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David E. Dix
When the late Roger Di Paolo, as editor of the Document-Courier, and I used to speak about Vietnam, the American conflict of my technology and his, he would sometimes point out the DeFrange household of Kent who misplaced a son, Mark DeFrange, in that conflict in 1969 some 53 years in the past.
Roger spoke very extremely of the DeFrange household. After I was invited to talk eventually week’s Veterans Day providers on the Kent Central Gateway Veterans Memorial, I contacted Mark’s older brother, Tim, a profession educator and faculty librarian. In retirement, he serves as a deacon on the Newman Heart and St. Patrick parishes and helps along with his church’s ministry to these in jail.
Tim graciously handed me a binder of supplies he had assembled about Mark’s navy service. Studying by way of them introduced again the ache of that period.
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Mark DeFrange, a good-looking graduate of Hoban Excessive College, was the proverbial All-American boy: common, athletic and enjoyable to be round. Idealistic and eager to serve his nation by emulating the instance of his father, who had served in World Warfare II, Mark enlisted within the Military following commencement. He skilled in tank warfare earlier than being shipped out to Vietnam in Could 1969. Mark served his nation for 23 days in Vietnam earlier than dying in an ambush in a abandoned Vietnamese village within the central portion of that nation.
The binder Tim DeFrange handed me has totally different voices. The primary, and the one which brings tears to the eyes, is that of Mrs. Elender DeFrange, who, in excerpts from her diary, data her doubts after which quiet opposition to the conflict in Vietnam within the late Sixties. In the meantime, Mark’s father, Nick, a proud veteran who served his nation in World Warfare II, believes in supporting America in conflict. Mrs. DeFrange in her diary describes her son, Mark, working onerous to grasp the preventing abilities he’ll want in fight. The day they see Mark depart from Cleveland Hopkins Airport to hitch others transport out to Vietnam, Mrs. DeFrange has a premonition that she’s going to by no means see her son once more.
The second voice is Mark’s, who turned a prodigious letter author in Vietnam, writing his household typically. His letters present a younger soldier whose first letters to his household make it sound as if he’s merely working in a international county. Because the letters go on, doubts seem. Mark says he’s keen on the Vietnamese individuals and longs to be working with them in another capability. His letters begin ending with the phrases, “Pray for Peace,” and generally in an admonition to his brothers, “Don’t Be part of the Military!”
One other voice is that of my pal, Tim DeFrange, who in 1969, was an anti-war faculty scholar at Kent State College.
Tim writes to his brother saying he is aware of that Mark is retaining the tone of his letters upbeat as a result of he doesn’t need to fear his household. Mark then responds in a letter meant just for Tim, confirming he doesn’t need to fear his mother and father and that the conflict is as horrifying and horrible as Tim alludes to in his letter. A closing letter to his household, written June 22, 1969, goes again to the upbeat tone.
Mrs. DeFrange in her diary mentions her son’s descriptions of guarding Freeway 19 between Ankhe and Pleiku. Her diary then goes to the night of July 1, 1969, when the household, having completed dinner, is visited by a soldier who tells them that Mark is lacking. Mark’s demise is confirmed two days in a while July third.
Divisions in attitudes concerning the Warfare in Vietnam discovered throughout the DeFrange household, recounted so nicely in Tim’s binder, have been what was occurring all through the USA in 1969. Generations considered that conflict in another way and, as opposition grew, so did our capability to maintain the conflict effort.
Most of America’s wars — not solely Vietnam — have been waged regardless of variations of opinion. Congressman Abraham Lincoln opposed America’s conflict with Mexico in 1848. Opposition throughout the North to the Civil Warfare practically derailed Lincoln’s reelection bid for the presidency in 1864. Mark Twain opposed America’s conflict with Spain in 1898. The Socialist Eugene Debs was jailed for talking out about America’s involvement in World Warfare I. The aviator Charles Lindbergh led an “America First” opposition to our nation entering into World Warfare II till the Pearl Harbor assault. Opponents to the Korean Warfare held “Arms Off Korea” rallies. The invasion of Iraq and the prolonged occupation of Afghanistan have been questioned. Dissent complicates life and makes it messy, however it’s a part of democracy.
The British journalist and historian, Max Hastings, has written a prolonged historical past of the Vietnam Warfare, a conflict that not together with Japan’s occupation of Vietnam from 1940 till 1945, lasted 30 years, from 1945 till 1975. The USA, he writes, held a nasty hand from the outset as a result of we took over for the French who had fought brutally to maintain Vietnam a French colony. Our aspect had its faults. However Hastings provides, so did the opposite aspect underneath the management of Ho Chi Min and others. Hastings calls them hardline communists allied with Stalin and Mao, who tolerated no opposition and ruthlessly killed those that wouldn’t assist them. Even immediately, Hastings writes, the rulers of Vietnam have by no means held an election, in contrast to what we and different democracies often do.
So, into this sophisticated conflict in Vietnam got here a superb younger American like Mark DeFrange who in 1969 believed in our nation and wished to honor its beliefs by serving within the military. No matter one’s opinion concerning the conflict in Vietnam or every other conflict, we should respect a younger man like Mark DeFrange and the thousands and thousands of others who’ve stood up for America. They did their obligation, some giving their lives within the course of.
This isn’t an ideal world or one with straightforward solutions. I have a look at the names which might be a part of the Veterans Memorial in Kent, commissioned by PARTA. After I see the identify of somebody I do know who didn’t come dwelling, I believe to myself, “That would have been me.”
Let’s honor these wonderful Individuals who left their houses and households and bravely fought for our nation.
David E. Dix is a retired writer of the Document-Courier.
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