The Vietnam memorial is a masterpiece. The names of the dead are listed there, chronologically. Just the names.
— William Westmoreland
As the senior commander in Vietnam, I was aware of the potency of public opinion - and I worried about it.
My wife was my greatest asset. I didn't marry her until after World War II, but she has complemented me in every job I've ever had.
The last man in the world who should have been criticized was the American soldier. They should have criticized me.
When I took command in Vietnam, I gave great emphasis to food and medical care - and to the mail.
We were succeeding. When you looked at specifics, this became a war of attrition. We were winning.
It became very clear that Hanoi was in effect strategically running the Viet Cong operation.
Television is an instrument which can paralyze this country.
I do not believe that the men who served in uniform in Vietnam have been given the credit they deserve. It was a difficult war against an unorthodox enemy.
When the soldiers came home from Vietnam, there were no parades, no celebrations. So they built the Vietnam Memorial for themselves.
Militarily, we succeeded in Vietnam. We won every engagement we were involved in out there.
I haven't yet figured out how I was made first captain, because I was not an outstanding student. I was an adequate student.
President Johnson did not want the Vietnam War to broaden. He wanted the North Vietnamese to leave their brothers in the South alone.
I don't think I have been loved by my troops, but I think I have been respected.
It's the first war we've ever fought on the television screen and the first war that our country ever fought where the media had full reign.
We moved in to help the Vietnamese defend their country and confront the Viet Cong.
Vietnam was the first war ever fought without any censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.
In the end, we lost IndoChina to the communists. But we did not lose Southeast Asia.
By the end of the summer of 1973 I thought it was virtually impossible for South Vietnam to survive. How in the heck could they?
I don't take criticism lying down.
We had the best food any battlefield ever had.
The military lead turbulent lives, but they are people like everybody else.
I've made this statement many times: If I would have to do it over again, I would have made known the forthcoming Tet Offensive.
I was participating in my own lynching, but the problem was I didn't know what I was being lynched for.
War is fear cloaked in courage.
The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars.
