This piece about the US commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War was published in The Huffington Post blog on 9 April 2013.  I introduced it with this excerpt from a 2003 essay written by war veteran Steve Banko:

One of our victims was searched when the shooting stopped and the bleeding continued and was found to be in possession of a medal. Our interpreter told us it was for heroism at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu fourteen years previous. While we were sent to war to fight communism, he had fought his whole life for his country’s right to self-determination. We traveled 12,000 miles to kill him for that. — From I Would Rather Die Alone — for Peace: A Soldier’s Dream by Steve Banko, 2003

Click here to read the rest of the article.

MAA