Much of this Vietnam War web site was created by Daniel de Torres, a student at Northern Virginia Community College over several semesters. Daniel was not only an outstanding student of history, but also an accomplished web developer.

Daniel wanted to take my History 277, The American Experience in Vietnam, but I was not scheduled to teach it at the time when he wanted to take it. Instead we decided that he could “take” the course by reading assigned texts and sources, and for his assessment, he would create a web site to support the course for future students. The experience was rewarding for both of us, and, more important, it created a resource of use to many.

Daniel went on the major in history and George Mason University, but his work remains. I have updated an expended it, but he deserves full credit for much of the structure and content.

About the author: I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1957, received a Secretary of the Navy appointment to the Naval Academy and was commissioned in 1962. In 1969 I arrived in Vietnam and was assigned to the 3rd 175 mm Gun Battery in the First Marine Division, where I served as executive officer and commanding officer during 1969 and 1970. I arrived and departed in February during the Tet season.

Although nothing like the Tet offensive of 1968, the Tet offensive of 1969 was nevertheless a time of heightened conflict. By the time of Tet 1970, however, the American withdrawal had already begun, and the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong had apparently decided to let the Americans go quietly. without trying to stir up more resistance. Thus the Tet offensive of 1970 at the base where I was located consisted of five 81 mm mortar rounds coming in one night, and nothing more. By comparison, during the Tet offensive of the previous year the same base was invaded by North Vietnamese sappers, an ammunition dump was blown up, and fire fights erupted with numerous casualties on both sides.

It was also apparent by the time I left Vietnam that the morale of the American troops—who realized that the U.S. was going to terminate its part of the war—began to deteriorate. The stories of those last months remain one the most unpleasant episodes in the history of American warfare.

After returning from Vietnam and serving a tour as the artillery commander for the Marine detachment at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, I was assigned to the Navy ROTC unit at Holy Cross College, where I experienced the other side of the Vietnam War. I witnessed antiwar rallies, had my office taken over by the Radical Students Union and otherwise was involved in the continuing conflict which dominated that campus as well as others across the country.

By the time I left Holy Cross the American phase of the war was over; the POWs had come home, the campuses had quieted down and the war was, if not forgotten certainly no longer the dominant story of the day. But the lessons and legacy of Vietnam are still with us, and I hope in this part of site to explore some of that legacy.