From the Egyptian Gazette: Impact of war on language
The date itself signifies that research into all aspects of the Vietnam War continues to strongly capture the interest of researchers and scholars at all levels and in all fields of specialisation.
The anonymous publisher said: “As you know, history is a very sophisticated subject with loads of data to remember. American history research papers and those about Vietnam War in particular are the most difficult but nevertheless absorbing ones.
“The Vietnam War was one of the longest and significant wars of the modern history of the US. This war was fought between 1964 and 1974 in South Vietnam.
“Writing on this topic is probably one of the most interesting and challenging assignments for students. This is the way to show their respect to their history and their soldiers.
Vietnam War research paper writing tips: You are to choose the topic for your Vietnam War research paper. There can be many ways to approach a solid topic on Vietnam War. For example, we can propose you such themes as US forces operations, the causes and results of the war.
This is a drop in the bucket of ideas that can be used for Vietnam War research papers. Actually speaking, it is almost impossible to find a new aspect of Vietnam War research paper. That is why the topic should be interesting to you and this tip is vital.
Your interest should last during the whole process of research. Strain every nerve when thinking over creative ways of disclosing ordinary topics. Remember, that even barely statistical data can help you to create an unusual research paper topic.
You have to choose the appropriate format for your research paper. Try one of the most common and used styles, for example, MLA or APA. Take into consideration, that every format has its’ own limitations and peculiarities. Mind them when writing your research paper!
Write an outline for your topic. You are able to use an outline template to streamline the research paper writing. Remember that every research paper should have five sections: introduction, background study, the main body, discussion of sources and the concluding sector.
Since there are loads of information, try to use solid sources for your paper. Use statistics and loaded evidences for proving your thesis.
Presentation of the Vietnam Research Paper: You have to co-opt the data you have collected with help of your outline. Then structure that statistics in the appropriate format.
Remove data that does not add value to your research paper. It is advisable to present information that deals with your research topic and helps to answer the questions of your research proposal.
Keep your research paper easy to follow.
Provide headings and subheadings so that your audience would be able to keep tabs on your work.
You should proofread your work. Grammar and spelling mistakes would worsen the mark of your work.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
RSL folds on Vietnam War reconciliationF
From 9 News (Australia): RSL folds on Vietnam War reconciliation
The RSL national executive has decided against developing a plan to reconcile Australian veterans and their Vietnam War foes.
The plan had angered some Australian veterans of the war who accused the RSL of a gross betrayal.
The RSL folded on Tuesday, announcing it would not proceed with its plan to establish a memorandum of understanding with the Veterans Association of Vietnam.
The RSL national executive has decided against developing a plan to reconcile Australian veterans and their Vietnam War foes.
The plan had angered some Australian veterans of the war who accused the RSL of a gross betrayal.
The RSL folded on Tuesday, announcing it would not proceed with its plan to establish a memorandum of understanding with the Veterans Association of Vietnam.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
A Contest Inspired by a Traveling Vietnam War Veterans Memorial
From Cupertino Patch: A Contest Inspired by a Traveling Vietnam War Veterans Memorial
Follow the link above, on a computer, to enter the Cupertino Patch's contest.
Follow the link above, on a computer, to enter the Cupertino Patch's contest.
As America looks to end the war in Iraq, the City of Cupertino is preparing for Veterans Day when a replica memorial of a past war—the Vietnam War—goes on display in Memorial Park.
The City and Cupertino Patch are partnering on holding a contest based on the traveling replica of the Vietnam War Veteran's Memorial wall by asking children to tell us what they believe is the significance of a war that ended decades before they were born.
The traveling wall is 80 percent to scale and holds all the names of the fallen soldiers. If you've never seen the original take the opportunity to visit the replica when it arrives in Cupertino Nov. 9.
The arrival of the traveling wall provides an opportunity to reflect on a controversial and unpopular war and the men and women who fought in it, and the more than 58,000 who died in it for their country. How do we teach our children about this war? What have they learned about it? How did it affect our country? What does it mean to today's youth?
Maybe a grandfather fought in Vietnam and has shown your child his dogtags and medals. Maybe you've taken your child to get a pencil rubbing of a fallen soldier's name off the etched wall in Washington, D.C. Or maybe your child learned about the war in school.
