaders to emerge and spark enough outrage to bring a stop to the evil we now face. I’m not talking about leaders emerging from conventional political party structures. I’m talking about from the ground up. The tools are there. It should be easier to organize and get the word out with less effort than it was during the age of the War in Vietnam.
Here’s also hoping we have the courage, conviction, and most importantly the desire to do what is necessary when the time comes.
Because it’s coming.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Nguyễn Thị Bình is a granddaughter of the Nationalist leader Phan Chu Trinh. She grew up in a land that had been under French rule since 1858. The country’s resources were plundered, & the people exploited as cheap labour & reduced to grinding poverty. So determined were the French to maintain their colonial hold at any cost, they collaborated in power-sharing with Japanese #fascist #occupiers who brought horror & starvation from 1940-1945.
Despite this, led by the #VietMinh Front, people of Vietnam triumphed in the #AugustRevolution of 1945 & the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (DRV) was declared on September 2nd. Democratic elections took place in January 1946 but French troops, with the open support of the US & Britain, attacked the new Viet Minh administration in the south of the country & the #WarOfResistance against #France began.
Binh studied French at Lycée Sisowath in Cambodia & worked as a teacher during the #French #colonisation of Vietnam. She joined #VietnamCommunistParty in 1948. Upon joining, she immediately began work as a #grassroots #AntiColonial organiser. From 1945-1951, she took part in intellectual protest movements against French #colonists. She was arrested & jailed between 1951-1953 in #Saigon by the French #colonial authority in Vietnam. She was repeatedly interrogated under torture & sentenced to death but was reprieved & released in very poor health in 1954.
Upon release from prison, Binh went north to work in #Hanoi for the National #WomensUnion. Her job took her to many localities where she witnessed first-hand the impact of #colonialism & the French War on ordinary people & especially women & children.
1954 was a year of victory for the Vietnamese army. The defeated French were forced to sign the #GenevaAccords recognising the independence, sovereignty & unity of Vietnam. The country was temporarily split in two at the 17th parallel, with the French moving to the south from which they would withdraw, while the Viet Minh went to the north. A general election for the government of a united country was to follow within 2 years.
But it never happened. The #USA came centre stage to ensure that the Accords were never implemented. Driven by strategic interests in the region, it made sure that Vietnam stayed divided – preventing an election that would have swept Ho Chi Minh to power with 80% support, while bankrolling & controlling the reactionary #regime of Diem-Nhu south of the 17th parallel. This regime violently suppressed all opposition, executing of thousands of Viet Minh supporters & condemning hundreds of thousands to concentration camps and prisons.
In response, the NLF (for liberation of South Vietnam & unification) was formed in 1960. Nguyen Thi Chau Sa was assigned to the Foreign Affairs Section of its Re-unification Committee & given the name Nguyen Thi Binh (Peace). From 1962 onwards, her high-profile diplomatic work, took her across the world. She represented the aspirations of the people of Vietnam in every country & forum she visited, while the world’s strongest #imperialist power made all-out war on her small country.
During the #VietnamWar, she became a member of the #Vietcong Central Committee and a vice-chairperson of the South Vietnamese #WomensLiberation Association. In 1969 she was appointed foreign minister of the Provisional #Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam. A fluent French speaker, Bình played a major role in the #ParisPeaceAccords - an agreement that was supposed to end the war & restore peace in Vietnam.
She was expected to be replaced by a male Vietcong representative after preliminary talks, but became one of the group's most visible international public figures. During this time, she was famous for representing Vietnamese women with her elegant & gracious style, and was referred to by the media as "Madame Bình". She was also referred to as the "Viet Cong Queen" by Western media.
After the war, she was appointed Minister of Education of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1982-1986; the first female minister ever in the history of Vietnam. Binh was a member of the Central Committee of Vietnam's Communist Party from 1987-1992. She was the Deputy Chair of the Party's Central Foreign Affairs Commission & Chair of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee. The National Assembly elected her twice to position of Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the terms 1992–1997 & 1997–2002.
Bình has authored several op-eds, including a one on the state newspaper Nhân Dân in which she voiced concerns that the current personnel policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam have allowed some "incompetent and opportunistic" individuals to enter the party's apparatus. She also criticized the Party's focus on increasing membership at the expense of "quality."
From March 2009-2014, she served as a member of the support committee of #RussellTribunal on #Palestine.
Madame Bình became a source of inspiration & namesake for Madame Binh Graphics Collective, a #RadicalLeft all-women poster, printmaking, & street art collective based in NYC from 1970s-1980s.
Many Americans in the #AntiWar movement were proud to wear T-shirts printed with the portrait of "Madame Binh". By then, she had become a symbol for female soldiers of the legitimacy of Vietnam's efforts.
Madame Bình has been awarded many prestigious awards & honours, including the Order of Ho Chi Minh & Resistance Order (First Class). In 2021, President of Vietnam Nguyễn Xuân Phúc awarded her the 75-year Party Membership Commemorative Medal.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, the Government of Vietnam commissioned the official portraits for 12 former foreign ministers from 1945-2020. Nguyễn Thị Bình was included among them as the only South Vietnamese foreign minister & the only woman.
Ref: Nguyen Thi Binh". Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography (3rd ed.). Boston: Northeastern University Press. 1999. ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9
Ref: Triantafillou, Eric (3 May 2012). "Graphic Uprising". The Brooklyn Rail.
Ref: https://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/about-rtop/patrons.html
Ref: Hy V. Luong (2003), Postwar Vietnam: dynamics of a transforming society, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0847698653
