How Does Vietnamese Culture Feel About War?

I feel it is nonsense and no one wants it to happen. We value love and peace but we'll  be ready to protect our country by any way. However,we're living peaceful and we've almost forgotten about that war and hope it wont happen again. Now, Vietnamese and Americans are friends!
- Hannah Le



To us, we wouldn't call it a war but we'd prefer to call it a resistance against foreign forces because we neither wanted to start the war nor joined it. What we wanted was peace and independence but other countries invaded ours so we had to fight against them. Many people had sacrificed themselves for the peace and independence of the country, lots of infrastructure was severely damaged and Agent Orange - and the dioxin it contained - has seriously damaged the health of those living in the areas where it was used. Though Vietnam veterans who handled Agent Orange can claim compensation for a whole range of other diseases recognised as being associated with dioxin, we still think it's not satisfactory as money can't cure the disability which dioxin has caused.


And we defended our country by fighting until the last breath. We didn't give up even though our enemies were strong and powerful. The people at the time were patriotic, unyielding, persistent and very creative. Besides, we had great leaders who set out clear guidelines which led us to victory and independence.
- Annie Kris Nguyen

President John F. Kennedy served from January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963.

The Philedelphia Inquirer publishes the loss of a president.

JFK's autopsy reveals an entry wound on his neck.

The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy left America heartbroken and with little hope for change.

President Lyndon Johnson.

LBJ and former former defense secretary Robert McNamara.

Paratroopers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade hold their automatic weapons above water as they cross a river in the rain during a search for Viet Cong positions in the jungle area of Ben Cat, South Vietnam on Sept. 25, 1965.

A helicopter from the 336th Aviation Company sprays a defoliation agent on a dense jungle area in the Mekong delta.

Sgt. Ronald A. Payne, from Atlanta, Georgia, checks a tunnel entrance carrying a flashlight and a sidearm, before entering it to search for Viet Cong and their equipment during Operation "Cedar Falls" in the Ho Bo Woods, 25 miles north of Saigon on January 24th, 1967.

A Vietnamese soldier wears a face mask to keep out the smell as he passes the bodies of U.S. and Vietnamese soldiers killed in fighting against the Viet Cong at the Michelin rubber plantation, about 45 miles northeast of Saigon, Nov. 27, 1965. More than 100 bodies were recovered after a human wave assault by guerrillas.

A napalm strike erupts near U.S. troops on patrol in South Vietnam in 1966/

A young Marine, August 3, 1965.

A U.S. Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter comes down in flames after being hit by enemy ground fire during Operation Hastings, just south of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Vietnam on July 15, 1966. The helicopter crashed and exploded on a hill, killing one crewman and 12 Marines. Three crewman escaped with serious burns.

Injured Vietnamese receive aid as they lie on the street after a bomb explosion outside the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, March 30, 1965. At least two Americans and several Vietnamese were killed in the bombing.

A young South Vietnamese woman covers her mouth as she stares into a mass grave where victims of a reported Viet Cong massacre were being exhumed in April 1969. The woman's husband, father and brother had been missing since the Tet Offensive.

A Viet Cong prisoner awaits interrogation in Thuong Duc, Vietnam, 23 January 1967.

A marine helps his wounded comrade to cover during battle on May 15, 1967 in South Vietnam.

Women and children hide in a canal as they take cover from intense Viet Cong fire at Bao Trai, about 20 miles west of Saigon, Vietnam on Jan. 1, 1966.

A Viet Cong base camp is torched near My Tho, Vietnam on April 5th, 1968.

South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, chief of the national police, fires his pistol into the head of suspected Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem on a Saigon street, on Feb. 1, 1968.

American soldiers march in South Vietnam.

Many Buddhist monks began protesting in the streets, and in Saigon on October 5, 1963, one monk died by self-immolation.

At Kent State University, a large protest was planned for May 4th, 1970. About 2,000 students participated. When the protest was not broken up, the National Guard began firing shots. Four students were killed, one was paralyzed for life, and eight others were wounded.

Walter Cronkite records a news story in Vietnam in February of 1968.

In this photo, a demonstrater is placing flowers in the barrels of guns of the law enforcement.

On June 8th, 1972, this photograph was taken after a Napalm Balm was dropped in Trang Bang, South Vietnam. 9 year old Kim Phuc runs naked down the road, severly burned, followed by South Vietnamese soldiers. This iconic image of the Vietnam War won a Pulitzer Prize.

Kim Phuc, the woman pictured in the photograph above, spoke to NPR about her experience in the Vietnam War. She says:

I was 9 years old but I still remember my thoughts at that moment: I would be ugly and people would treat me in a different way. Several days after, I realized that I was in the hospital, where I spent 14 months and had 17 operations. It was a very difficult time for me when I went home from the hospital. Our house was destroyed; we lost everything and we just survived day by day.

Although I suffered from pain, itching and headaches all the time, the long hospital stay made me dream to become a doctor. But my studies were cut short by the local government. They wanted me as a symbol of the state. I could not go to school anymore.

The anger inside me was like a hatred as high as a mountain. I hated my life. I hated all people who were normal because I was not normal. I really wanted to die many times.

Forgiveness made me free from hatred. I still have many scars on my body and severe pain most days but my heart is cleansed.

Napalm is very powerful but faith, forgiveness and love are much more powerful. We would not have war at all if everyone could learn how to live with true love, hope and forgiveness.

If that little girl in the picture can do it, ask yourself: Can you?