As a Veterans Affairs (VA) surgeon, I first met a Vietnam Veteran, whom I will refer to as ‘Mr X’ to protect his anonymity, in a very difficult moment. He was lying unexpectedly in an emergency room bed, faced with making a sudden, life-or-death decision: whether he should undergo surgery to treat acute complications of his advanced cancer. Not having surgery would have meant certain death, while proceeding with it was fraught with uncertainties and complications, but also a chance of survival.
With little time to process, Mr X talked with me about his life and shared that he felt he had had a great life. With his stoic voice breaking little by little and his eyes filling with tears, he shared one regret: not being able to connect with one Vietnamese soldier, whose image has been stuck in his memory and tortures him with every PTSD flashback. This thought had been with him since he read one of his favourite books, My Enemy, My Friend: A Story of Reconciliation from the Vietnam War by Fran Erickson and Dan Cherry, a US Air Force pilot who recounts his reunion with the Vietnamese pilot he shot down in aerial combat on 16 April 1972.1
Since the end of the Vietnam War, many US veterans have returned to Vietnam to find closure, personal redemption and reconciliation. They have met former enemies and worked together to heal the impacts of the war, ranging from providing prosthetic devices for wounded Vietnamese people, rebuilding infrastructure and supporting orphanages, to identifying wartime remains, locating missing soldiers and prisoners of war, remediating the effects of bombs and Agent Orange, and clearing unexploded ordnance that has caused more than 100 000 casualties since the war ended in 1975. These people-to-people healing and humanitarian efforts have been supported by an increasing number of veteran associations and initiatives such as the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Veteran’s Vietnam Restoration Project, US Institute of Peace’s Vietnam War Legacies and Reconciliation Initiative, Spirit of America, Soldier’s Heart, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Veterans For Peace and Veterans in Vietnam.
In fact, even before the restoration of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States in 1995, our veterans led the way in reaching out to Vietnam. The first delegation of US veterans returned to Vietnam in 1981, led by Bobby Muller, a former US Marine who fought in Vietnam and the president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation. After the visit, Muller famously concluded, ‘As the head of Vietnam Vets, nobody was in a better position to do an outreach to Vietnam than the leadership of those who fought’.2 The crucial role that our Vietnam Veterans have played in the reconciliation process was recognised by President Bill Clinton during the official announcement of the normalisation of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam on 11 July 1995. He thanked veterans for supporting reconciliation and moving ‘beyond the haunting and painful past towards finding common ground for the future’.3
While returning to Vietnam to seek personal redemption has been possible and has helped many veterans, reconciliation between former combatants is a very challenging and complex process. From a psychological perspective, reconciliation has elements of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. This cognitive-behavioural therapy approach encourages veterans to ‘accept their thoughts and feelings while committing to actions aligned with their personal values’.4 However, studies have shown that reconciliation processes can worsen PTSD, depression and anxiety symptoms in former combatants because they can force them to relive traumatising combat experiences.5 Therefore, it may be psychologically triggering for many Vietnam Veterans to travel individually to Vietnam for reconciliation. Furthermore, as our Vietnam Veterans are advancing in age and increasingly facing age-related health issues, they might become less and less physically able to participate in the reconciliatory journey.
Mr X survived his emergency surgery and has miraculously survived his advanced cancer. Each time I visited him in the days after surgery, he felt great relief as he shared more fascinating stories from his life. They all ended with a tearful regret over an unrealised personal reconciliation with his Vietnamese experience, despite him receiving great psychological care from the VA.
Our Vietnam Veterans fought heroically in a war that was ended through a formal agreement between the Vietnamese and US governments in 1975. They have since continued to heroically fight a longer and seemingly never-ending battle against the consequences of that war, both in Vietnam and in their minds. Now is the time for both the US and Vietnamese governments to come together again and, without further delays, finally put an end to this battle. Joint efforts and collaboration between former US and Vietnamese combatants have built confidence and laid the ground for a full and true formal reconciliation between the two countries based on an honest apology, forgiveness, trust and making amends for all the damages caused by the war.
It is only then that true closure and reconciliation will be possible for Mr X and all the Vietnam Veterans and their families in both countries, and for the honours for the fallen ones to be complete.