Ex-Viet Cong Soldier Recalls Swift Boats
BY: MARGIE MASON,Associated Press
Full Article:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/9545234.htm?1cTHIS IS A VERY GOOD ARTICLE FROM THE EX-VIET CONG PROSPECTIVE ON SENATOR KERRY - NRKFormer Viet Cong soldier Duong Hoang Sinh remembers them well - the one time he tangled with three Swift boats, the Americans killed all of the insurgents in his unit except for two. The 50-foot Swift boats were easy targets as they plowed through the waterways of the Mekong Delta. "It was very fierce fighting," said Sinh, 52, who lost his left eye during the war and still has shrapnel embedded in his arm. "Each side tried to eliminate the other." Sinh and John Kerry, the U.S. Democratic presidential nominee, were fighting along the Dong Cung canal around roughly the same time 35 years ago in early 1969, experiencing the intensity of war along these muddy waters, but from opposite sides.
Although Sinh had never heard of Kerry, he has a strong opinion about the debate surrounding the candidate's Vietnam War record as a U.S. Navy Swift boat commander: Kerry must have had guts to troll the Mekong Delta's spider web of rivers and narrow canals knowing that Viet Cong like himself were waiting to pick him off. "Kerry served in Vietnam and he was awarded the medal for his bravery," Sinh said. "He deserves the medal."
(COMMENT: Approx 75% of U.S. solders that patrolled the Mekong Delta were killed or seriously injured. It was without question the most dangerous hell-hole duty, that no one wanted, in the 20 year U.S.-Vietnam War.).
Hung said he's also puzzled by the uproar over Kerry's decision to join the anti-war movement upon returning home. He said Kerry's actions proved he learned a lot during his time in Vietnam and that he wanted to keep other Americans from dying here. "When they went home, they knew the nature of the war and the people here were innocent and they knew it was nonsense to wage war here," said Hung, whose two older brothers joined the Viet Cong and laid mines in the rivers where the Swift boats operated.
(COMMENT - Over 8 Million people were killed or injured in the Vietnam-Southeast Asia War, and it caused the greatest level of unrest and violence in the U.S. since the Civil War)And while Kerry may be worried about veterans' support in America, Sinh said he would vote any day for his former enemy over President Bush. In the veteran's opinion, Kerry's experience along these rivers fighting Viet Cong might keep him from sending other young Americans to invade countries. "He knew the suffering and how much misery it brought to the people of Vietnam - he knew the cruelty of war," Sinh said. "So, I don't think he would go to war again if he's elected."
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