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There is a big difference between an all out world war and a Police action in a far away land. The guys in Vietnam fought just as hard and as bravely as any soldier from any other war but the perception at home was not in their favor and they suffered for it.
I do think that Vietnam is remembered more so than the Korean War.
WW2 was the world vs a common evil that was obvious to us. Vietnam was "why are we here again?"..
That's right. So the answer to the OP's question: WWII had a unified society putting 110% into winning, vs. the Vietnam War which was made unwinnable by a divided society.
WW 2
1. Japanese attacked American territories and killed several thousand Americans.
2. Germans were a formidable enemy who managed to enslave most of Europe.
3. Germans were developing a three stage rocket called the New York rocket.
4. Japanese without American help would have invaded northern Australia. - Battle of Coral Sea - 1942
5. Germans would most certainly have enslaved and killed those non Ayrian Americans.
Vietnam
1. We interceded in a Vietnamese civil war to show the communists that we are willing to go to war with them.
2. Ho Chih Minh was a brilliant leader and tactician.
3. Hearts and minds? Nah.
There is a big difference between an all out world war and a Police action in a far away land. The guys in Vietnam fought just as hard and as bravely as any soldier from any other war but the perception at home was not in their favor and they suffered for it.
I do think that Vietnam is remembered more so than the Korean War.
good point. OP remember that in world war two we were fighting for our very existence as a country. the japanese had intended to invade the hawaiian islands, but chose not to after the initial attacks had stirred up a hornets nest.
vietnam however was a political war. initially we took over for the french after their sound defeat at dien bien phu. after that they lost the initiative for that war. initially we were just sending over advisers and trainers to get the south vietnam military up to speed so they could handle their own affairs, both eisenhower and kennedy did this. johnson however kicked things up several notches by getting us into that war full throttle. it was then that the politics of the war came home to roost. demonstrations against the war, political micromanaging the war from washington, etc. all made the war very unpopular here at home. but it was also a very public war. the news media kept it on the forefront of the news on a nightly basis, and they pretty much only showed the negative aspects of the war.
and when kronkite said the war was lost after the tet offensive, thats when everyone here at home knew that no matter what happened afterwards, it was always going to be the war we lost. in point of fact kronkite was wrong on the tet offensive, the viet cong and the NVA lost everything they gained in the opening moves of the tet offensive, and more.
as for the korean war, yes it is the forgotten war, and thats too bad. while it also was a political war, not as much as vietnam though, it should still be remembered more than it is.
History is written by the victors. We won WWII and so get to write the script to fit.
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