The Vietnam War Memorial was dedicated NOVEMBER 13, 1982, honoring 58,000 American troops who died. 
 
 U.S. forces inflicted over a million enemy fatalities, yet involvement by politicians thwarted victory.

North Vietnamese colonel, Bui Tin, received the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. 
 
 Bui Tin called the American "anti-war peace movement" essential to the Communist cause:
"Every  day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m.  to follow the growth of the American antiwar movement.   
 
 Visits to  Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark  and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of  battlefield reverses. 
 
   We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a  red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of  American actions in the war and that she would struggle along with us."

After  the war, Bui Tin became vice chief editor of the Communist Party's  official newspaper in Vietnam, 
People's Daily, but he grew disillusioned  with Communist corruption and, in 1990, fled to Paris. 
 
 In an interview, Bui Tin stated:
"The  roots of the Vietnam War - its all-encompassing and underlying nature -  lie in a confrontation between two ideological worlds: socialism versus  capitalism...totalitarianism versus democracy... 
 
 The conscience  of America was part of its war-making capability, and we were turning  that power in our favor. America lost because of its democracy; through  dissent and protest it lost the ability to mobilize a will to win." 
 
 Commenting on this dangerous trend is retired Major General Patrick Brady, considered the most decorated living veteran. 
 
 A Medal of Honor recipient, he flew over 2,500 combat missions in Vietnam, rescuing over 5,000 wounded. 
 
 As  told in his book, 
Dead Men Flying, he once rescued 51 wounded in one  day, flying 3 different helicopters which were shot up with over 400  holes from enemy fire and explosions. 
 
 Major General Patrick Brady wrote, June 4, 2013 (WND.com):
"The greatest danger ... the feminization, emasculation and dismantling of our military.
The  two most important elements of national survival are the media and the  military ... 
We know the media are failing - God help us if the military  does also ... 
 
 Let's begin with Benghazi. It is incomprehensible that any commander, let alone the commander in chief, would go AWOL during a crisis such as Benghazi, but he was ...
Unprecedented rates of suicide ...  
Cut benefits to veterans ... 
Quad-sexual military with all the health,  readiness and moral issues that come with exalting sodomy ... 
Sexual  assault ... 
Women will be tasked to lead bayonet charges ... 
Billions of  defense dollars are unaccounted for ... 
Christianity is under military  attack, and Bibles have been burned to appease Muslims ...
Just  as the way forward for America is a return to the morality and values of  the past, so too must the military return to the readiness standards  and common sense of the past." 
 Get the book AMERICAN MINUTE-Notable Events of American Significance Remembered on the Date They Occurred
 Get the book AMERICAN MINUTE-Notable Events of American Significance Remembered on the Date They OccurredA first-hand account of the  Vietnam War is from Marine Sergeant  George Hutchings in his book, 
Combat  Survival-Life Stories from a  Purple Heart.  
 George Hutchings wrote that on  October 12, 1967, during  Operation Medina, Charlie Company, 1st  Battalion, 1st Marine Division,  was ambushed by North Vietnamese in the  Hai Lang jungle: 
 
 "Thirteen  men were killed in front of me and  countless more behind me. I was in  shock; never had I heard such noise  or saw so many dead.  
 
 Nevertheless, I  returned fire and my M-16  jammed...We had walked into an ambush of an  enemy four times our  size..." 
 
 Pinned down in the jungle on top of a hill, George Hutchings continued:
"We   slowly crawled...to see who was alive...The next morning...the captain   ordered me to water detail...I cursed about the order and Corporal  Bice  said, 'George, I'll go for you'... 
 
 Just after he left, a  sniper  battle erupted...By the time our perimeter was cleared, several  hours  passed, and I went to check on Corporal Bice. I found him - head  and  boots.
We knew his boots because they bore his signature. He  had  been hit in the chest with a light anti-tank weapon. My inner  voice  said, 'He died for you; Christ died for you...'"   
 Combat Survival - Life Stories of a Purple Heart
 Combat Survival - Life Stories of a Purple HeartIn 1968, George Hutchings was shot three times, bayoneted and left for dead, as he wrote:
"On March 14th I stepped on a pungie stick. 
Luckily ... it went through the bottom of my boot and out the side ... 
 
 March   18th ... shot rang from the right rear. I hit the dirt. Was I shot?  ...  Remembering my training, I didn't look at the wound, If you look  ...  you might go into shock. 
 
 I felt my hip with my hand and it  came  back bloody ... I was better off than the two men who had been  directly  in front of me. They lay dead...
Corporal Ed Grant ... crawled over to me ... with a shotgun ... 'If you get overrun, you'll need this,' he said ... 
 
 Laying   there with no cover, a machine gun battle raged just over my helmet  ...  'Oh God, get me out of here and I'll live for you the rest of my   life.'" 
 
 Of the Vietnam Memorial, George Hutchings said:
"On that wall is the name of Corporal Quinton Bice, who was hit in the chest with a rocket while running a patrol in my place.
A Christian, Corporal Bice had shared the Gospel with me, but I didn't understand it till he gave his life in my place."
 America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations
America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations