Vietnam dispatches 2016: 40 Years after the 'American War'

[EnLinea Media]

What's it like for a boomer who who avoided the Vietnam War to finally face up to that Land of Awful Names: Da Nang, My Lai, Khe Sanh and others? I’m long overdue to find out. Just seeing the word "HANOI" on the destination board at JFK makes my heart thud. Hanoi — the city where John McCain was tortured and detained for five and a half years, capital of the land we carpet-bombed for all the wrong reasons. How can I bicycle for pleasure in the place where my high schoolmates died because they weren’t lucky enough to be in college, and thus were ripe for the plucking by their local draft boards? So … mixed feelings.  Guilt, relief, curiosity: call it dexiety, a blend of depression and anxiety - and yeah, of course... keep reading