James M. Redwine

Viet Nam

A Turn From The Right To The Right

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According to CNN this morning, 13 November 2024, President-Elect Trump will nominate former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister, Mike Huckabee, to be United States Ambassador to Israel. Mr. Huckabee was quoted this morning as denying the existence of a Palestinian people, referring to Palestine as Canaan and Palestinians as Canaanites. As the Republican Party will almost certainly have the majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives in 2025, Mr. Huckabee will likely be confirmed.

United States foreign policy in the Middle East will likely continue to be one of aggressive support for Israel, as it has been since Israel was created out of Palestine in 1948. But, it may turn from a philosophical position to a dynamic one. From a war more of words and increasing military materiel backing to one that shifts from old people making threats and spending our national treasure to our young people bleeding and dying. We have recently traveled this one-way road in Viet Nam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan and the Iraq War. Now is the time to change both our direction and our moral position.

Speak Up!

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I am pretty sure no one in my high school had ever heard of Viet Nam when our country decided to get involved there. It was interesting how the war of our generation worked its way into our psyches as our government stumbled its way from 600 “advisors” in the 1950’s to 58,000 dead young American soldiers by 1975.

My post-Korean War generation generally started its ignorance of Southeast Asia believing our government’s policies were rooted in American values of support for democracy, humanitarian aid and the principle of “Let’s fight them over there so we won’t have to fight them over here.” Or, from a geo-political concern, after the Bay of Pig’s debacle, our crushing of Communists in Viet Nam might restore our nation’s unbeatable image.

Most college students, including me, either were unaware or unconcerned about a “Police Action” with little risk. In fact, many college students, including me, were rather excited by the possibility of adventures in a foreign land. What few debates that occurred on college campuses were more about which folk songs to champion. Students, including me, flocked to recruiters’ offices and had few worries about dodging the draft.

But by the time I had received my honorable discharge and returned to campus, young people had experienced an awakening due to such events as the Tet Offensive, B-52 carpet bombing of primitive villages and coffins being returned draped with American flags. As for me, the most significant event was the combat death of my childhood friend, Gary Malone, in 1966.

College campuses had metamorphosized from the indifference of the unaffected to protests against government censorship and misinformation. Such student-led political successes as President Johnson publicly declaring on television, he, “Would not seek and would not accept his party’s nomination to run for another term”, energized young people on campuses throughout America. Students were no longer going to accept the government’s Party Line.

I now see a similar fire smoldering and sometimes blazing among many students who object to their country involving itself in killing innocent civilians and borrowing billions of dollars of future tax revenues. Their grandchildren will not be able to afford infrastructure because our country chooses to give away billions of dollars’ worth of munitions.

Another similarity I remember from the Viet Nam campus environment was the stifling of free expression from students whose political and moral views differed from the government’s and the college administrations. College administrations from Harvard, M.I.T., Pennsylvania, Columbia and so many others have allowed contributors to silence pro-peace and pro-Palestinian views or criticism of the Israeli government’s military suppression and oppression in Gaza and the West Bank. Money has trumped the raison d’être for the existence of colleges, the free interchange of ideas.

Under the disingenuous charge of antisemitism, the actions of Israel have become immune from campus debate. However, what is really occurring is the blanket expulsion of free expression in return for contributions and political acceptance. The Viet Nam era is being revisited.

A recent shocking and cowardly action by a university’s administration occurred this week at the University of Southern California. The chosen 2024 valedictorian, Asna Tabassum who is a Muslim, was banned from giving her valedictory because of her pro-Palestinian views. One need not guess what the administration would have done had she supported the military actions of Israel.

There is an encouraging similarity between my generation’s awakening and activism that finally brought an end to our war in Viet Nam and today’s campus climate. It is reminiscent of the 1960’s folk singer Phil Ochs’ song about student free speech:

♫         We’ve even helped to overthrow the leaders of the land.
I wouldn’t go so far to say we’re also learning how,
But when I’ve got something to say, sir,
I’m going to say it now.        ♫

If colleges are that afraid of student free expression, we should remember, the first casualty of war is truth.

