The War Behind Me: Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth about U.S. War Crimes

305 Pages·2008·7.56 MB·English

by  Deborah Nelson

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The War Behind Me
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The War Behind Me
VIETNAM VETERANS CONFRONT THE
TRUTH ABOUT U.S. WAR CRIMES
Deborah Nelson
A MEMBER OF THE PERSEUS BOOKS GROUP
NEW YORK
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Copyright © 2008 by Deborah Nelson
Published by Basic Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part
of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books, 387
Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810.
Books published by Basic Books are available at special discounts for
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other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special
Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street,
Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call [phone], ext. 5000, or
e-mail [email protected].
Designed by Timm Bryson
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nelson, Deborah
The war behind me : Vietnam veterans confront the truth about U.S.
war crimes / Deborah Nelson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-465-00527-7
1. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Atrocities. 2. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—
United States. 3. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Veterans—United States. 4.
War crimes—Vietnam. I. Title.
DS559.2.N45 2008
959.704’3—dc22
2008015814
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To MOLLY and ANNA,
and for THEIR GENERATION
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CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER ONE WHAT WAS RIGHT THEN 7
CHAPTER TWO STICKS AND PHONES 45
CHAPTER THREE A MY LAI A MONTH 73
CHAPTER FOUR BODY COUNT 107
CHAPTER FIVE DROWNING WITH CASES 139
CHAPTER SIX THE WAR BEHIND THEM 163
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 189
NOTES 191
APPENDIX A 209
APPENDIX B 257
INDEX 289
vii
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Introduction
On November 12, 1969, the Dispatch News Service carried in-
vestigative reporter Seymour M. Hersh’s first article on the My
Lai massacre.1In the weeks that followed, photographs appeared
in print and on television. The army announced a full-scale in-
quiry that, four months later, confirmed the magnitude of the
slaughter and the cover-up.2 The tragedy and its fallout are in
every credible history book on the Vietnam War.
The army launched a second important inquiry in the wake
of Hersh’s exposé. But this one would receive no public notice.
The chief of staff quietly assembled a team of officers to collect
information on other war-crime allegations that had been re-
ported internally or elsewhere. The men culled investigation files,
surveillance reports, press accounts, court-martial records, and
congressional correspondence. Each month they summarized
what they’d found and sent a memo up the chain of command.
1