Truth about Vietnam. (Letters to the Editor).

First I'd like to thank you sincerely for THE NEW AMERICAN. Until a couple of years ago, I had only heard that the John Birch Society was an extremist group. Now that I've come to think for myself, I realize it is just that -- extremely correct in its perspective of the reality of much of the world's doings.

I'm 56 and grew up in the absolute height of the Vietnam debacle. Your heavily documented cover story on the war ("Vindicating Our Veterans" by William F. Jasper, March 25th issue) has now provided insight I had no possibility of embracing in my late teen years, even had the truth been available at that point in time. All I can remember was forming my opinion of the war from the views of my parents and friends, all of whom, unfortunately, had only the big three television channels from which to draw their own conclusions.

Although I was in college at the time and never served in the war, I lost two close friends to it. Any exposure of the truth would help in some small way to somehow pay honor and tribute to these two and the tens of thousands of others who didn't ask "why?" but instead went when directed, upholding the land they loved, even if their fate was directed by self-centered ...