Each year, the Texas Tech University Vietnam Center in Lubbock, Texas, hosts the annual conference on the Vietnam War that attracts hundreds of scholars, researchers, high-ranking officers, diplomats, and members of the U.S. policy-making institutes.

The 2001 Annual Conference,” The Advisory Effort and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam” lasted three days from April 19 to 21, 2001  in Lubbock. Michael Do was honored to be the keynote speaker at the Saturday lunch at the Hall of Nation of the International Cultural Center.

This is the full transcript of Mr. Do’s speech.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am so glad and pleased to have this opportunity to speak out the voice of the Vietnamese Veterans before the selected audience of scholars and graduate students of Texas Tech University and our American comrades-in-arms.

Thank you, Dr. Reckner, for sending a heartfelt message to encourage me and set up the time for me to speak in this seminar.

I am a U.S. citizen. But today, I will speak in the name of a soldier of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces.

The war in Vietnam that ended in 1975 – seen by Americans as the Vietnam War and by North Vietnam as an Anti-American War – is, to us, an Anti-Communism War. For years, it has been discussed in the United States from different viewpoints.

Though a solid and well-equipped army was involved in the war, the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF) was not visible to the eyes of the American public. Or worse, it was portrayed as a corrupted and incompetent army that became a burden to American policy.

We were soldiers who responded to the call of duty to defend our motherland from communist aggression. We were bound to the decision-makers. Any mistake made by the politicians would cause us disaster, as this happened in Vietnam during the last several years of the war. We were ordered to retreat from Quang Tri, Banmethuot, in 1974 while we were able to defend those provinces. We dropped our weapons on April 30, 1975, in confusion and anger, not knowing why Big Minh could do such a stupid thing as surrendering to the communists. Minh was the last South Vietnam president in office for only three days.

I wish I had a whole day to tell you everything I learned and experienced from the war. But within the limited time allowed for each speaker, I’d like to sketch some relevant factors to shed new light and help you understand more about our role in the war.

Who Were Our Enemies?

Let’s refresh our memory and recall the time after the end of the Indochina War, and the Geneva Agreement was signed in 1954.

According to the agreement,

(1) A cease-fire was in effect from July 20, 1954;

(2) Vietnam was temporarily divided into two parts with two opposing political systems;

(3) Communist troops were to withdraw to the North and Nationalists to the South, and

(4) A general election under the supervision of the International Committee for Control and Supervision (ICCS) was to be held for the people to choose their favorite regime. In the North, the communists began to establish a Stalinist dictatorship commandeered by the Soviet Union and Red China. In the South, the Nationalists planted the seed of Western-style democracy with the assistance of the United States and other countries of the Free World. The temporary division became permanent because North Vietnam continuously violated the agreement, and the South rejected the election.

If Ho Chi Minh minded his own business building socialism in North Vietnam, there would not have been a war that lasted 21 years and killed millions of innocent people.

Some of you may ask why South Vietnam rejected a general election that was to follow the cease-fire. Here is the answer: Ho Chi Minh and his followers at that time had strict control over the North, while there was no ground in the South for the concept of Democracy to grow yet. Besides, thousands of communist cadres left behind in rural regions became a clear danger to our political stability.

The Communist Party 3rd National Congress passed the resolution to create the National Liberation Front in South Vietnam (NFL) and started the war against the young Republic of Vietnam. NFL initially consisted of communist left behind cadres and militiamen and later was reinforced by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). It was directly controlled by members of the Communist Party Politburo. Until its victory in 1975, Hanoi had always denied its involvement in South Vietnam. However, after 1965, hundreds of thousands of North Vietnamese regular army troops and tons of supplies were flooded to the South via the Ho Chi Minh trail.

This war was falsely understood as the struggle of the South Vietnamese people against the intervention of the Americans, who at that time only provided limited assistance to help South Vietnam develop its economy.

Thanks to the victory over the French in 1954, The world admired Ho Chi Minh as a liberator.  Ho insisted that he fought for independence and created a false impression that the communist aggression in South Vietnam was a rebellion against the established government. Part of the world, and sadly, the American public were likely to be convinced and give him support during the 21-year war.

The truth is that he skillfully disguised himself as a nationalist to mobilize resources during the war against French domination. But right after he gained control from the French in 1954, he revealed himself as a loyal servant of the Soviet Union and China. And then, in South Vietnam, his intention was to kick out the Americans to welcome the Russians. Communists made a false statement that they fought for independence. We don’t accept that kind of independence. It was merely a deceitful banner. Moreover, independence is nonsense if the people are stripped of all freedom and human rights.

Why We Fought the War?

It is half the truth if we say that U.S. troops were fighting for Vietnam. They were indeed fighting to prevent the expansion of Communism into the Free World led by the U.S.

The expansion of the Soviet Union and its Eastern Europe satellites, plus the rise of Red China, posed a clear and direct danger to the rest of the world. As the leader of the Free World, the United States must have perceived the threat to its interests and security when one-third of the world population and territory fell into Communism. That’s why the Domino theory was approved, resulting in the organization of NATO, SEATO, ANZUS, etc. Vietnam, unfortunately, became the battlefield of an ideological war.

