Armitage, Richard L.

Richard L. Armitage is a former American naval officer and Vietnamese language speaker who served three combat tours of duty during the Vietnam War. In this interview, he discusses one of his missions, which was to deny the enemy the use of important military equipment such as ships and aircraft, which he was tasked to destroy. He also recalls a plan he made with Captain Do Kiem to arrange for the evacuation 30,000 South Vietnamese officers and soldiers and their families on over twenty ships--without the explicit consent of his superiors. He is particularly proud of the educational success of Vietnamese Americans. He also mentions his opinion of why the South Vietnamese lost the war, including the history of colonialism and US backing of the French, the nationalist backgrounds of Ho Chi Minh and other Northern leaders, South Vietnamese political corruption, US politics, and the inability to gain public support, based in part because of the decision to implement a counterinsurgency tactic that required too many American forces on the ground.

2012-08-23

Interviewers: Nancy Bui and Other

Video and Audio Recorder: Ted Acheson