We want to know what Cupertino's children believe is significant about the Vietnam War.
Get creative and show us through a visual presentation. It could be a slideshow with a series of pictures of Vietnam War statues, medals, uniforms, tributes or memorials.
Or maybe the story could be told in a video of interviews with a Vietnam War veteran.
Or maybe a sketch or a painting is the way your child can best illustrate their feelings of the meaning of the war.
Win Stuff!
Photos of all entries will be posted on Cupertino Patch and the winner will be selected through readers' votes and a panel of judges. The Grand Prize winner will take home a $100 iTunes gift card, and two First Prize winners will each get a $50 iTunes gift card, courtesy of the City of Cupertino.
The contest is open to students ages 13 to 18; no more than two entries per child please. Slideshows and videos should last no more than two minutes, and any artwork submitted should be done through a digital photo of the art emailed as an attachment to the Editor at anne.ernst@patch.com (arrangements for the display of original artwork will be made at a later date.)
Winners will be invited to a special ceremony on Nov. 10 at Memorial Park where the traveling wall will be displayed.
Watch the video on the City's website to learn more about the American Veterans Traveling Tribute.
What does the Vietnam War mean to you? Tell us in the comments.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Vancouver production breathes new life into macabre Morrison death
From The Province: Vancouver production breathes new life into macabre Morrison death
In November 1965 Norman Morrison, a Quaker, peace activist and teacher, drove to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., doused himself with kerosene and lit a match.
By setting himself on fire, Morrison made the ultimate sacrifice in protest of the Vietnam War. The message was aimed directly at Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara, whose office was above Morrison’s chosen location for self-immolation.
His death became headline news and not just for its extremeness. Also drawing the world’s attention was his daughter Emily. Just nine days shy of turning one, Morrison had brought her with him, though she was found completely unharmed.
More than forty years later, Morrison’s death has long faded from public memory. But when Vancouver playwright Sean Devine first read about this real-life tale three years ago, he was immediately struck by Morrison’s act.
Devine, who’s first play Re:Union is based on Morrison’s story, instinctively knew this was a tale worth exploring, with all its complicated questions about social and personal responsibility and the messy implications of taking action, or not.
“Regardless of whether he intended to kill her [his daughter], he knowingly accepted a fate that he would no longer see her again. He knowingly said ‘I’m willing to give up seeing that amazing little girl for the rest of my life, as well as my other two kids, as well as my wife, as well as life itself’ and that kind of commitment that is not from an insane person, but is from someone who just cares so deeply, it just blew me away,” said Devine, a father of two.
Re:Union, produced by Vancouver’s Pacific Theatre, is not a strict re-telling of historical events but rather a story rooted partly in fact, partly in fiction. It starts with Morrison’s death (fact) and fast-forwards to post 9/11 when a grown-up Emily returns to the scene of her father’s death and confronts McNamara (fiction).
There are difficulties, of course, in writing a play based on real people and partially real events. Devine knew it was important to get the family’s input. So after writing his first draft based on as much available research as possible, including a memoir written by Morrison’s widow, Anne, he contacted the family.
Feeling slightly terrified, he sent them his play.
“They sent back a really long letter and basically said although they completely appreciate my intentions, there’s so much in what I’ve written that they can’t support because it was so factually wrong and not just factually wrong but wrong according to their characters,” says Devine.
With the family’s feedback, the character of Emily went from passive and broken-up about her father’s actions to an ardent supporter of her father’s act, something the real Emily clearly expressed to him, says Devine.
Re:Union could be read both on a macro and micro level. On the one hand, it asks big questions about our role in shaping society and how we live by our beliefs. On a more intimate level, it’s about a father’s relationship with his daughter.
In real life, the consequences of Morrison’s death would not be fully revealed for decades. While cynics perhaps saw only that his sacrifice did not end the war, McNamara admitted in a 1996 memoir that he had misgivings about the war and that Morrison’s death stirred those feelings and deepened public dissent.
Evan Frayne, who plays Morrison, says the play speaks directly to our times and the constant struggle to do what’s right for society, our families and ourselves.
“It’s a lovely story about a father and his daughter and it’s about a moment of them connecting. It’s how his passion re-ignites her passion to live the way she believes is right,” he says.
