GyBill
05-02-2005, 01:19
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
April 30, 2005
The tragedy, turmoil and tears of the Vietnam War continue to roil 30 years after helicopters evacuated the last Americans off the embassy roof during the fall of Saigon.
Marking that day, April 30, 1975, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) invites those involved in the war or directly affected by it to post their war experiences in an interactive online journal.
The site - http://www.VietnamViews.org - launches today. The veterans organization says it will be "a dynamic online history for soldiers, families, friends and others to share their stories from the war."
"We're expecting that a lot of veterans will share poignant stories from their Vietnam experiences at this distance - 30 years," said Bill Belding.
A Navy SEAL in Vietnam who worked as an attorney in San Diego after the war, Belding is president of the Washington-based VVAF, an international humanitarian organization that addresses the causes, conduct and consequences of war through advocacy programs for victims of conflict around the world.
"We want not only to learn how American soldiers view the war, but also to provide a forum for Vietnamese to connect with that experience. We will be building a kind of oral history using the modern technology of the Internet."
On the Web site, where contributors may also post photographs, the stories will be organized by time and place and in other ways for easy access, according to the organization.
April 30, 2005
The tragedy, turmoil and tears of the Vietnam War continue to roil 30 years after helicopters evacuated the last Americans off the embassy roof during the fall of Saigon.
Marking that day, April 30, 1975, the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) invites those involved in the war or directly affected by it to post their war experiences in an interactive online journal.
The site - http://www.VietnamViews.org - launches today. The veterans organization says it will be "a dynamic online history for soldiers, families, friends and others to share their stories from the war."
"We're expecting that a lot of veterans will share poignant stories from their Vietnam experiences at this distance - 30 years," said Bill Belding.
A Navy SEAL in Vietnam who worked as an attorney in San Diego after the war, Belding is president of the Washington-based VVAF, an international humanitarian organization that addresses the causes, conduct and consequences of war through advocacy programs for victims of conflict around the world.
"We want not only to learn how American soldiers view the war, but also to provide a forum for Vietnamese to connect with that experience. We will be building a kind of oral history using the modern technology of the Internet."
On the Web site, where contributors may also post photographs, the stories will be organized by time and place and in other ways for easy access, according to the organization.