Just heard from my step father living in Vietnam that today is Independence day - The day the US lost the war.
Umm...Close, but no cigar. September 2nd, 1945, is when Ho Chi Minh declared the independence of Vietnam from France. Reunification Day is April 30th, marking the capture of Saigon, and the fall of South Vietnam.
What's the point of trolling on a military forum? And thank you USA for all the moral and material aid to Britain in 1940/41.
The 1945 is a symbolic though, the treaty being dated 1954. . The Vietnamese assumed the French would not return in 1946 , but they did not accept to give up Indochina that easily . Leclerc troops recaptured Indochina in 1946 and it wasn't until 1954 that the French left after the batle of Dien bien Phu. It is like the us with the 1776 and the 1783 dates.
Independence? I hardly think so. To my mind, Independence implies that the ordinary man has some say in his own fate, a democratic process, basic liberties and rights. Freedom. Vietnam has none of those things. They traded colonial status for a much worse tyranny. Tough fighters worthy of respect? Yes, I think so. It's just too bad that their sacrifices weren't for a better cause. India had a thoughtful and moral Gandhi leading the way, Vietnam had a psychopath - Ho.
