Remembering vietnam. The exhibit is a fascinating collection of newly discovered and iconic original documents and film footage that aluminate 12 critical episodes in the war that divided peoples of both the United States and vietnam. One of those episodes focuses on the tet offensive. Documents and photographs from the National Archives and its president ial libraries described the attacks and their consequences but particular blow to American Public opinion of the war was the vietcong infiltration of the u. S. Embassy in saigon represented in the exhibit by a map of the defense ssy. He mbemba if you have not already gone to the exhibit, i encourage you to come back and spend time there remembering vietnam, explores the war not only to documents but through interviews with american and vietnamese veterans and civilians and firsthand experience of the wars events. Now i ask all Vietnam Veterans of any United States federal who served on active duty veteran who served on active duty at any time during the period november 1, 1955, may 15, 1975 to stand and be recognized. [applause] therans, as you asexit theater, volunteers will present each of you with the Vietnam Veterans lapel pin. Athe back is embossed grateful nation thanks and honors you. The commemoration is a National Initiative and the pin is the nations lasting momento of thanks. I will turn elect over to charles, the executive director of the u. S. Army center of military history, department of the army. The retired colonel, he was commissioned to the Aviation Branch of the army i 1988. He has seen service in the pentagon and served overseas in and afghanistan 30 study history at west point and served as the chief of doctrine and less and learns at the u. S. Army Aviation Center of excellence. Ladies and gentlemen, please Charles Lowry jr. [applause] good. S evening. I would like to begin by thanking the staff of the National Archives for partnering with the center to host this great event. All historian see the National Archives as a personal live on a, nirvana. I would also commend their outstanding vietnam exhibit to you if you have not seen it. Tonight we celebrate the release of the 12th volume in the cmhs official history series, the United States army and vietnam. In staying the course, dr. Eric chronicled the u. S. Army operations across vietnam from october 1967 to september 1968, including of course, the tet offensive. On the morning of 28 january, 19 68, the north Vietnamese Ministry of defense notified the Southern Command via an encrypted radio transmission the general offensive was to begin at midnight, between the first and second days of tet, the Lunar New Year and a national holiday. Attacks across the country began the next day and continued for three weeks or more, engulfing South Vietnam in satisfied in that left thousands dead on both sides and hundreds of thousands of vietnamese or rendered homeless and destitute. Measure, the tet offensive was one of the most significant events of the 20th century and the publication of this book at the 50th anniversary of tet serves two purposes first, it adds to our continuing National Conversation about vietnam and it helps us to remember the service and sacrifice under of hundreds of thousands of army soldiers. This is significant in that our chief historian writes half the u. S. Population now is too young to have a direct memory of the vietnam war. The spirited discussion and strident critique surrounding the recent ken burns helices are not merely historiographical debates but this is a teachable motion for moment for our nation. s second for me personally, this event demonstrates the u. S. Army is a learning organization, committed to interrogating his past and the pursuit of a more effective future. We will continue this process in march with a symposium at the cmh, the cohosted by judge advocate general and west point. The vietnam war still has much to say about our current army. As we listen to mr farrow talk about the exhibit and the acts, i had a moment to think about another fringe benefit of my job to be in charge of the armys museums. Ill highlight a peace in our collection that has a direct relationship to tet. If you visit the military police corps museum at fort leonard ft. Leavenworth, missouri. The jeep is present in many of the photos about the fighting around the u. S. Embassy in saigon. That jeep carried the Quick Reaction force the reacted to the attack on the embassy. That vehicle is sitting in our museum at fort leavenworth, a tangible reminder of army service during the tet offensive. It give me great pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker this evening. Chuck served as the 24th secretary of defense from february 2013february 2015. Hes the only vietnam veteran and the first ever enlisted combat veteran to serve as our secretary of defense. Twoetary hagel also served terms in the senate representing the state of secretary hagel has also chair the atlantic council, the u. S. Vietnam war commemoration advisory committee, and the Vietnam VeteransMemorial Fund corporate counsel. Beginning in late 96 he seven, secretary hagel and his brother tom served together in vietnam in the second at 1047 and the tree part of the ninth infantry division. The photo on the cover of staying the course depicts his company in action in may, 1968. Secretary hagel. [applause] secretary hagel thank you. And thank you for your service to our country. Mr. Farrow, thank you fo hosting this event and all that the National Archives do for our country. The National Archives is truly a National Treasure that affects and reaches into every home in our country, as well as telling the story to the world of who we are as a people. And as a nation. So, thank you for you and your colleagues do every day for our