written by Todd DePastino Probabaly the Government of French Indochina, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons In part one of this essay, we discussed how Vietnam’s peasants under French rule, like peasants everywhere, lived on the brink of catastrophe. That is the nature of the peasant’s existence. As R.H. Tawney put it, a
written by Todd DePastino Before the arrival of the French, Vietnam was a feudal land made up of villages of subsistence farmers. The French began to dismantle this feudal system in the early 20th century, and the upheaval they wrought eventually exploded in Revolution. Feudalism is a strange way of life for modern Americans
written by L. Jon Grogan L. Jon Grogan was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1975. He served various command and staff assignments in the United States and overseas until his retirement at the rank of Major in 1996. Among his assignments were two, six-month stints in East Africa, first as a member of Operation
written by Todd DePastino Last month, in preparation for our 2023 VBC Vietnam Trip, we launched a series of talks and conversations around the history of that fascinating country. In my prior life before the Veterans Breakfast Club, I taught college courses on the history of Vietnam in war and peace. That experience informs
written by George Dvorznak Memory can be tricky. Sometimes, past experiences lay dormant, out of reach, only to come forth in a rush of vivid recall. Sights, sounds, even smells burst into consciousness like a shell out of nowhere exploding overhead. Something similar, I think, is what George Dvorznak has been experiencing lately since
written by Todd DePastino VBC member Scott Patton recently passed along this piece of family lore about his great-uncle, Army Private William “Bill” Patton, who was reported killed in action in the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne on November 7, 1918. As the family mourned in their hometown of Venetia, PA, indications that Bill was
