I Remember Dien Bien Phu

I would like to take a moment to remember the fallen from one of the most disastrous military decisions of modern history. After WWII France set out to ambitiously reassert control of its former colonies, among them Vietnam. Their leadership determined that it would be tactically advantageous to disrupt enemy supply lines into French friendly Laos, by landing thousands of French troops into a remote airfield deep in the Vietnamese jungle surrounded by mountains. The objective was to seize the airfield base, and secure it indefinitely. What could possibly go wrong?

The French commanders were not aware that the Vietcong had both artillery and anti-aircraft guns and could drag them through difficult terrain. The French seized the airfield and set up a base and defensive perimeter with approximately 16,000 troops. General Vo Nguyen Giap began his counter offensive almost immediately after the French landed, and re-directed all Vietcong military force at his disposal to engulf the French position. The French dug trenches in the Valley, with the Vietcong bearing down from the mountains.

Once the artillery reached Dien Bien Phu, this combat operation quickly descended into catastrophe. It became impossible to even land a plane on the airfield, let alone engage in an orderly retreat should that order come. By the time it was apparent that the force would be completely overrun, retreat was impossible. Virtually the entire force of 16,000 French were either killed or taken to a Vietnamese POW camp (like the one in Rambo II). Vietnamese prison camps could be considered a fate worse than death. Gitmo is like a tropical paradise compared to Vietnamese prison camps. 11,000 Frenchmen were taken prisoner when the position was overrun. Only 3,000 of those men would survive the next four months.

This tragedy soured French foreign policy for the next 50 years.

To my countrymen who had relatives massacred at Dien Bien Phu, I remember.

I Remember the Withdrawal from Vietnam

As my Canadian soldiers are fighting for freedom in Afghanistan while Canadian politicians such as Jack Layton want to bring them home, I say to all NATO allies; if you are going to withdraw from Afghanistan, be prepared to bring thousands of refugees home with you. I remember watching a chilling documentary two years ago about the American withdrawal from Vietnam. As the Americans were leaving, thousands if not millions of South Vietnamese were crowding the ports begging to leave with the foreign fighters whom they had been fighting with side by side for a decade. As the last American boats were leaving the docks, scores of Vietnamese people were even jumping into the ocean to swim after the boats. With the Communist army marching on Saigon, hundreds of thousands of capitalism loving Vietnamese wanted to hitch a ride with the Americans back to the United States.

Watch the faces of the South Vietnamese people as the Americans were leaving. It is chilling and sad. Perhaps it was a mistake for those soldiers to have ever touched down in Vietnam, and maybe the Gulf of Tonkin incident never happened, either way the United States did make some friends along the way. Sadly a large number of those people were massacred in the Fall of Saigon, and their voices were silenced for eternity.

I do not want to condemn the Afghani people who have befriended my Canadian soldiers to suffer the same fate.