Hi ww2buff--Thanks for the sympathies. My Cousin has pretty much overcome any troubles to do with the deaths of his friends. I too lost some friends--two during the First Gulf War--one in a scud attack--the other by friendly fire. These two friends I had known since I was about 4--and their friendship cannot ever be replaced.
I make new friends on occasion and I never try to compare them with friends from the past because there could never be a comparison--and it would not be fair to judge then that way.
On Nam:
We have to also be fair and say that--yes we won most of the battles but--we didn't win the war. In 1975, Saigon was evecuated--the NVA and VC captured the capitol of South Vietnam. I remember seeing a lot of news footage showing the South Vietnamese forces in almost continous combat--and retreat.
The USA basically had to leave S.Vietnam--too many internal problems at home to deal with. Just like what was attempted during the recent war in Iraq.
But back to Nam.
We can't say that we won that war when we left the country and the S.Viet gov't fell to Vo Nguyen Giap's forces. All of Vietnam is communist controlled to this day.
The was was unpopular for many reasons--some good--some bad reasons. I would not want to have to fight either but--I believe that if my country called me up--I believe that I would do my duty to the best of my ability. I cannot say that I would be a or try to be a hero--impossible to be able to tell that. I can say that I firmly believe that I would do my duty.
Too many what if's are involved to accurately say what outcome that war would have had.
For example:
What if the politicians had let the military fight this war instead of having their hands tied behind their backs--like what happened.
See what I mean?
I would like to suggest that you find the site listing the Medal of Honor Citations--and please read the one for Roy P. Benevides. He was an extraordinary soldier and was a Medal of Honor Recipient. He passed away within the last several years
and was a native of Texas. What this man did--was way more than his duty for his country--he also went way beyond his duty for his comrades as well.
At any rate--with the internal problems existing at the time of the Vietnam War--we could not have a good chance of winning it--like a more conventional war such as WW2.
Bill is correct in his assessment--he served in that era--and was spit on by two females--tho he had nothing to do with the fighting in Vietnam.
this is a darn shame too.
Can you just imagine how it would feel to--be on your way home from serving your country--only to be spit on by two morons who never had served their country one single day of their lives--and who just did not have a clue on what the real world was about.
Just my 2 cents worth.