Turning the hands of time back today.. American War

If only we could turn the hands of time back so easily!.... we take time out today, to reflect on the American War in Vietnam.. 

 

Vietnam War  From Wikipedia,

Vietnam War
Part of the Cold War and the Indochina Wars
A UH-1D helicopter piloted by Maj. Bruce P. Crandall climbs skyward after discharging a load of US infantrymen on a search and destroy mission.
Date 1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975 (19 years, 180 days) Location South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos Result North Vietnamese victory Withdrawal of American forces from Indochina Dissolution of South Vietnam Communist governments take power in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos Territorial changes Unification of North and South Vietnam under North Vietnamese rule.
Belligerents
Anti-Communist forces:  South Vietnam  United States  South Korea  Australia  Philippines  New Zealand  Thailand Khmer Republic Kingdom of Laos  Republic of China Supported by: Spain	Communist forces:  North Vietnam NLF Khmer Rouge Pathet Lao People's Republic of China  Soviet Union  North Korea Supported by:  Czechoslovakia[citation needed]  Cuba
Commanders and leaders
Ngô Đình Diệm Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Cao Văn Viên Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon William Westmoreland Creighton Abrams Park Chung Hee[1] Chae Myung Shin[1] Lon Nol ...and others	Hồ Chí Minh Lê Duẩn Võ Nguyên Giáp Hoàng Văn Thái Văn Tiến Dũng Trần Văn Trà Nguyễn Văn Linh Nguyễn Hữu Thọ Pol Pot ...and others
Strength
~1,830,000 (1968) South Vietnam: 850,000 United States: 536,100 Free World Military Forces: 65,000 Republic of Korea: 50,000 Australia: 7,672 Thailand, Philippines: 10,450 New Zealand: 552	~461,000 North Vietnam: 287,465 (Jan 1968) PRC: 170,000 (1969) Soviet Union: 3,000 DPR Korea: 300–600
Casualties and losses
South Vietnam 220,357 (low est.) – 316,000 dead (highest est.); 1,170,000 wounded United States 58,220 dead; 1,687 missing; 303,635 wounded Republic of Korea 5,099 dead; 10,962 wounded; 4 missing Australia 521 dead; 3,000 wounded New Zealand 37 dead; 187 wounded Thailand 1,351 dead Kingdom of Laos 30,000 killed, wounded unknown Total dead: 315,384 – 412,000 Total wounded: ~1,490,000+	North Vietnam & NLF 1,176,000 dead or missing (highest est.); 600,000+ wounded P.R. China 1,446 dead; 4,200 wounded Soviet Union 16 dead Total dead: ~1,177,462 (highest est.) Total wounded: ~604,200+
Vietnamese civilian dead: ~200,000 – 2,000,000 Cambodian civilian dead: 200,000 – 300,000* Laotian civilian dead: ~20,000 – 200,000* Total civilian dead: ~420,000 – 2,500,000 Total dead: ~1,912,846 – 3,992,846 * indicates approximations, For more information see Vietnam War casualties

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations.^[25] The Viet Cong, a lightly armed South Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The Vietnam People's Army (North Vietnamese Army) engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery and airstrikes.

What a cruel thing is war:  to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world.  ~Robert E. Lee, letter to his wife, 1864

In Flanders fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
~John McCrae

You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.  ~Jeanette Rankin

Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood.  ~Gandhi, Non-violence in Peace and War, 1948

The military don't start wars.  Politicians start wars.  ~William Westmoreland