There is a small memorial outside of San Onofre on Camp Pendleton that is dedicated to the Vietnamese refugees. Many of them lived there on Pendleton in a tent city while being re-located across America. I was a teenager when Vietnam ended and remember quite well the refugees. We had a large Vietnamese family that our Church sponsored. People may not realize but because of that area being French for a long time, not all Vietnamese were Buddhist. Many were Catholics.
I’ve seen a little of the Ken Burns documentary and the part I watched was concentrating on the corruption of the South Vietnamese government. IMO, that was one of the problems with the war. In order to fight a counter insurgency, you have to have a credible partner. When Buddist monks were burning themselves in the streets of Saigon in protest to the government, we should have realized that we did not have a credible partner.
The goals of the war were laudable and it was a worthwhile cause. The left always lampoons the domino theory, but guess what? It actually happened, Cambodia and Laos did turn red and hundreds of thousands died in the Khmer Rouge killing fields of the late 70’s. Thank you for that Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden.
My experience has taught me that the best Americans are usually the ones that have fled Communist persecution and the Vietnamese in this country are no different. It’s funny how all of these type of groups end up being Republicans by and large. Guess that’s why the left doesn’t want them in America.
Good points All,
I might add that some refugees kept
Their communist beliefs as they
joined the boat people coming to
America.
Like the Cuban refugees are mostly republican and CA. Tell you the horrors of communism. Unfortunately their children went to our public schools and that generation is turning democrat.
Like the Cuban refugees are mostly republican and CA. Tell you the horrors of communism. Unfortunately their children went to our public schools and that generation is turning democrat.