nation. Pillard, congratulations on your book. It is 5000 pages. I know the scholars will appreciate it, but rummaging through it a little, and gett ing a sense of what you cover, its a pretty masterfully written and a store document that i know will make endless contributions to educational institutions across this country for years to come. So, i congratulate you on a terrific accomplishment. To our veterans here, who have already been recognized, thank you for your service to our country, and your families, what your families have contribute d, often, i think the spouses of our military get left out and the families and the children get left out in recognition and they shouldnt. They make as many or maybe more sacrifices than the activeduty people who serve our country. So, to all of you, thank you. My assignment tonight, and i know its risky having a former senator up here, and not put some time limits on him, but i will adhere to strict guidelines that theyve asked me to make some comments about certainly the tet offensive, 1968, because i was there. So, i will share some of my thoughts, maybe initial thoughts at the time. And then, how over the years i have come to assess what happened. First, it is my opinion that the tet offensive was probably the most of finding event of the vietnam war. I think, also, 1968 was probably the most defining year of that w ar. And, when you review, as dr. Vi many does in his book, publications, many shows, the ken burns documentary which i think is brilliantly done and very fair, we now understand a lot, what happened, what did not happen, why it happened. And so, it leads us at least to, it does for me, to the conclusion that this event, 1968, that year, really defined the course for the rest of the war and the end of the war. And, in many respects, how it ended, which was a pretty inglorious ending. The sacrifices made by over 56,000 americans who lost their lives and the hundreds of thousands of individuals who were wounded, and those all who served, were, as we now know, never really given much recognition for an assignment they did not choose, but they served and they served honorably, and they served their country and did what their country asked them to do. Think, that is a part of this story, that needs to be our more often in that Vietnam Veterans came back, they didnt view themselves as heroes. They viewed themselves like all of our veterans of all of our wars, they did the job their country asked them to do. It was not their decision, but it was their country. And they did it honorably. Thatdid it in a way sustains them as all wars are sustained by the camaraderie of the individual, looking out for each other, believing in each other. And, yes, believing in your mission and believing in your country. That is an untold story in many ways. Now there is more recognition, of course, today. The whole welcome home effort. But it is a story that i think threads throughout every dimension of what happened in vietnam and not just 1968. 31, myning of january unit was a mechanized infantry unit that was assigned to the Michelin Rubber plantation security because intelligence shown the vietcong had a significant number of fighters in that area and using the plantation as a refuge. And we were alerted at about 5 30 in the morning of january ouro assemble and put tracks on the road and heada for long bin. Long bin at the time was the largest Ammunition Depot in the world. The command of general was more or less, they had a major office there. Across the street from that facility was a place called widows village. It was set up by the vietnamese government, South Vietnamese government, for the widows of fallen sofiya demeaned soldiers South Vietnamese soldiers. The v. C. Had gotten into that village the night before and slaughtered all of the people and used that village as a staging area for the next morning to attack long bin any Ammunition Depot. As my tracks were moving into 6 30 ina to fix at the morning, the explosions were things that we had never, ever heard before, seen before. It was like it must have been like somewhat of an atomic explosion. And we didnt know where we were theg, really, or what truly assignment was or what was happening. That really personified tet in many ways. Certainly for the first few weeks. Until we started to intelligently assess strategies and what was happening and why. But nobody knew. And this was happening across vietnam for three weeks. But, initially, the shock of all andhis during a truce, probably also the shock of completely underestimated the strength underestimating the strength of the North Vietnamese and the vietcong, and all that came together, which resulted in a terrible, terrible loss of life. Although part of the story that too, is thatold, our military actually did pretty well. In fact, very well considering. Andit was seen as, broadcast as, a great loss for america. And a great win for the v. C. It was certainly, not militarily the norththe v. C. And vietnamese but it was certainly a win for them with attitudes with the people of South Vietnam. And in the nedend, as we all kn, that is all that counts because in the end, wars are determined certainly the wars post world war ii, are determined not by military might, but its the support of the people. And the support of the recognition of what kind of life do we want . What kind of life do the people deserve . And the United States found itself on the wrong side of that. It wasnt just tet. It was not just the military side of that. But every documentary now out, ken burns, if you have seen the recent movie the post or any tell movies, theyll tel all that same story. There is a lesson in that. A lesson for today in afghanistan, in iraq, in all of these regional and localized conflicts. That without the support of the people you will not win, regardless of the strength of your military. You put your military in a very unfair position when you load it onto the military as it is the militarys responsibility to win over the people. And we tried that in vietnam with all the different actions and we did try that. But in the end, it is, it is the culture, the people, and their attitude toward the forces that are involved in the conflict. 