What makes men go to war? What makes Irish men fight for a foreign country? And as America once again engages in a foreign conflict, is there a message from those who fought at the front line over three decades ago?
To date, at least twenty-one Irish born soldiers are known to have died during the American War in South East Asia.
The Green Fields of Vietnam is their story, and the story of those who survived.
Irish men like Michael Coyne, born in Galway, but now living in Co. Meath. Michael immigrated to Chicago and was drafted in 1967. He served his time as a back deck machine gunner on M48 tanks that criss-crossed the Ho Chi Minh trail on search and destroy missions. With his first paycheque, he bought an 8mm camera and made a film diary of his life during the 1968 TET offensive. The Green Fields of Vietnam follows Michael on an emotional journey back to Vietnam where he visits the Cambodian border towns he last saw from his tank. He enters the tunnels at Cu Chi where he meets Viet Cong veteran Le Van Tung. And finally, he tours the War Remnants Museum, in the former Saigon, where he is confronted with the legacy of his involvement in the war. For Michael, the war was politicising. His epiphany happened on a red dirt road near An Loc on the Cambodian border. When he was asked to search a frightened Vietnamese man who had emerged from the jungle, “Suddenly I realised that I was no better than a Black and Tan. I don’t think I would have thought about that side of it if I hadn’t been Irish.”
Other Irish men featured in the documentary include Ed Somers (Camolin, Co Wexford) who for thirty years believed he had lost his best friend, Tom Kelly (Longford/Roscommon), in a battle where Kelly’s entire unit was wiped out.
Then there is Gerry Duignan, from Carrick-on-Shannon, who, during his tour of duty near Cam Rahn Bay, volunteered at a local orphanage teaching children English. It’s where he met Hoa, the Vietnamese girl he fell in love with and hoped to marry.
Christy Nevin, from Balla, Co. Mayo, was the first Irish born soldier to be killed in Vietnam. When Christy’s mother, May, went to the US embassy to collect a posthumous medal, anti-war protesters set up pickets: “Nothing,” says May, “was ever the same since the day Christy left.”
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On Veteran’s Day 2001, one of the Irish veterans featured in the documentary makes a long desired pilgrimage to the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington DC as an act of remembrance for those who survived and those who helped to save his life.
The American war in Vietnam lasted over ten years and ended almost thirty years ago. During that conflict, three million Vietnamese and over 60,000 US and foreign soldiers died. According to official US statistics, only one Irish- born soldier served in the conflict. His name was John Driver and he fought at the battle at La Drang made famous in Mel Gibson’s recent film, We Were Soldiers Once. John was on record as Irish simply because he gave a Dublin address when he enlisted in the US army. Most other Irish-born soldiers gave a US address and so are more difficult to trace.
It is unofficially estimated that at least two thousand Irish-born soldiers served in the war. Emigrants with green cards in the 1960’s were eligible for conscription to the American armed forces. Many of the men interviewed for the documentary were from poor rural backgrounds and the draft meant employment and a wage packet that might help support the family back home.
The Green Fields of Vietnam was produced, directed and written by Anne Roper for RTÉ Television.
Though Irish, Anne Roper lived in the US during the Vietnam War and members of her family served in the conflict. She has seven Vietnamese cousins.