Not That Long Ago

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My childhood friend and neighbor Gary Malone was killed in combat in Viet Nam July 28, 1966. On Sunday, September 10, 2023 President Biden stood in front of United States and Vietnamese flags and announced a strategic partnership with Viet Nam, more honestly identified as a pseudonym for military assistance. It is generally understood that this military realignment is to counter balance Viet Nam’s reliance on its neighbor China. China was North Viet Nam’s main supporter when the United States was fighting a 20-year war against it (1955-1975).

Gary cannot express his feelings about his country’s rapprochement with the people our government sent him to fight. But I may soon get to see his brother, Bud Malone, who along with Gary’s twin, Jerry, also saw combat in Viet Nam. Maybe Bud and I will discuss the war and Gary and Jerry or more likely, since Bud is Osage and we have been friends for almost 80 years, not much will need to be said. Perhaps a song from the musical Les Misérables can help fill the void:

♪….

Oh my friends, my friends forgive me
That I live and you are gone
There’s a grief that can’t be spoken
There’s a pain goes on and on

…

Oh my friends, my friends don’t ask me
What your sacrifice was for
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will meet no more ♪

When American young people were both fighting and protesting the Viet Nam War our government was issuing vague exhortations about the need to stop the advance of Communism in China and the U.S.S.R. (today’s Russia). In fact, as Gary and 58,000 more members of our generation were serving and being killed in Viet Nam, our government’s pronouncements then sound much like our government’s rationales for war today. We must fight China, Russia, Iran and a myriad of other perceived enemies there now so we will not have to fight them here later. The one constant we can rely on is that old people will do now what old people did then when 22-year-old Gary gave his life for what he believed in. That is, our government will send young people to pay the price.

My guess is Gary would support peace and even friendship now with Viet Nam and even China, Russia, Iran, etc., so other people on all sides might avoid an early death from armed conflict. Of course, I cannot ask Gary today what he would think as if he were an 80-year-old. We all struggle to understand how that puzzling young person we used to be would react today. I do remember I started out believing the government and supporting the war then slowly realized we had been misled by our leaders who were themselves misled by false intelligence and bad judgment. Gentle Reader, does that remind you of our recent wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and even, perhaps, Ukraine?

Peace and friendship with Viet Nam do not denigrate the honorable service of Gary and his fallen comrades. Rather they validate the ideals they stood for. The issue is not was their sacrifice in vain? It was not, as long as we do not forget it and as long as we learn from it. Rest in peace my young friend. Your former adversary and your beloved country have finally come full circle building upon your service. We must now guard against our new alliance helping to lead us into a new conflict with another old enemy. Your memory deserves better.

The Briar Patch

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Hitler’s troops easily conquered that part of Stalin’s USSR known as Ukraine in 1942. Total world victory was almost in Germany’s grasp. Then Hitler decided to bring Russia to its knees at the Battle of Stalingrad. Six hundred thousand dead German soldiers and six months later Germany was on its way to total defeat. The Russians sacrificed one and one-half million of its soldiers to confront Hitler’s arrogance. Neither Russia nor Germany has forgotten this carnage.

When one visits the site of the battle in Volgograd, Russia today there is a 172-foot-tall statue of a Russian woman thrusting a sword into the sky. She stands erect on Mamayev Hill and guards the hallowed ground where so many died. There is a memorial close to her feet where the names of countless dead soldiers are carved into marble walls that line a descending walk to an eternal flame. No one makes a sound as they honor the fallen heroes.

When the United States government complains that Germany is not rushing to confront Russia’s belligerence on the border of Ukraine, a visit to Volgograd might explain Germany’s caution. As for us, we need only to recall our ignominious exits from our incursions into Afghanistan (2001-2021) or Viet Nam (1955-1975) to give us pause.