21t morning, i was a young year old private first class who had been in the anon two months. So, i was not thinking grand geopolitical thoughts. Grandt think many geopolitical thoughts in my years in vietnam, but like all soldiers, and we have many here, you think of survival. And how you protect each other. And what it is that that threads that camaraderie together. In americas case, and now, after i have had some wonderful privileges in my life, experiences in different jobs, its as clear to me as any one thing that the decency of the i speakys of defining things the defining dynamic in who we are. Showed as much as anything as i have reflected so many times over so many years on vietnam with people that, my brother and i served with that we did not know. In those days you went to vietnam independently. You did not go any unit. And that made it more difficult because you are thrown in with people from the time you got on that plane at oakland, Travis Air Force base, to go to vietnam, you did not know anybody. You didnt train with any of the people. And you were separated into different units. But you soon bonded because of i think it isat, so part of who we are. We are imperfect, we make mistakes. I have never believed that were gods chosen to. Maybe we are. We will all find out someday. Im in no hurry. But there is Something Special about the american soldier. My i think, as i end comments here, that is one message that i wanted to impart. And everyone here who hwas worn the uniform regardless of service understands that, and every Family Member understands that. The greaten i had privilege of legal the pentagon, i saw that up close. It was not a decision i ever made as secretary of defense, or as a United States senator, that i did not think about my experience in vietnam. Some were big decisions, some were not big decisions. Reflect ons tried to the experience that i had in vietnam. The people that i learned so much from in vietnam. All overo were from the country, many uneducated. Many came from very tough backgrounds. But you learn something from everybody everyday. Now, ill end this way. Old firstn sergeant in vietnam was said to me, from lake charles, louisiana, Sergeant Rose. He said, just always remember, chuck, that every human being in life, no matter where they are from, or their station in life, has a story to tell. And every human being has a book in him about their life. And he said that in regard to service in vietnam. In 1968, you recall so much was going on here in the United States. The assassinations of king and kennedy. The riots. Everything was turned upside down. Institutions were being questioned like never before. Ive never forgotten that wisdom that Sergeant Rose imparted with me and to me, because it was a very strong message about how we interact with other people. I know when you are in war, you evern war, but you cnaant forget that dimension, that advice that Sergeant Rose, that everyone deserves respect, and everybody wants respect in their lives. End this i do want to way. When i said 1968 was i think the defining year of vietnam, it also was the defining year in this country. It defined in entire future an entire future dynamic that affectedlled in and every institution in our country. Every institution was changed by vietnam. And it was changed in 1968 and 90s is he a defined it. Defined it. It was the first time in our history the American People started really questioning their government, and really started questioning their leaders and now we understand. The defining dynamic of 1968, that the tet offensive really began. It really started. And from that point on we know the rest of the story. How every institution was turned upside down and changed. And yes, its imperfect. It didnt all come out right, but i think after reviewing it for 50 years and looking at where we are with all the problems, all of our issues, the change it change the country for the better because what it did, it opened up a process. So many areas and of social injustice that had been swept under the rug for so long. It opened all of that up, all of it. So, i leave you with that thought, at least coming from me. So many people who have served, came my brother and i did, away with a lot of different thoughts and different opinions. But, because i was asked tonight to share some of mine, it does not mean it is right and doesn t mean that my observations are better or more knowledgeable than anyone elses, not at all. But i offer those because it is where i am today in my own mind, in my own heart. Its also, maybe, a little informed, not just because of my experience in vietnam with my brother, but also because of the other jobs that i had the privilege of holding in my life. And that the economic spirits affected every one of them. That vietnam experience affected every one of them. Thank you very much. [applause] before i introduce our three panelists, i would like to mention in your program is a blank sheet of paper. If you have a question that comes to you during our presentation that you would like twosk to the panelists, our colleagues from military history aisles. Ioned on the you can pass those questions over to them and we will read them out at the end of the presentations. Our first panels this evening as dr. The author of staying the course. His phd from the university of washington and serv