Sapper 82 - I may not totally agree with you on the causes of the Viet-Nam conflict - and history will relate that Imperial Japnese Troops were rearmed under British ad later French control to "disarm" and control the Vietnemese Gurillers (sp) under Ho Chi Min and Giap (1945 onwards)

The Viet Cong and more importantly the NVLA, were no angels, and by any defnition terrorists.

I suspect tho if free elctions had been enforced in the mid 50's the history of that prt of Asia might have been totally different. But then History is so much 'What If ????'

Now before his mind went I was trying to record the experiences of my late father wth the objective of writing them up for publication. This was a man who went from Normandy to Kiel the hard way in 1944/5 30 corps support unit, 91st(Anti Tank)( Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) A mixture of 17pdr M10's, Towed 17pdrs, AA Crusaders, and White (USA) Halftracks armed with quad 0.5" Brownings.

Unit function - to back up Armour and Infantry with specialised and heavier weapons. ( A 17 pdr could kill a Panther or Tiger, the 6pdr or 75 mm guns of your standard Churchill or Sherman could not, and the concentrated fire of the 20mm Oerlicons of the Crusaders and the 0.5" of the half track could rip a dug in gun position to peices)

I have seen him reduced to tears twice. Once when mentioning what they found at Belson - his troop was one of the first units in. And secondly when he described catching a German Horse drawn artillery unit somewhere between the Rhine and Minden. He was given orders to destroy it. As he said, he didn't mind killing the Wehrmacht, they were out to kill him - but the horses were another matter. 20mm and 0.5" Browning rounds butcher horses, but not that quickly or cleanly.

Interestingly one of his Sargents deal with a group of gaurds at Belson in summery fashion. He told me he had a quick and nasty "cover up" to do - Shot whilst attempting to escape was his report. Fortunately none of his superiors was that inclined to enquire further, if they had, would that have made him a war criminal ???

No - all credit to all Veterans. And from this side of the pond mat all those scars heal, and quickly.

Gareth
Dulce et Dulchoram est,
Pro Patria Morie