Most of us learn the hard way that angry and arrogant challenges often lead to dire repercussions. America may wish to tread cautiously in our efforts to dictate how other countries should handle their border crises. We did not brook Great Britain’s claims to territory below the 49th parallel (Fifty-Four Forty or Fight) in 1846.

And the same President, James Polk, who demanded the Oregon country from Great Britain annexed the Republic of Texas that Mexico believed should be a part of Mexico. Texas and Mexico share a border that is over 1,250 miles long. The border between Ukraine and Russia is over 1,400 miles long. About 40% of the residents of Texas are of Hispanic/Latino descent and for about 30% of Texans Spanish is their native language. Of the 41 million Ukrainians about 17% are of Russian descent and for about 30% of Ukrainians Russian is their native language.

As Ukraine was a part of Russia for hundreds of years, until 1991, and there are deep geographical, cultural and historical ties between Russia and Ukraine, Russia may consider Ukraine much as we considered “Oregon” and Texas. That does not mean the world should ignore Russian aggression or Ukrainian independence. It should, however, advise government leaders and those who would bang the war tocsins to remember that briar patches might be easily entered but may result in much lost skin to exit.

Last Of The Buffalo Hunters

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Barbed Wire Fence in “The Osage”.                    

Before he served our country in Viet Nam my friend Jimmie Reed worked on his dad’s ranch in Foraker, Oklahoma. Jimmie and Bill Moon and I played football for the Pawhuska, Oklahoma Huskies and graduated together in 1961. The summer between our junior and senior years Jimmie’s father, Phil Reed, needed some fence built and Jimmie volunteered Bill and me to help. Mr. Reed paid us $7.00 per day plus a hamburger at lunch time at the old Foraker store.

One typical Osage County July day Mr. Reed and Jimmie came into Pawhuska at 6:00 a.m. and picked up Bill and me to work. If you have never had the experience of building barbed wire fence across a pasture of unyielding Osage County sandstone where shade is illegal, may I advise you to maintain your current status. We were equipped with bales of barbed wire, wire cutters, wire stretchers and, surprisingly to me as a town boy, sledgehammers and long iron pikes. Oh, we had manual post hole diggers but they shrank in fear when encountering two inches of top soil over two feet of rock.

About the only way to drive a metal fence post deep enough to hold stretched out wire was to first stand on the tailgate of a pickup and make a hole by driving down an iron pike with a sledgehammer. Then we had to drive a post into the hole.

That particular bucolic summer day on the prairie as I dodged the zooming grasshoppers and wondered how I was going to pay Jimmie back later by beating him at snooker at the local pool hall if we made it to dark, a cowboy from the nearby Boots Adams ranch drove up and spoke to Mr. Reed. Mr. Reed who was usually calm and laconic got agitated. I overheard him tell the cowboy something had to be done right away. Mr. Reed used a couple of emphatic words I had never heard him utter before.

Gentle Reader, you are probably wondering why Mr. Reed and Boots did not simply discuss the matter via their cell phones. Well, in 1960 a pickup was the cell phone. Anyway, the cowboy took Mr. Reed’s comments back to Boots. Here’s what it was all about.

Boots Adams, who was once the president of Phillips Petroleum Company headquartered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, used to regale eastern dude money men with the great golden west by introducing them to cowboys, horses, cattle and the small herd of buffalo he kept at his ranch. We called them buffalo before the Nature Conservancy opened shop and made us say bison.

Buffalo/Bison

It turns out bison and cattle are kind of like Democrats and Republicans. They generally do not play well together. So, Mr. Reed told Boots’ cowhand something had to be done when the cowhand said seven of Boots’ buffalo had broken out and were causing havoc among Mr. Reed’s cattle.

Well, Boots’ cowboy hurried back to Boots with Mr. Reed’s concerns then returned. I heard the cowhand say, “Boots said to just shoot ‘em”. Actually, Boots used somewhat more colorful vernacular. As for the cowhand he produced several rifles and ammunition and told Mr. Reed that Boots was sending a flatbed truck with a wench to meet up with us where the buffalo were roaming.

