Southeast Asia

"Vietnam" has such weight for the United States, especially for those of us who came of age in the Sixties. In Vietnam, it's "the American War." Up the Mekong in Laos, farmers still die from unexploded ordinance in the most heavily bombed country in the world.

In the Military History Museum in Hanoi, my wife and I sit on a bench in an outdoor passageway. A group files by, and we realize that we've been seeing them across galleries but hadn't noticed that all these elderly folks are wearing ill-fitting Army uniforms decorated with medals. They are veterans of the American War--our war.

Two of the older men see us and walk over. Each warmly grasps our hands in both of theirs. They recognize us as Americans of a certain age, and they know we shared this pivotal experience in our youths, whether here at war or at home in protest. So gracious--and all we want to do is to apologize to them for the terrible tragedy we inflicted on them and their country. So moving it made us cry.