Dec 25 - Merry Christmas to Vietnam***

Monday, December 25, 1972 - Page 360
LOCATION: San Francisco

The biggest ever bombing campaign by B-52 aircraft took place over Christmas 1972 when the U.S. dropped at least 20,000 tons of explosives on North Vietnam, mostly Hanoi. More than 1,000 Vietnamese died. [BBC 12/24/2012]

Christmas Day -- I woke up at 5:30. Had a big Turkey dinner and then I took a shower. I dried the dishes. Played pinochle a long time. Jim & Jain had to work the next day so they went to bed at 12:00 and Me, Mom & Will played pinochle till 6:30 A.M. Tuesday.

72's NEWS

To celebrate Christmas, the U.S. bombs North Vietnam. This results in widespread criticism of President Nixon.

After the Paris Peace Accords of January 27, 1973, all U.S. combat troops are withdrawn by March 29, 1973. In December 1974, North Vietnam captures the province of Phước Long and begins a full-scale offensive, culminating in the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. bears the names of 58,195 soldiers who died in the war. A greater number of veterans died of suicide after coming home.

The Defense Department officially reports that 950,765 communist Vietnamese were killed between 1965 and 1974. The true figure is much higher. Following the war, American Vietnam vets who killed themselves are estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000.

The suicide rate among current 2013 veterans is more than 20 per day according to conservative & incomplete estimates by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. That's about 1 self-inflicted death every hour. The true figures are even higher. [See CNN, November 14, 2013]

WAR, good God y'all, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

My brother's gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery

From the Pogo comic strip by Walt Kelly

TOMORROW: Out with the Christmas tree