In November 1965 Norman Morrison, a Quaker, peace activist and teacher, drove to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., doused himself with kerosene and lit a match.
By setting himself on fire, Morrison made the ultimate sacrifice in protest of the Vietnam War. The message was aimed directly at Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara, whose office was above Morrison’s chosen location for self-immolation.
His death became headline news and not just for its extremeness. Also drawing the world’s attention was his daughter Emily. Just nine days shy of turning one, Morrison had brought her with him, though she was found completely unharmed.
More than forty years later, Morrison’s death has long faded from public memory. But when Vancouver playwright Sean Devine first read about this real-life tale three years ago, he was immediately struck by Morrison’s act.
Devine, who’s first play Re:Union is based on Morrison’s story, instinctively knew this was a tale worth exploring, with all its complicated questions about social and personal responsibility and the messy implications of taking action, or not.
“Regardless of whether he intended to kill her [his daughter], he knowingly accepted a fate that he would no longer see her again. He knowingly said ‘I’m willing to give up seeing that amazing little girl for the rest of my life, as well as my other two kids, as well as my wife, as well as life itself’ and that kind of commitment that is not from an insane person, but is from someone who just cares so deeply, it just blew me away,” said Devine, a father of two.
Re:Union, produced by Vancouver’s Pacific Theatre, is not a strict re-telling of historical events but rather a story rooted partly in fact, partly in fiction. It starts with Morrison’s death (fact) and fast-forwards to post 9/11 when a grown-up Emily returns to the scene of her father’s death and confronts McNamara (fiction).
There are difficulties, of course, in writing a play based on real people and partially real events. Devine knew it was important to get the family’s input. So after writing his first draft based on as much available research as possible, including a memoir written by Morrison’s widow, Anne, he contacted the family.
Feeling slightly terrified, he sent them his play.
“They sent back a really long letter and basically said although they completely appreciate my intentions, there’s so much in what I’ve written that they can’t support because it was so factually wrong and not just factually wrong but wrong according to their characters,” says Devine.
With the family’s feedback, the character of Emily went from passive and broken-up about her father’s actions to an ardent supporter of her father’s act, something the real Emily clearly expressed to him, says Devine.
Re:Union could be read both on a macro and micro level. On the one hand, it asks big questions about our role in shaping society and how we live by our beliefs. On a more intimate level, it’s about a father’s relationship with his daughter.
In real life, the consequences of Morrison’s death would not be fully revealed for decades. While cynics perhaps saw only that his sacrifice did not end the war, McNamara admitted in a 1996 memoir that he had misgivings about the war and that Morrison’s death stirred those feelings and deepened public dissent.
Evan Frayne, who plays Morrison, says the play speaks directly to our times and the constant struggle to do what’s right for society, our families and ourselves.
“It’s a lovely story about a father and his daughter and it’s about a moment of them connecting. It’s how his passion re-ignites her passion to live the way she believes is right,” he says.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Historic Hanoi hotel discovers Vietnam War bunker where Joan Baez and Jane Fonda sheltered
From The Washington Post: Historic Hanoi hotel discovers Vietnam War bunker where Joan Baez and Jane Fonda sheltered
HANOI, Vietnam — The siren’s wail at the historic Metropole Hotel sent American folk singer Joan Baez and other guests scampering across a garden and into an underground bunker. Even through five feet of concrete, they could still hear the roar of American bombs raining on parts of Hanoi.
Nearly four decades have passed since the so-called Christmas Bombings rocked parts of Vietnam’s capital in December 1972. After the war ended three years later, the bunker was sealed and all but forgotten.
Its exact location remained a mystery until this summer, when a worker’s drill pierced its thick concrete roof during renovations of a poolside bar. Since then, workers have been excavating the flooded and low-ceilinged space. Not much has been found in the seven rooms: a wine bottle, a rusty paint can and a light bulb still in a socket. But a few tales remain, some involving famous guests.
“If these walls could talk, they would tell a lot of stories,” says hotel general manager Kai Speth, while giving The Associated Press an exclusive first glimpse. The bomb shelter “needs to be brought back into the life of the hotel as a reminder of what this hotel and this town went through.”
The North Vietnamese government used the French colonial-era hotel, a stately four-story building in the shadow of Hanoi’s Opera House, to house foreign guests during the war.
