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THE V IETNAM Y EARS
T htI'itrn~",.\1rm"",,I,
11 ''' ' ' ';'' .1:/''' ' D .( :.Oneofthelan d marksofWashi ngtoll•D .C., is a
m as sive bu ildi ngofwhitem arble.It is a m em orial to
Abraha mLincoln. C loseby.almosth iddenin a
ho llo win t heground. stand s ano the r memorial.This
memorialisnottoonem an burto m an y .Itis a lo ng
wallofpoli sh edblack m arbleand0 11itarecarved
m an ytho u sand scfnamcs.T he:namesarcth ose of
youngA meri can swhod ied in rh cVietn amWar.
Viet namis in SoutheastAsia.Once:itw as ru ledby
Prance.But in 1 95 ~th e Fren ch we red rivenoutby
theso ld iersofa com m unistleader n amedH oChi
Min h. Like Ko rea,Vietn amw asth endi vid ed in tw o.
Communists ru ledth e NorthJ.IlJ n o n-co mmunists
th e South.
124
'I'Ill'next st ep wassup po se d tobetheelectiono f o ne
go vern mentfo r th e w ho l e country.Bur the clccno n
nevertookplace -.mainl ybecause th egove rn mento f
South Vietnam feared thatH oChiMinhand his
com murustswouldWill.110 Ch iMinh setout(0
u nit eVietnambywar.He ordered sabotageand
terro rism againstSouthVietn am. As partoftheir
worldwid e plantocon tai ncommunism , th e
Amer icans hadalreadyhelpedth eFrenchagains t 11 0.
Nowth eysentw eaponsandadvisersto(he
govern m ento f SouthViet nam.