Calling the Vietnam War “winnable” and not lost on the battlefield by U.S. service members, retired Navy Capt. John “Jack” Ensch honored fellow veterans Tuesday aboard the carrier that saw crucial duty in that divisive conflict.
As part of the fifth annual National Vietnam War Veterans Day observance, Ensch and a Vietnamese refugee spoke at the USS Midway Museum to express appreciation for retired military.
March 29, 1973, marked the day the last U.S. combat troops departed Vietnam and captive Americans were released, including Ensch, who was flown out of Vietnam to the Philippines. (Saigon fell in April 1975.)
Shot down in his F-4 Phantom after 285 combat missions, Ensch spent more than seven months as a prisoner of war. He received a standing ovation for his remarks.
Many Vietnam veterans have struggled to come to terms with how the war ended, and decades later inner battles continue to be waged.
“We fought a war without public support and often times even without a lot of support from those who sent us over there to fight,” said Ensch, 84. “It was a winnable war if it was fought the way a war should be fought. Years later, the Vietnamese acknowledged that they were beat until we left.”
The veteran continued: “It was a war that wasn’t lost by the military on the battlefields, at sea or in the air. No, it was lost by a feckless political administration, in the halls of Congress, on the college campuses and in the streets of America’s big cities.
“That’s where that war was lost.”
Aboard the USS Midway, Navy Leap Frog parachutists landed on the flight deck before the observance, and veterans threw overboard a red-and-yellow floral wreath, representing colors of the Vietnamese flag. Taps were played.
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More than 1,000 observances were planned across the nation.
“I can’t think of a better place to hold the ceremony” because of the role the Midway played in rescuing U.S. civilians and at-risk Vietnamese citizens during the Fall of Saigon, Ensch said.
The span of time between the end of the war and congressional recognition of its fighters was “indicative of the divisive impact that war had on our nation,” he said.
“Our government finally got around to recognizing the service and sacrifices of the Vietnam veterans and their families,” Ensch said. “I guess, better late than never.”
Ensch is pleased with the welcome-home ceremonies veterans of later wars were given, but decried the treatment of most returning Vietnam veterans.
He said he was “embarrassingly overwhelmed” by his reception upon return as a POW. Fellow POWs have concluded that they were “the only tangible victory that the American people could see out of 10 years of war,” he said.
But he added: “What about all the other Vietnam veterans who sacrificed and served honorably, faithfully in obscurity? They were shortchanged in receiving the gratitude that they deserved.”
The retired officer quoted George Washington as saying the willingness of soldiers to serve in war is proportional to the treatment and appreciation they see earlier war veterans receiving.
Ensch noted the dwindling numbers of Vietnam veterans. Of the 2.7 million who served in that war, about 600,000 are still alive, according to the American War Library in Long Beach. About 1,600 MIAs (missing in action) have not been recovered.
All Vietnam veterans in attendance received a commemorative lapel pin compliments of the U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration Office.
“I thought it was a very nice ceremony,” said Vern Jumper, who served as Air Boss on the Midway when the Vietnam evacuations occurred.
“It’s meaningful to all of us because we were all there at one time together, so there is a camaraderie between us all, which I don’t think will ever go away, said Jumper who is credited with saving more than 3,000 lives during the evacuations.
Jumper, 90, recalled seeing the refugees get off small helicopters, almost out of fuel. “Little kids were just scared to death, wondering what in the world is going on. Flying in a helicopter is scary anyway; it shakes, it rattles and it roars.”
Jumper, now a docent on the ship, said he was very proud of his aircraft crew.
“I sincerely believe that Father God was with us,” he told Times of San Diego. “He kept us safe during a very dangerous operation.”
Stephanie Dinh, who was 15 when she and her family were evacuated out of Saigon, spoke of her emotions that day in 1975.
“The memory of that day is still vivid in my mind,” said Dinh, now a volunteer on the Midway. “What happened on that day made it both a sad and amazing day that turned my life around.”
On the day of her evacuation with her family, she saw a Saigon totally in chaos, she said. Many Vietnamese were running alongside the evacuation buses, begging to get on.
One woman outside Dinh’s bus window signaled to her to tell the driver to stop. “I can’t forget the desperation and panic in her eyes.”
As the Midway sailed away from Vietnam, she said she watched the sunset and wondered if she would ever return to her country. Emotions among evacuees included worry and relief.
Standing on the same flight deck where she took refuge for two days as a teen, Dinh thanked American service members who set her on a new journey.
Barry P. Baron, an assistant photo navigator during the Gulf of Tonkin attack that led to the war’s major expansion, said he believed he was one of the first Americans sent into combat there.
Baron, 77, who served tours of duty in 1964 and 1966, called Tuesday’s ceremony “very honorable.”
“Honoring our veterans at every level, Korea, whatever is really important,” said Baron, who later went on to be a political photographer. “It’s part of this country’s heritage.”
“This country was founded by veterans,” he continued. “We wouldn’t have a country without the veterans … from George Washington on up.”