Nguyen Thi Xuan Phuong, now 82, remembers staying in the bunker during the Christmas Bombings with anti-war activist Baez. On one of the 12 nights that B-52s pounded areas around the city, the lights went out, prompting a few foreigners to scream in the darkness.
“Can you sing a song?” Phuong asked the young singer. “We may not change the situation, but your songs may help calm people down.” When Baez’s voice rang out as someone plucked a guitar, the bunker was revitalized, Phuong recalls.
Others who sheltered there included war correspondents and American actress Jane Fonda, says Phuong, who worked for the government as a doctor assisting foreign guests.
Fonda’s visit to enemy territory ignited fury at home. She criticized U.S. policy on North Vietnamese radio and earned the nickname “Hanoi Jane” after posing for a photo atop an anti-aircraft gun — an incident that Fonda later said she regretted.
Publicists for Baez and Fonda did not respond to requests for comment.
French entrepreneurs opened the Metropole in 1901, calling it the “the largest and best appointed hotel in Indo-China.” Over the years, it welcomed celebrities from Charlie Chaplin — who came in 1936 on his honeymoon — to Graham Greene, who wrote parts of his famous novel, “The Quiet American,” at the hotel.
The Metropole was renamed the Thong Nhat (Reunification) Hotel after Vietnam gained its independence from France in 1954. But after communist forces won the Vietnam War in 1975, the hotel languished under state management as a reunified Vietnam struggled to recover from fighting that killed some 58,000 Americans and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese.
It wasn’t until the early 1990s, after a French company assumed partial ownership, that the Metropole regained its earlier name and its place as one of the city’s spots to see and be seen.
Today, with Vietnam emerging as one of Asia’s fastest growing economies, Hanoi’s nouveau riche roll up in Bentleys and Rolls-Royces and toss down $70 per person on Sunday brunch. Upscale boutiques line its green-shuttered white facade, with electric blue handbags selling at Hermes for $7,000 — nearly seven years’ salary for the average Vietnamese. Mick Jagger, Angelina Jolie and Fidel Castro have all spent the night.
Even those who can’t afford the $10 cocktails gravitate toward the city landmark. Every day soon-to-be Vietnamese brides in pouffy layers of white silk and lace pose for wedding photos outside its walls.
Discovery of the roughly 500 square-foot (nearly 50 square-meter) bunker with its mildewed, mustard-colored walls raises questions about how it will be preserved and who will be allowed to visit, especially since half of the hotel is indirectly owned by the government.
Prominent Vietnamese historian Duong Trung Quoc says it should be opened to the public. While the bunker primarily protected foreign guests, he says it could play an important role in illuminating Vietnam War history.
But Speth, the general manager, says he doesn’t want mobs of tourists turning his five-star hotel into a Southeast Asian “Grand Central Station.”
“I have an obligation to my guests to keep the Metropole luxurious and exclusive,” he says. “If I just leave it open, can you imagine? All of the tour guides of Hanoi would take everybody down there.”
___
If You Go...
METROPOLE HOTEL: 15 Ngo Quyen St., Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam; http://www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-1555-sofitel-legend-metropole-hanoi/index.shtml or 011-84-4-38266919. Nightly rates for online reservations begin at around $300 a night including taxes.
HANOI, Vietnam — The siren’s wail at the historic Metropole Hotel sent American folk singer Joan Baez and other guests scampering across a garden and into an underground bunker. Even through five feet of concrete, they could still hear the roar of American bombs raining on parts of Hanoi.
Nearly four decades have passed since the so-called Christmas Bombings rocked parts of Vietnam’s capital in December 1972. After the war ended three years later, the bunker was sealed and all but forgotten.
Its exact location remained a mystery until this summer, when a worker’s drill pierced its thick concrete roof during renovations of a poolside bar. Since then, workers have been excavating the flooded and low-ceilinged space. Not much has been found in the seven rooms: a wine bottle, a rusty paint can and a light bulb still in a socket. But a few tales remain, some involving famous guests.
“If these walls could talk, they would tell a lot of stories,” says hotel general manager Kai Speth, while giving The Associated Press an exclusive first glimpse. The bomb shelter “needs to be brought back into the life of the hotel as a reminder of what this hotel and this town went through.”
