By Staff
Retired Gen. William C. Westmoreland, 91, commander of American troops in Vietnam, died July 18 in a South Carolina retirement home.
The longest U.S. conflict became a national nightmare beyond the harsh realities of war, but he never voiced any regrets.
Some consider it the only war America lost, but the general disputed that assessment. "It's more accurate to say our country did not fulfill its commitment to South Vietnam," he said.
History will judge Westmoreland's position that Vietnam succeeded as the vehicle by which America held the line against communism in Southeast Asia for 10 years and "stopped the dominoes from falling."
Maybe he really did possess Teflon hide, or maybe he was portraying a stoic warrior, but if he wasn't bothered, countless ordinary Americans were on the homefront.
In that regard, the excesses of the anti-war movement marked a turning point, where this divided country seemed resolved to compartmentalize its feelings, to love the warriors even while hating war.
Some of those wounds may linger still, but much healing has occurred and citizens are unlikely to see dutiful men and men who bravely answer their country's call vilified as they were in the Sixties.
Even Westmoreland was able to find some solace once that most painful of periods passed.
In November 1982, he led his comrades in arms marching through Washington to dedicate the moving Vietnam Memorial Wall.
He remembered it as "one of the most emotional and proudest experiences of my life."
The Eagle Scout served in World War II in North Africa, Sicily and Europe, attaining the rank of colonel by the time he was 30.
Fighting German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Westmoreland earned his troops' respect for wading into the thick of battle instead of hanging back behind enemy lines at a command center.
Promoted to brigadier general during Korea, he later served in the Pentagon under Army Chief Maxwell Taylor and became West Point superintendent in 1964.
He resented time spent righting errors and misinterpretations in news reports, but as he wrote in his autobiography, "A Soldier Reports": (The press is) such a bulwark of the American system, that it is well to tolerate some mistakes and derelictions to make every effort to assure that total freedom and independence continue to exist."
May he rest in peace.