Second Volume of “Letters to the Wall” Now Available

August 16, 2018 | Books, Connections to Today, Featured, Home Page Bottom, Veterans & Families

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The second volume has been put to print and will soon be available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. We have added a few new touches for this collection of letters delivered to The Wall in 2017 and 2018 — for one, we have provided detailed time lines for 1967 and 1968, marking the fiftieth anniversaries of those times. Much of the material covers the resistance to the war on the home front. We have also included two maps of Viet Nam —one showing the areas of operation that the U.S. military applied to the country. In addition, we have a glossary of terms that pop up in letters as veterans slip into military jargon. Finally, we have indexed letters by the author’s name; we have set up a table of contents by “title” of letters (actually they are pull quotes); and if a name on The Wall was referenced in a letter, we have provided an index to where that name appears on The Wall. Essentially, we have looked upon this collection as an educational tool that we hope people will put in school libraries. And, oh, by the way, YOUR LETTER is in this collection. Thank you for furthering the discussion of this war that still remains with us in many ways….. Best, Doug

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1972: 50 Years Ago

March 30-July 1972 The PAVN (People’s Army of Viet Nam) and the NLF begin a major offensive. The goal of Easter Offensive, officially known as The 1972 Spring – Summer Offensive, (also called the Nguyen Hue (Nguyễn Huệ) offensive) was to win a decisive victory in 1972 or at least improve the revolutionary position for future peace talks. The 3-pronged attacks began in the north, center, and south of the country. Massed North Vietnamese Army artillery open a shattering barrage, targeting South Vietnamese positions across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Upwards of 20,000 PAVN troops cross the DMZ, forcing the South Vietnamese units into a retreat. The Southern defense is thrown into complete chaos. Intelligence reports had predicted a Northern attack, but no one had expected it to come across the DMZ. A week after the launch of the offensive, Nixon decides to respond with a massive air campaign against the North. The campaign was by far the largest and most comprehensive of the war, using a wide variety of aircraft as well as new ‘smart’ bombs. The US committed 74 tactical squadrons to the attack. In addition, six aircraft carriers were assigned to the bombing mission as well as over 100 B-52 bombers. For the first time, the US places mines in Haiphong Harbor to cut off the North Vietnamese from foreign support.

The South Vietnamese with heavy American air support are able to turn back the attack after a month and a half. The city of Loc Ninh (Lộc Ninh), located close to the Cambodian border subsequently became the capital of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (PRGSVN), a distinction it held until it was disbanded after the war. While US bombing and a stiffened ARVN defense was able to turn back the PAVN and NLF offensive, it remains politically impossible to reintroduce sufficient U.S. combat troops to stem the PAVN drive. With his policy of Vietnamization at stake, Nixon implements a massive buildup of air power in Southeast Asia and a broadening of the eligible targets.