General+Westmoreland

  //General William Westmoreland //

General William Westmoreland commanded troops in Vietnam from 1964-1968. In 1964, he commanded 20,000 troops. By 1968, United States involvement grew to 535,000.

He was army Chief of Staff from 1968-1972. General Creighton Abrams took his previous position. While he was General of United States forces, he wanted soldiers to focus on the destruction of Vietcong and North Vietnamese main-force units. He thought that the struggle against the Vietcong guerrillas and the security of villages should be responsibility of the South Vietnamese. Westmoreland had the nickname Westy. He was described as the general who "won every battle until he lost the war." //Famous Quotes //
 * "It's the first war we've ever fought on the television screen and the first war that our country ever fought where the media had full reign."
 * "Militarily, we succeeded in Vietnam. We won every engagement we were involved in out there."
 * "Television is an instrument which can paralyze this country."
 * "The last man in the world who should have been criticized was the American soldier. They should have criticized me."
 * "The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars.
 * "Vietnam was the first war ever fought without any censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind."
 * "War is fear cloaked in courage."
 * "When the soldiers came home from Vietnam, there were no parades, no celebrations. So they built the Vietnam memorial for themselves."
 * "The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does the Westerner."
 * "I do not believe that the men who served in uniform in Vietnam have been given the credit they deserve. It was a difficult war against an unorthodox enemy.