The wars against Vietnam were a tragedy, and the main victims were the civilians who were slaughtered, and driven from their homes.

There were other victims, and the young men from Japan and France and America and Australia who were sent there, and the Vietnamese who fought on both sides were some of them. Including some who did terrible things which they would never have done in different circumstances.

And the villains? Politicians and war leaders and generals and patriots, in all the countries involved.

"Dishonoured dead"? I think the song would be better without that verse. And yet that is how many Vets have said they were made to feel when they came back home - treated as if they were to blame for a war that America wanted to forget.

What has impressed me from what I have heard about Vietnam is the extent to which ordinary Vietnamese do not seem to hate Americans, including American ex-soldiers. As I understand it, they recognise them as fellow victims of a cruel war.

And I think that Vets, even those who may still believe this was a "Just War" by America, owe it to them to recognise that the enemy they fought was incredibly brave, and suffered even worse than they did.