The North Vietnamese government used the French colonial-era hotel, a stately four-story building in the shadow of Hanoi’s Opera House, to house foreign guests during the war.
Nguyen Thi Xuan Phuong, now 82, remembers staying in the bunker during the Christmas Bombings with anti-war activist Baez. On one of the 12 nights that B-52s pounded areas around the city, the lights went out, prompting a few foreigners to scream in the darkness.
“Can you sing a song?” Phuong asked the young singer. “We may not change the situation, but your songs may help calm people down.” When Baez’s voice rang out as someone plucked a guitar, the bunker was revitalized, Phuong recalls.
Others who sheltered there included war correspondents and American actress Jane Fonda, says Phuong, who worked for the government as a doctor assisting foreign guests.
Fonda’s visit to enemy territory ignited fury at home. She criticized U.S. policy on North Vietnamese radio and earned the nickname “Hanoi Jane” after posing for a photo atop an anti-aircraft gun — an incident that Fonda later said she regretted.
Publicists for Baez and Fonda did not respond to requests for comment.
French entrepreneurs opened the Metropole in 1901, calling it the “the largest and best appointed hotel in Indo-China.” Over the years, it welcomed celebrities from Charlie Chaplin — who came in 1936 on his honeymoon — to Graham Greene, who wrote parts of his famous novel, “The Quiet American,” at the hotel.
The Metropole was renamed the Thong Nhat (Reunification) Hotel after Vietnam gained its independence from France in 1954. But after communist forces won the Vietnam War in 1975, the hotel languished under state management as a reunified Vietnam struggled to recover from fighting that killed some 58,000 Americans and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese.
It wasn’t until the early 1990s, after a French company assumed partial ownership, that the Metropole regained its earlier name and its place as one of the city’s spots to see and be seen.
Today, with Vietnam emerging as one of Asia’s fastest growing economies, Hanoi’s nouveau riche roll up in Bentleys and Rolls-Royces and toss down $70 per person on Sunday brunch. Upscale boutiques line its green-shuttered white facade, with electric blue handbags selling at Hermes for $7,000 — nearly seven years’ salary for the average Vietnamese. Mick Jagger, Angelina Jolie and Fidel Castro have all spent the night.
Even those who can’t afford the $10 cocktails gravitate toward the city landmark. Every day soon-to-be Vietnamese brides in pouffy layers of white silk and lace pose for wedding photos outside its walls.
Discovery of the roughly 500 square-foot (nearly 50 square-meter) bunker with its mildewed, mustard-colored walls raises questions about how it will be preserved and who will be allowed to visit, especially since half of the hotel is indirectly owned by the government.
Prominent Vietnamese historian Duong Trung Quoc says it should be opened to the public. While the bunker primarily protected foreign guests, he says it could play an important role in illuminating Vietnam War history.
But Speth, the general manager, says he doesn’t want mobs of tourists turning his five-star hotel into a Southeast Asian “Grand Central Station.”
“I have an obligation to my guests to keep the Metropole luxurious and exclusive,” he says. “If I just leave it open, can you imagine? All of the tour guides of Hanoi would take everybody down there.”
___
If You Go...
METROPOLE HOTEL: 15 Ngo Quyen St., Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam; http://www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-1555-sofitel-legend-metropole-hanoi/index.shtml or 011-84-4-38266919. Nightly rates for online reservations begin at around $300 a night including taxes.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Vietnam War veteran Terry Calandra: 'I have a lot of people to apologize to'
From Lehigh Valley Live.com: Vietnam War veteran Terry Calandra: 'I have a lot of people to apologize to'
Terry Calandra can't say with certainty why he falsified records and made up stories about military combat medals he didn't earn.
For that, and for claiming valor he didn't deserve, he said he's eternally remorseful.
"I have a lot of people to apologize to," the 62-year-old Vietnam War veteran said Friday.
"I may be a bad person for what I did, but it was my reality I had to deal with. If it wouldn't be for my wife and family who supported me for all these years (after the war), I probably wouldn't be alive today."
Calandra, of Belvidere, thinks his deceit probably was a means "to make me feel good about myself -- to help justify the things I did over there."
Last week in Philadelphia, after a decade-long campaign to upgrade his awards to the Medal of Honor -- the nation's highest military honor -- Calandra admitted it was a sham.
He pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements about his military service and was sentenced to a year's probation and $600 in fines.
The stunning admission shocked and angered friends and fellow veterans, including those who worked closely with him in veterans' organizations and initiatives in the Lehigh Valley and New Jersey.
"There are veterans and bloggers out there who want my hide," Calandra said in his first public comments since his court appearance. "Under combat situations, sometimes your brain doesn't work too good. I did what I did and now I have to face the music. That's the way it is."
Calandra concocted a story that he won the Silver Star by throwing himself on a grenade in March 1969, and made up another story to go with the Distinguished Service Cross he claimed to have been awarded, officials said.
His stories started to unravel after he filed paperwork with former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter to begin an investigation into whether his actions merited the Medal of Honor.
'He has my contempt'
Calandra, who grew up in the Easton area, legitimately earned three Purple Hearts during his Vietnam service from January to July 1969.
In 1998, after a meeting with then-U.S. Rep. Paul McHale in Bethlehem, McHale hailed Calandra as a hero after Calandra was nominated for the Medal of Honor.
McHale, now an attorney at a Washington, D.C., law firm, had forwarded Calandra's case to the Department of Army for review.
"When someone makes that kind of detailed and false series of statements, including forged documents over a long period of time, to claim valor that others have earned, it's hard to find an act that could be more despicable," McHale said Friday.
McHale, a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, said Calandra's punishment of probation and a modest fine was insufficient.
"For what he did (serving in Vietnam), I will grant him respect," McHale said. "For what he didn't do -- and then claimed to do -- he has my contempt. There's no justification for what he did. He's going to have to deal with this as a matter of conscience for the rest of his life."
40-year struggle
Calandra had gained acclaim locally for his supposed wartime feats. He was a frequent parade marshal and speaker in schools and at veterans' events.
He's commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 700, in Warren and Hunterdon counties. On Friday, he said he didn't want to speak about his future with the group.
"I have to live my life and go on," he said. "People can hate me or still be my friend. But what I've done is something I cannot change. I have to live with it -- I alone."
Calandra said he returned home in 1970 angry about his experiences and the receptions Vietnam veterans confronted.
He said he watched a friend die in his arms in Vietnam and he's struggled for more than 40 years to erase the horrors of other experiences. He hasn't been able to do it.
"When the shooting's all over, the only thing you hear is the screams and the crying and the dying," he said. "Those screams never go away."
Since his court appearance, he said, he's received encouraging words from men with whom he served and friends he's made since.
"I realize I have issues," he said. "I buried it and buried it. You can't bury your subconscious. It keeps at you."
Friends offer support
Rich Polak, who served with Calandra in Vietnam and cooperated with authorities who later charged Calandra, likened his friend's missteps to a service-connected disability.
"I condemn what he did and he knows it," Polak, of Marshall, N.C., wrote in a letter to the editor. "However, the acts of wrongdoing he committed are the result of his being present for duty and serving gallantly in combat in Vietnam."
Morris Metz, a World War II veteran who leads the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, had breakfast with Calandra two weeks ago.
Metz said he's read every word of last week's news accounts, again and again. Calandra never breathed a word about any of it.
"When you grow up, you're taught the sanctity of life," said Metz, 86, of Forks Township. "But when you go in the military service and go into war, you learn to kill and destroy. You do that or you get killed.
"After you get back to a normal civilian life, you don't know if you're going to be affected by those experiences. Things may happen that cause you to take actions you normally wouldn't take. I think that's what happened."
While shocked by Calandra's revelations, Metz said he considers him a friend and maintains great respect for his service and accomplishments.
He hasn't spoken to Calandra since his guilty plea but said he knows what he's going to say the next time he sees him: "Love you, brother."
Leaving a legacy
Calandra, whose organization raised money to decorate veterans' graves and contribute to various war memorials, said he doesn't want to be defined by his misdeeds, but understands if that's the case.
"If you can step back in time and change things, I would," he said. "But the bottom line is I can't. I hope that I'm not remembered for this only.
"I hope that when they go to high schools and places where memorials stand that I was involved with, they can say 'OK, the guy was an (expletive), but he did some good stuff.'
"If there are derogatory thoughts, I hope at least they can say 'He did a good job doing this.'"