Mr. Reed, Jimmie, Bill, the cowhand and I jumped into the two pickups and flew off to hunt buffalo! It was not long before we found the burly beasts ambling around Mr. Reed’s pasture as though they belonged there. And just as the politically incorrect buffalo hunters who used to kill herds of buffalo from a train’s flatcar, we removed the seven marauding behemoths.

Please do not castigate us, the last of the buffalo hunters, for protecting the cattle. It was a job that had to be done. And it sure beat building fence. I wish Jimmie and Bill, and Mr. Reed too, were still here to fill any gaps in my recollection. On the other hand, I know wherever they are they are cooler than in The Osage in July and are perhaps still chasing after some mystical buffalo instead of pounding down fence posts.

Huh?

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Now that spring is here the end of the long winter of our discontent, that is the NBA season, is almost in sight. Maybe by the time Cubs fans finally shut up about their once in two life-times miracle, football will return. Anyway, with spring comes hope. Maybe life really will be renewed as promised by the fragrant blossoms from the locust trees, or not.

What does reappear as certainly as television programs filled with mindless sex and violence, I mean the news of course, are the miscommunications between men and women, religions and cultures and countries. We are left to wonder, what does it all mean; actually, what does any of it mean?

The reality of the danger inherent in one person or one group of persons misinterpreting the signs and signals from others has been brought home to me recently. I will cite three examples. You, Gentle Reader, will surely have your own.

WOMEN VERSES MEN

It is not called the Battle of the Sexes for nothing. We have about three million years of experience involving this war. Let’s face it. We are different. No matter how Madison Avenue tries to androgenize us, we just ain’t the same, especially when it comes to communication. I give you last weekend as an example.

“I am so ready for this weekend. Let’s have breakfast on the back porch and enjoy some coffee.”

“We need to get those plants moved while the ground is moist. And you need to get my garden tilled today.”

“I think the Cardinals play at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN.”

“The cardinals need sunflower seeds. Can’t you see how sad and confused they are by that empty bird feeder? You need to run into Rural King right now.”

I suppose those of you who are sure which one of the above speakers was right do not need the actors identified. Suffice it to say what women consider a weekend is for is not what men believe. You are correct. However, the cardinals that received the attention were not the Cardinals.

RELIGIONS AND CULTURES

If President Trump, as Candidate Trump, can claim he knows more about war in the Middle East than the generals, I may boldly assert I know something about religion. To that end I avow that there are legitimate reasons why different religious sects differ. It was probably the same even when Constantine decreed the threat of death as the best conversion sermon. People still believed as they thought proper.

In much of the world today Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists, not to mention the many other faiths, are struggling over how many angels can dance on the barrel of a gun. And within each religion there are differing opinions as to what is the proper way to worship. Most significantly, some of the religious world is busy killing some of those of other religions in the name of bringing peace. In other words, the same words are interpreted differently.

Of course, all of us believe our culture is superior to all others. History, including contemporary events, is replete with death, destruction and denial of civil rights dealt out by one klavern against another. To do unto others before they do to us appears ever ascendant. Most of this is due to our inability to see situations from anther’s viewpoint.

COUNTRIES

While personal and cultural misapprehensions often result in cruelty and destruction, the greatest potential evil is caused by the leaders of countries sending out and receiving confusing signals. We could go back thousands of years for examples of wars begun over ignorance. Or we could just look to our own times: Viet Nam, The Gulf War, The Iraq War, Afghanistan and maybe soon Iran and North Korea.

I will admit that because our son fought on the frontlines of two of those wars my feelings are personal and certainly not unbiased. However, my opinion does not alter the facts: our country (and other countries) got into these conflicts after numerous miscommunications and misunderstandings. Weapons of mass destruction comes to mind.

What I suggest as a possible way to avoid our next shooting war, say with Iran or North Korea, is a careful and thoughtful effort to not vilify others we may not understand while we try hard to see matters from their position. This is the simple maxim that has been universally applied with success since we came down from the trees: Treat others as we wish to be treated.