Vietnamese are peace-loving people. We just wanted to rebuild our motherland to catch up with neighboring countries. But we had no other choice than to hold weapons to fight against communist aggression and terrorism. We had to defend what we had achieved. We had to protect our loved ones. We fought for what we believed in. That is freedom. That is the worthy life any human deserves.

Only after the communist brutal campaign of terror and the armed attack became serious the first U.S. troops were sent to Vietnam in March 1965. The U.S. soldiers took a major role in some tactical zones alongside our army. They gave their youth, part of their bodies, and even their lives for our people and to the ideology pursued by the United States as the leader of the Free World.

Were We Wrong?

During the war, American mass media intentionally distorted the situation. Correspondents sent to Vietnam portrayed the G.I.s as murderers and rapists. Consequently, they were treated as criminals back home. It was worse for our South Vietnamese soldiers. We were looked down upon as cowards. They put on the cover page the picture of rare wrongdoing of some individuals but covered up the numerous crimes committed by the communists. Anything can happen in war. The army is not a perfect unit of all good men. Lieutenant Calley killed innocent people, and he was to pay.  The media were so noisy around the My Lai massacre and covered up the mass killing of more than 3000 civilians in Hue during Tet 1968. This killing is undoubtedly an act ordered by Hanoi to terrorize the people as the communists occupied the old capital those days. Every day throughout 21 years of war, communists carried out terrorist acts aimed at innocent people, such as shelling schools, markets, hospitals, and residential areas. They kidnapped and murdered those who did not support them. They barbarously tortured and killed South Vietnamese soldiers and civil servants whom they captured.

American G.I.s served a 2-year tour in Vietnam. They came and left. The war took the lives of 58000 American men and women, plus about 2000 more missing. South Vietnamese soldiers were drafted at 18 and only left the service as corpses wrapped in ponchos or after being seriously wounded. We faced death, day and night, for 21 years. An unofficial statistic reveals that over a quarter of a million South Vietnam soldiers were KIA and hundreds of thousands handicapped.

A Vietnamese Ranger Battalion (the 37th) was defending Khe Sanh with US Marines (Jan – April 1968). Vietnamese Marines took a major part in retaking Hue after Tet 68. Thousands of marines and paratroopers fell in the battle to retake Quang Tri’s old citadel (1972). Vietnamese infantrymen steadily defended An Loc during three months of siege and heavy attack by 3 North Vietnam divisions (1972). Nevertheless, the heroism of our soldiers had not been mentioned anywhere – in any paper or any movie – until recent disclosure by our American counterparts in some magazines.

Did We Lose the War?

The U.S. didn’t win the war. I agree because she didn’t want to win.

The U.S. gave up the war when it became the source of unrest in domestic politics. Washington underestimated the strength of Hanoi and mistakenly predicted the intervention of China and Russia. Washington didn’t have a consistent policy due to the changes in its administration. While our enemy was determined to win, we were reluctant at every step. Regardless of the outcome, Washington had pressure from all directions to end the war. This led to the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

The communists won the war; the U.S. didn’t lose it. Only our Vietnamese people lost. Millions lost their lives during the war, in concentration camps, on the sea, or in the jungle, attempting to flee the brutal Communism. Overseas Vietnamese lost their homeland—the Vietnamese who stayed lost their freedom, future, and, most importantly, hope and belief.

Our Causes Are Righteous

Had the facts of the Vietnam War been truthfully reported to the American public thirty years ago; had President Kennedy not been assassinated; had President Johnson not ordered to stop bombing Hanoi in late 1972 when the communists were on the verge of surrender; had the Watergate scandal not occurred, I would not be here today to talk about whether we were right or wrong.

The fact that we lost the war doesn’t prove we’re wrong. It’s unquestionable that the South Vietnamese government had violated some civil rights and was committed to corruption. Despite the war, South Vietnam established a foundation of democracy and maintained a culture based on traditional values. Those things do not exist in Communism. The one-party political system kills opposing forces and hence tightens the grips to control every movement of the people. Communism uprooted our society.

Today, in Vietnam, except for a thin layer of powerful Communist party members who are extremely wealthy, most of our people live in conditions far below the poverty level. There are not enough schools for children. There are not enough jobs for adults. Even with a job, one cannot feed himself through the days. The only thing communists could do is to exploit their privileges.

I strongly believe that we – both American and Vietnamese soldiers – were fighting for righteous causes. If American G.I.s returned from Korea, Serbia, or Saudi Arabia, they were welcomed as heroes. Why were they not those from Vietnam? Did they fight for different or opposing values to the ones that our people pursue?

Vietnam veterans had suffered too long of ill-treatment until the early 80s when the American public changed its perspective. The memorial to all Vietnam veterans was built in Washington, DC, in 1982 to honor 58 thousand KIA. The upcoming Westminster Vietnam Memorial is another step to honor the South Vietnamese soldiers.

Vietnamese people are always thankful for the sacrifice of American soldiers. Our hearts are with the families whose sons and daughters gave their lives for our freedom.

Vietnamese veterans deserve recognition because we served our country, defended our values, and protected our people. Yes, we did fulfill our obligation to our motherland in whatever capacity.

The truth must be respected. Our children must be proud of their parents who have been fighting for freedom and human rights.

Please accept my most profound respect and appreciation for our American counterparts.

Thank you so much. May God bless you all.