Terry Calandra can't say with certainty why he falsified records and made up stories about military combat medals he didn't earn.
For that, and for claiming valor he didn't deserve, he said he's eternally remorseful.
"I have a lot of people to apologize to," the 62-year-old Vietnam War veteran said Friday.
"I may be a bad person for what I did, but it was my reality I had to deal with. If it wouldn't be for my wife and family who supported me for all these years (after the war), I probably wouldn't be alive today."
Calandra, of Belvidere, thinks his deceit probably was a means "to make me feel good about myself -- to help justify the things I did over there."
Last week in Philadelphia, after a decade-long campaign to upgrade his awards to the Medal of Honor -- the nation's highest military honor -- Calandra admitted it was a sham.
He pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements about his military service and was sentenced to a year's probation and $600 in fines.
The stunning admission shocked and angered friends and fellow veterans, including those who worked closely with him in veterans' organizations and initiatives in the Lehigh Valley and New Jersey.
"There are veterans and bloggers out there who want my hide," Calandra said in his first public comments since his court appearance. "Under combat situations, sometimes your brain doesn't work too good. I did what I did and now I have to face the music. That's the way it is."
Calandra concocted a story that he won the Silver Star by throwing himself on a grenade in March 1969, and made up another story to go with the Distinguished Service Cross he claimed to have been awarded, officials said.
His stories started to unravel after he filed paperwork with former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter to begin an investigation into whether his actions merited the Medal of Honor.
'He has my contempt'
Calandra, who grew up in the Easton area, legitimately earned three Purple Hearts during his Vietnam service from January to July 1969.
In 1998, after a meeting with then-U.S. Rep. Paul McHale in Bethlehem, McHale hailed Calandra as a hero after Calandra was nominated for the Medal of Honor.
McHale, now an attorney at a Washington, D.C., law firm, had forwarded Calandra's case to the Department of Army for review.
"When someone makes that kind of detailed and false series of statements, including forged documents over a long period of time, to claim valor that others have earned, it's hard to find an act that could be more despicable," McHale said Friday.
McHale, a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, said Calandra's punishment of probation and a modest fine was insufficient.
"For what he did (serving in Vietnam), I will grant him respect," McHale said. "For what he didn't do -- and then claimed to do -- he has my contempt. There's no justification for what he did. He's going to have to deal with this as a matter of conscience for the rest of his life."
40-year struggle
Calandra had gained acclaim locally for his supposed wartime feats. He was a frequent parade marshal and speaker in schools and at veterans' events.
He's commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 700, in Warren and Hunterdon counties. On Friday, he said he didn't want to speak about his future with the group.
"I have to live my life and go on," he said. "People can hate me or still be my friend. But what I've done is something I cannot change. I have to live with it -- I alone."
Calandra said he returned home in 1970 angry about his experiences and the receptions Vietnam veterans confronted.
He said he watched a friend die in his arms in Vietnam and he's struggled for more than 40 years to erase the horrors of other experiences. He hasn't been able to do it.
"When the shooting's all over, the only thing you hear is the screams and the crying and the dying," he said. "Those screams never go away."
Since his court appearance, he said, he's received encouraging words from men with whom he served and friends he's made since.
"I realize I have issues," he said. "I buried it and buried it. You can't bury your subconscious. It keeps at you."
Friends offer support
Rich Polak, who served with Calandra in Vietnam and cooperated with authorities who later charged Calandra, likened his friend's missteps to a service-connected disability.
"I condemn what he did and he knows it," Polak, of Marshall, N.C., wrote in a letter to the editor. "However, the acts of wrongdoing he committed are the result of his being present for duty and serving gallantly in combat in Vietnam."
Morris Metz, a World War II veteran who leads the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, had breakfast with Calandra two weeks ago.
Metz said he's read every word of last week's news accounts, again and again. Calandra never breathed a word about any of it.
"When you grow up, you're taught the sanctity of life," said Metz, 86, of Forks Township. "But when you go in the military service and go into war, you learn to kill and destroy. You do that or you get killed.
"After you get back to a normal civilian life, you don't know if you're going to be affected by those experiences. Things may happen that cause you to take actions you normally wouldn't take. I think that's what happened."
While shocked by Calandra's revelations, Metz said he considers him a friend and maintains great respect for his service and accomplishments.
He hasn't spoken to Calandra since his guilty plea but said he knows what he's going to say the next time he sees him: "Love you, brother."
Leaving a legacy
Calandra, whose organization raised money to decorate veterans' graves and contribute to various war memorials, said he doesn't want to be defined by his misdeeds, but understands if that's the case.
"If you can step back in time and change things, I would," he said. "But the bottom line is I can't. I hope that I'm not remembered for this only.
"I hope that when they go to high schools and places where memorials stand that I was involved with, they can say 'OK, the guy was an (expletive), but he did some good stuff.'
"If there are derogatory thoughts, I hope at least they can say 'He did a good job doing this.'"
RSL plan outrages Vietnam veterans
From Sydney Morning Herald: RSL plan outrages Vietnam veterans
A PROPOSAL by the RSL to foster rapprochement between Australian and Vietnamese veterans of the Vietnam War has caused outrage, prompting the national president, Rear-Admiral Ken Doolan, to apologise for the way it has been handled.
But he has vowed to press on with debate over a proposed memorandum of understanding, which he says has the support of the federal government, arguing that ''we owe it to the future to do all we can to bring former enemies together''.
But the national president of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, Ron Coxon, said his organisation did not support it. ''We haven't signed an MOU with the Japanese or the Germans. Why would we want one with the North Vietnamese? There are people this is going to upset and we're not going to get anything out of it.''
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Last year Mr Doolan wrote to the then foreign minister, Stephen Smith, seeking the government's views on a memorandum of understanding between the president of the RSL and his Vietnamese counterpart.
In January the office of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Kevin Rudd, said the government ''had no objections''.
But Mr Doolan said a group opposed to the proposal was running a campaign of ''misinformation'', including that it contained a plan for Australian veterans to march with former Vietcong, which was ''absolutely wrong''.
In an email to members, Mr Doolan apologised that the proposal had ''not been properly or clearly explained''.
He says the RSL took up the proposal at the request of some veterans who had been going to Vietnam for many years and had ''built friendly and positive relationships with former foes''.
He said the proposal ''may or may not go ahead'' but the idea of a ''rapprochement'' had been ''going on for some time''.
The state member for Baulkham Hills, David Elliott, who served with the army's peacekeeping force in Bougainville in 2000, said he was ''horrified'' by the idea when veterans in his electorate raised it with him. He would write to Mr Rudd to express their concern. ''Forgiveness and reconciliation is a very personal act,'' he said. ''It's not something that governments can force on returned servicemen.''
A PROPOSAL by the RSL to foster rapprochement between Australian and Vietnamese veterans of the Vietnam War has caused outrage, prompting the national president, Rear-Admiral Ken Doolan, to apologise for the way it has been handled.
But he has vowed to press on with debate over a proposed memorandum of understanding, which he says has the support of the federal government, arguing that ''we owe it to the future to do all we can to bring former enemies together''.
But the national president of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia, Ron Coxon, said his organisation did not support it. ''We haven't signed an MOU with the Japanese or the Germans. Why would we want one with the North Vietnamese? There are people this is going to upset and we're not going to get anything out of it.''
Advertisement: Story continues below
Last year Mr Doolan wrote to the then foreign minister, Stephen Smith, seeking the government's views on a memorandum of understanding between the president of the RSL and his Vietnamese counterpart.
In January the office of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Kevin Rudd, said the government ''had no objections''.
But Mr Doolan said a group opposed to the proposal was running a campaign of ''misinformation'', including that it contained a plan for Australian veterans to march with former Vietcong, which was ''absolutely wrong''.
In an email to members, Mr Doolan apologised that the proposal had ''not been properly or clearly explained''.
He says the RSL took up the proposal at the request of some veterans who had been going to Vietnam for many years and had ''built friendly and positive relationships with former foes''.
He said the proposal ''may or may not go ahead'' but the idea of a ''rapprochement'' had been ''going on for some time''.
The state member for Baulkham Hills, David Elliott, who served with the army's peacekeeping force in Bougainville in 2000, said he was ''horrified'' by the idea when veterans in his electorate raised it with him. He would write to Mr Rudd to express their concern. ''Forgiveness and reconciliation is a very personal act,'' he said. ''It's not something that governments can force on returned servicemen.''
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