Lauren Morton-Farmer
Staff Writer
It has been almost 50 years since it began, and almost 30 years since it ended. To some, it is a page in a history book. To others, it is the youth they will never get back. Someone once said “there are as many sides to stories as there are pairs of eyes to see them.” Whether you were there when it happened or have learned about it in school, this is the Vietnam War — the war that won’t go away.
When the United States made the move to get involved in the conflict overseas, no one dreamed it would become the conflict it was right here in America. The nation divided as people took sides for or against the U.S. involvement. The youth of today can empathize with the youth of the past when dealing with feelings toward the war in Iraq.
However, the closest many of us have come to the Vietnam War has been reading about it in textbooks throughout our education. We learned about the protests, the world’s reaction and the lives lost in battle. We have learned the facts.
These textbook facts, however, are just that: textbook. They are not the individual stories of those who lived during this tumultuous time in the world‘s history. In 1964, Pepperdine theater professor George Neilson made the move from Scotland to the United States.
“(The mood) was very open,” Neilson said. “The swinging ‘60s were taking off and The Beatles were huge. ‘Young people speaking their mind,’ to quote Buffalo Springfield. I was in Georgia and one could feel the wave of freedom and the demand for civil rights starting to crest.”
Neilson also had a unique vantage point by having a more global view of the U.S. involvement in the war. According to him, the world’s opinion of the United States was “not nearly as negative as it is now.”
As for the turbulent times of the day, however, he had an up-front view. After living in the army town of Columbus, Ga., Neilson moved to Windsor, Ontario, in 1967.
“I moved … and drove through Detroit as it was burning and the National Guard moved in,” he said.
Like so many, he saw the realities of war every day. The world saw the effects of war, whether they wanted to or not.
“It was a war that we saw graphically on our televisions each night,” Neilson said. “The body count was reported as regularly as the sports results. TV took the nation there. It wasn’t a noble sight to see villages burning and civilians dying. There were no heroic battles as in previous wars. We saw instead unspeakable brutalities on an almost daily basis.
“The large scale anti-war protests and the general lack of support for a war that most couldn’t rationalize why we were there in the first place led to deep resentment,” he said. “Returning veterans did not receive the kind of welcome G.I.s had had in the past. We didn’t win that one. We packed up and left.”
In 1968, men’s volleyball Head Coach Marv Dunphy was sent to war. His first stop was Fort Ord on the Monterey Bay Peninsula in California. From there, he was sent to Fort Lewis in Washington for advanced infantry training. It was there that his life would take a fortunate turn.
“One of the clerks [at Fort Lewis] said, ‘about 10 guys out of this infantry are lucky … we’re going to keep them for OTJ — on the job training, administrative specialist,” he recalled. “… So I’m at Fort Lewis and I said, ‘When will we find out?’ ‘Oh, in a day or two’ (said the clerk). So I remember we were cleaning gas masks … and I was on that list (of 10 guys). So I got pulled from AIT to stay at Fort Lewis … Then I was there for a year and then went to Vietnam … I ended up in Long Bihn.”
The first two nights in Vietnam, the men were taught everything they needed to know. Dunphy also remembers spending nights holding guard at the perimeters of the camp.
“The whole war was at night. Nothing happened during the day, at least where I was,” he said.
Then there came a turning point that gave Dunphy and the others an all-too-real sense of what the war was about.
“(I remember) it was the Fourth of July,” he said. “… Two nights in a row (the enemy) rocketed where the aircrafts were. The buildings you’re in are called hooches … things were hitting all over the place. There was shrapnel all over the place…
“For some reason, I kept (a piece) for a day or two as a souvenir … then all of a sudden, things changed and I wasn’t so interested in souvenirs.”
As time has gone by, Dunphy has been able to see the effects of the Vietnam War. He has seen how the country was divided and how it changed America’s perception of war.
“I think the reason the war lingers (is that) the people wanted the war to end,” said Dunphy. “Half just wanted to (do away with) all of Vietnam and half just wanted to get out … It got to be so divisive (with) the split and how to get out.”
He also realizes the impact it had on the armed forces. It is no surprise that the war in Iraq is being compared to the Vietnam War, both in the U.S. involvement and the blurred line between a win/no win situation.
“World War I, World War II, Korean War — clear cut. The Vietnam War was significantly less than clear cut as it wore on,” he said. “I think (people) just compare everything we do to (Vietnam).”
Though Human Resources Generalist Dan Hoard did not serve in Vietnam, he saw the war from a student’s standpoint. When he was still in grade school, he heard President Lyndon B. Johnson on the radio and first learned of conflict overseas.
“(I remember) my brother-in-law said, ‘Oh, it’ll be over in a matter of days … it won’t last long,’” he recalled. “I was aware of (the war), but I don’t think I became keenly aware of it until high school.”
He was an ideal candidate for the draft, however. He was young and able, so he took his year of eligibility for the draft sooner rather than later. He reasoned that the war might escalate and that while he could defer hiseligibility, he may as well take it while he still knew what was happening in Vietnam.
“I didn’t enlist and I wasn’t called. I took my year of eligibility … I played the numbers,” he said. “I was not anxious to go over, though I wasn’t a particular anti-war activist.”
Hoard’s family was subject to the events of war when his brother joined the Navy. However, they were much luckier than many families with sons in Vietnam.
“I don’t think our family had the anxiety,” Hoard said. “… For the most part (my brother) was on a ship off the coast of Vietnam. It was only after he was safely home that I heard about the harrowing times.”
Hoard’s vantage point as a student gave him a unique way to see the war. He was able to see how the authority figures in his life affected the views of those around him.
