Huế 1968 Quotes

“The Americans landed in Vietnam, were killed in Vietnam, and others have continued to come here without having good reasons.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“The great hope of the Tet Offensive was that its very size and daring would trigger a surge of nationalism that would transcend barriers of ideology, class, and faith.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“The ratio of men killed in battle is becoming more favorable to our side. From a little better than two to one last January, the ratio has climbed to more than six to one in favor of our side.”20 Westy argued that the ratio so heavily favored allied forces that in time the mounting toll would buckle Hanoi’s resolve.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“A month after it ended, President Johnson decided not to seek reelection, and Westmoreland would shortly thereafter be removed as its commander. Richard Nixon was elected president eight months later mendaciously promising not victory, but a secret plan to bring the war to an “honorable end.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“The director Stanley Kubrick, no doubt attracted by the unusual visuals of urban combat, set Full Metal Jacket in Hue, although in his film the battle is just a backdrop.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“And while each death would echo loudly halfway around the world, hurling families and even whole communities into grief, often with shattering consequences for generations, in Hue there wasn't even time to stop and look, much less grieve.”
― Mark Bowden, Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“whirlwind of war.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“China is traditionally Vietnam’s enemy. [Vietnam] had been kicking [invaders] out for millennia. And we were just the latest.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“They were all running on adrenaline, which cannot just be turned off. So even when they had silent hours and felt reasonably safe with their backs against a wall, most could not fully sleep. They would nod off with their head between their knees, a rifle in one hand and a grenade in the other. It was more like being temporarily not awake than sleep.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“the entire rationale for fighting in Vietnam was rooted in faith. Faith that his elected leaders and military bosses knew what they were doing and that the calculation that had placed his life at such peril mattered, that it did more than just make sense but demanded his suffering and sacrifice.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“Mohr quoted Westmoreland, after the general had toured the bullet-riddled embassy grounds in Saigon, saying the enemy’s efforts had failed, and that they had sought “to cause maximum consternation in South Vietnam.” “It was clear that consternation had been achieved,” Mohr wrote.19”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“the Tet surprise was regarded by Westy as proof of Hanoi’s weakness. Nowhere in his understanding of the war was there room for the size and quality of the force that had taken Hue. So the MACV in Saigon and General LaHue in Phu Bai simply refused to believe it had happened. Reports that contradicted this high-level understanding were dismissed as unreliable, the cries of men facing real combat for the first time, and panicking. Against the certainties of the American command, the truth never stood a chance.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“When Gonzalez and Canley were close enough to the machine gun they called for suppressing fire and then stood and hurled grenades. At the blast, they charged, firing their rifles on automatic, silencing the gun.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“hot vit lon, a local favorite, a duck embryo boiled and served inside the shell—”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“Opposition to the war was becoming fashionable. Popular figures—intellectuals, athletes, musicians—stepped up to announce their opposition”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“he was not the first general to welcome statistics he wanted to hear—but the numbers emerged from an intricate origami of war bureaucracy: South Vietnamese, North Vietnamese, and American. The truth was bent at every fold for reasons that went beyond propaganda to self-interest, sycophancy, and wishful thinking.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“the domestic enemy’s inner sanctum, the National Press Club.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“Richard Nixon was elected president mendaciously promising not victory, but a “secret plan” to bring the war to an “honorable end.” The secret plan prolonged the conflict seven more years, spreading misery and death throughout Indochina. Nixon began gradually drawing down the number of Americans fighting there in 1969, and— catastrophically, as it turned out— began shifting the
military burden to Saigon.

General Abrams threw greater and greater responsibility for prosecuting the war to the ARVN [South Vietnamese military], shifting his efforts to disrupting and destroying Hanoi’s delivery of troops and matériel. This is what prompted the raids into the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia, where North Vietnam had long sheltered troops and supply routes. The bombing of Communist sanctuaries in Cambodia destabilized that neutral country, leading to the overthrow of Prince Norodom Sihanouk in 1970 and the rise of the murderous Khmer Rouge, which would be responsible for the deaths of millions of Cambodians in ensuing years.”
― Mark Bowden, Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“Have you been reading anything in the paper about Hue? It is supposed to be big news in the states. Well that’s where I am. It is supposed to be some of the worst fighting that has been fought in the war. If it isn’t it will be plenty for me. I can’t really say how bad it has been. We’ve lost a hell of a lot of people. . . . This house to house fighting is a son of a bitch. I’ve never been so scared in all my life.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“How could a nation built upon ‘Give me liberty or give me death,’ ‘all men are created equal,’ and ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ have ended up waging a shameful, disgraceful war against a people who had done us no harm nor ever would or could?” he wrote.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“Against the certainties of the American command, the truth never stood a chance.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“Increasingly the United States found itself isolated. Having for two decades enjoyed its status as champion of the free world, it was increasingly the target of bitter criticism abroad and at home, where a growing number of prominent intellectuals and church leaders denounced the bombing campaign as barbaric. The military might disdain the fickle nature of public sympathy, but a democracy cannot sustain a war effort without it, and moral revulsion was growing.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could. This is Walter Cronkite. Good night.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“Hue had become a city of the dead.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“visiting honcho making the rounds of the wounded at the compound, stopping to ask a grunt how many times he’d been hit. The man answered, “You mean today?”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“Never had a general so effectively willed away the facts.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“his days were reduced to trying to stay alive and not to disgrace himself.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“He was convinced that men lost their nerve in combat when they allowed themselves to think too much. The part movies never got right about war was all the waiting, and all the effort it took not to think.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“What mattered in combat, what really mattered, was not only understanding why you asked men to risk their lives, but making them understand. Men would willingly risk their lives, but they needed to know that it counted. And they needed to know they had a chance.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

“Gunny, get down!” Ker told him. “You’re going to get hit!” “By the time I get down, I’ll already be hit,” he said. “So I may as well stand up here and see what the hell is going on.”
― Mark Bowden, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam