LETTERS: NEVER FORGET THE LESSONS OF WAR

To the editor:

For many Americans, the Vietnam War was the determining factor in their lives. For the 58,209 men and women whose names are etched on the black granite panels of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the war in Vietnam marked the end of their lives. We both have many friends and comrades whose names are on those walls. They are people we will never forget. They are people our nation must never forget either.

After the Vietnam War ended, our country tried to forget Vietnam as quickly as possible. It was an unusual and, we hope, isolated occurrence in our nation's history.

As American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines returned home, they face a situation never before endured by our troops: open hostility from many of our neighbors and former classmates. They left as teen-agers, and they returned as men and women. Most quickly put away their uniforms and tried to integrate into civilian life as quietly as possible. For those who fought the war and those who protested it, the less said about Vietnam, the better.

During the 1970s, Vietnam was simply never mentioned in casual conversation. It was as though it never happened. The war developed into an ugly wound, festering just beneath polite society, ready to erupt at any time when people of differing opinions about Vietnam gathered in the same room.

For those veterans who returned home, it was a time of bitter emptiness. It was a solitary time when the nightmarish thoughts of combat and memories of friends lost could not be understood by those who remained behind.

Those who fought in Vietnam wanted to forget the heat, the fear and, mostly, the blood. Those who opposed the war wanted to forget the insanity of sending young men to die in a war the government was not committed to winning. Neither side was totally successful.

When Jan Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, conceived the idea of a memorial to those who fought in Vietnam, he wanted to make it impossible for anybody to ever forget. And impossible for our leaders to ever make the same mistakes again.

That's the reason the Vietnam War matters. If this war taught us anything, it is that our nation must make a total commitment to victory whenever we commit our fighting men and women. And if we're not willing to make this commitment, then we must keep the troops at home.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial has allowed those who opposed the war to honor the warrior without honoring the war. It has allowed those of us fortunate enough to return to pay our respects to our fallen comrades. It has truly become the wall that heals for millions of Americans.

And, most importantly, the memorial is a beautiful and haunting instructor. The memorial teaches our children and future generations that war is not glamorous or glorified. Men and women die in war, and usually these men and women are very young. At the very least, those who die should not have to die in vain. We owe it to them and we owe it to our children to make sure this does not happen.

The lessons of war must be passed on to our children and taught in our schools.

U.S. SEN. CHUCK HAGEL and JAMES V. KIMSEY

Co-chairmen

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Inc.

Washington, D.C.