“There were lots of mixed messages from authority figures as many (of us) came through our adolescence,” Hoard said. “The idea of an authority figure you trust became very confusing. (In high school), some (teachers) were for it, some were opposed to it. Some were conflicted themselves.”
He was also given the chance to see the war from an international viewpoint while studying in Germany during his time as a Pepperdine student.
“I was a student — A Year in Europe — in Heidelberg,” he said. “(I remember going through) an anti -war protest and walking through with fellow students and keeping our mouths absolutely shut so as not to draw attention to ourselves and let anyone know we were Americans.”
At 25, Pepperdine professor Dr. Stephen Davis was drafted. Though he had registered as a conscientious objector when he was 18, he was sent to Vietnam when he was 26 years old.
“With the draft, every male had to register with Selective Service at 18 … so I registered as a conscientious objector. I couldn’t justify killing,” Davis said. “(With the draft), basically the rule (was), when you’re 26, you’re a little bit too old … and so since I was 25, that’s why I got drafted.”
The fear of getting drafted was very real in the minds of Americans. Davis recalled an advertisement that claimed that for $250, the company would find a loophole to help you avoid the draft. He did not avoid the draft, but because of his status as a conscientious objector, Davis would not be given a combat role in the war. Instead, he worked with a medical unit, caring for the wounded.
“(In a medical unit), you’re in a healing position. I felt privileged I had that option.”
So with this, it is easy to see how a strong opinion toward war could be cultivated. Davis learned first hand what it meant to be involved in a thankless war.
“The fundamental problem was this: (the soldiers) were over there and the people here didn’t support them… I didn’t support the war, but I did support my country.”
Davis still remembers the night he arrived home from Vietnam. He remembers flying into Oakland at midnight, being taken away in a bus with darkened windows and taken to the airplane hangar that was his final stop on the way home. It was that night that the image of a banner was imprinted in his memory forever.
“(It said) ‘Welcome home soldiers — America is proud of you,’ and I thought, ‘That’s not true,’” he said. “Everyone was apathetic. No one wanted to be there.”
Now, Davis looks back and sees how the war affected the lives of everyone, then and now, from the grade inflation in the school systems where teachers were trying to pass as many students as they could hoping that the kids would stay in school and therefore avoid the draft, to seeing how it has affected views on the war in Iraq.
“We got involved in Vietnam, it became a quagmire and we lost the war. We need to be slow to use military force to solve a problem,” Davis said. “It’s a more needed lesson than ever before. We are in the major power position.”
The similarities between the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq have been pointed out by many, and Davis was quick to point out a very important one.
“I think [most importantly] is that the people are frightened that ‘Here we go again,’ and that we’re laying young G.I.s on the line,” he said. “If we don’t learn from history, we’re doomed.”
Though the veterans of the Vietnam War never got a hero’s welcome when they returned, Davis said he is appreciative of what is being done now, in their honor.
“The Vietnam War Memorial helps enormously. It can’t be dismissed. Time has a way of healing, or at least it should.”
he could defer his eligibility, he may as well take it while he still knew what was happening in Vietnam.
Hoard’s family was subject to the events of war when his brother joined the Navy. However, they were much luckier than many families with sons in Vietnam.
“I don’t think our family had the anxiety,” Hoard said. “… For the most part (my brother) was on a ship off the coast of Vietnam. It was only after he was safely home that I heard about the harrowing times.”
Hoard’s vantage point as a student gave him a unique way to see the war. He was able to see how the authority figures in his life affected the views of those around him.
“There were lots of mixed messages from authority figures as many (of us) came through our adolescence,” Hoard said. “The idea of an authority figure you trust became very confusing. (In high school), some (teachers) were for it, some were opposed to it. Some were conflicted themselves.”
At 25, Pepperdine professor Dr. Stephen Davis was drafted. Though he had registered as a conscientious objector when he was 18, he was sent to Vietnam when he was 26 years old.
The fear of getting drafted was very real in the minds of Americans. Davis recalled an advertisement that claimed that for $250, the company would find a loophole to help you avoid the draft. He did not avoid the draft, but because of his status as a conscientious objector, Davis would not be given a combat role in the war. Instead, he worked with a medical unit, caring for the wounded.
“(In a medical unit), you’re in a healing position. I felt privileged I had that option.”
Davis still remembers the night he arrived home from Vietnam. He remembers flying into Oakland at midnight, being taken away in a bus with darkened windows and taken to the airplane hangar that was his final stop on the way home. It was that night that the image of a banner was imprinted in his memory forever.
“(It said) ‘Welcome home soldiers — America is proud of you,’ and I thought, ‘That’s not true,’” he said. “Everyone was apathetic. No one wanted to be there.”
Now, Davis looks back and sees how the war affected the lives of everyone, then and now, from the grade inflation in the school systems where teachers were trying to pass as many students as they could hoping that the kids would stay in school and therefore avoid the draft, to seeing how it has affected views on the war in Iraq.
“We got involved in Vietnam, it became a quagmire and we lost the war. We need to be slow to use military force to solve a problem,” Davis said. “It’s a more needed lesson than ever before. We are in the major power position.”
The similarities between the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq have been pointed out by many, and Davis was quick to point out a very important one.
“I think (most importantly) is that the people are frightened that ‘Here we go again,’ and that we’re laying young G.I.s on the line,” he said. “If we don’t learn from history, we’re doomed.”
Though the veterans of the Vietnam War never got a hero’s welcome when they returned, Davis said he is appreciative of what is being done now, in their honor.
The Vietnam War Memorial helps enormously. It can’t be dismissed. Time has a way of healing, or at least it should.”
11-18-04
