A "Red" state's flags and impact on America

Among the readers of this blog are citizens of another of the real "red" states, Vietnam, a country with a long history of invasion, colonization, and war, again deeply involved in American history and now culture.
For my generation, Vietnam went from someplace we'd never heard of to a years-long nightmare for the country and thousands of servicemen and families. That country has had a huge influence on America.
Vietnam first gained independence from China in 938 and flourished until the mid-1800s when the French occupied and colonized by the French. Today's flag, with the yellow star on the communist red background, was first used in 1940 in a communist uprising against the French, and later in 1941 against the Japanese in WWII. Ho Chí Minh declared Vietnam independent in 1945 and it became the flag of North Vietnam in 1954 after the French were defeated and the country divided.

The flag of South Vietnam

That's when the yellow flag with three red stripes--for the country's tree main divisions, became the flag of South Vietnam, the one that adorns U.S. veterans'  combat medals today. Fearing Communism and the so-called "domino theory," the US was drawn into the country's conflict less than five years later, to repeat the French mistakes. Those were the years, in the mid- 1960s to the early 1970s,  I lived in fear of the mailbox bringing a draft notice. I wouldn't have run, and came close to serving. Ironically, my final deferment is now a member of the U.S. Armed Forces.

With the capture of Saigon, the American retreat,  the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 and the reunification of the country, the red flag now flies,  the red background of the communist part honoring the Paris commune of 1871, symbolizing blood and revolution with the yellow star representing the unity of workers, peasants, intellectuals, youths and soldiers in building socialism.After the war the country languished but initiated free-market reforms beginning in 1986 to become a robust Socialist country, with a burgeoning American tourist trade.

Some American notes on the effects of Vietnam:

• The war divided America politically as much as Vietnam was divided. 
• Thousands of Americans who fought and died in that war are named individually on the stunning Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. 
• The war is still with us. Sen. John McCain, and newly appointed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel are both survivors and veterans. Servicemen still hate Jane Fonda, "Hanoi Jane."
• Among the healthiest, hardest working, most vibrant and growing populations in America are the Vietnamese. You have to look no further than the "Asian District" of Oklahoma City around Classen and 23rd to see.
• Conclusion: fresh blood  and diversity revitalizes and energizes America. But the costs to both countries has been huge.  

"French" Indochina in 1913--including what is now Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia 

 

Real "Red" states, rebellion, flags and freedom-1

This is a complicated story of several countries and flags, two of their descendants. and a heritage of war, communism and independence.

Slovenia's flag today

How else could I summarize the countries  and flags of many readers of this blog, Slovenia and Vietnam, both of which have involved American history and affected American politics? In fact, Slovenia ranks tenth in the number of all time readers, and I, who pride myself on geography, had to look it up on the map, even though I knew where Yugoslavia and The Balkans were.
When I grew up in the Cold War, These were "Red" states--Communists. Slovenia was a member of the country Yugoslavia, headed by the dictator Tito who had fought the Nazis in WWII. But when we were all afraid of communism, Tito was as close as we could get to a good Communist because he maintained independence from the USSR. Still though, Yugoslavia's flag carried that dreaded red star we associated with Russia.

Yugoslavian flag, 1945-1991

The area of Yugoslavia, which means "Southern Slavs," has and long and turbulent history, part of the Balkans where World War I was started when Serbs assassinated the Austrian Duke Ferdinand in 1914 in Sarajevo, fighting Austrian dominance. After the war, the country was formed in 1918 as the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.
Invaded by the Axis in 1941, the Partisan Resistance Movement, led by Tito, added the red star to the middle of their flags, including Slovenia's. At the end of the war, the national flag of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia continued the red star, until the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991.

That again brought a three-year war to the region and involved American, NATO and Russian forces trying to settle conflicts between the new countries of Bosnia / Herzegovina and Croatia, neighbors to Slovenia and Macedonia--all former parts of Yugoslavia. As a matter of fact,  residents of all those countries have been readers of this blog.
 Today, the national flag, designed in 1991, features three equal horizontal bands of white, blue and red, with the Slovenian coat of arms in the upper hoist side of the flag centred in the white and blue bands. The coat of arms is a shield with the image of Mount Triglav, Slovenia's highest peak, in white against a blue background at the center; beneath it are two wavy blue lines for the Adriatic sea and local rivers, and above it are three six-pointed golden stars arranged in an inverted triangle which are taken from the coat of arms of a great Slovenian dynastic house of the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
The flag's colors come from a medieval coat of arms. The existing tricolor dates from 1894 in the Spring of Nations, designed by a group of students in the capital of Ljubljana.
I told you it was complicated...flags have such interesting stories matching those of their countries.  Next, Vietnam.

Growing up in the long shadows of 'The Bomb'

Death at Nagasaki

These days mark the anniversary of the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan, a prelude to the end of World War II 67 years ago. I was home snug in my crib when thousands of similar aged children were incinerated in Hiroshima, Aug. 6, 1945, and Nagasaki, Aug. 9, 1945.
I won't join the debate over dropping those bombs, killing a quarter million civilians within four months, and perhaps saving thousands of American lives from an invasion. That will go on a long time. Let is pray that it won't ever happen again.
But when I grew up in grade school through high school in Albuquerque, N.M., ten to 15 years later, the long shadows of those mushroom-shaped clouds hung over us. They still do..
We lived on Sandia Base, close to some of the scientific labs involved in nuclear activity, next to an airbase with Strategic Air Command bombers,  and only 60 miles south of Los Alamos, where those bombs were perfected. Our enemy wasn't Japan, but the Soviet Union, which had stolen and developed its own atomic and hydrogen bobs, plus Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), capable of hitting Albuquerque in about 30 minutes of launch time.
It affected our lives every day. Our parents had two cases of canned food stored under the kitchen sink in case we had to evaluate to the nearby mountains on the east of town. The entire base went through evaluation practice, driving to empty mesa land nearby to be escorted in an orderly manner to the supposed safety  of the mountains. Albuquerque only had about 200,000 people then, but there was literally only one road to the mountains, old US 66 coming through Tijeras canyon. I thought even then that there was no way the entire town could get evaluated in 30 minutes. I'd seen photos of allied planes strafing jammed retreating Nazi armament in WWII along a single road in North Africa.
Then we were shown grainy black and white films of  the bombs blowing away test structures  and people. But still we practiced getting down under our Desks and covering our heads. That didn't make sense to me either, but we all did.
In junior high our textbooks were filled with information on how much better America and capitalism was than the USSR  and communism. This followed the defection and brainwashing to Americans by communists in the Korean War in 1950, and the Communists of Mao Tse-tung defeating Chang Kai Shek who retreated to Formosa.  It's the same time that McCarthyism in the latest "Red Scare" became a national witch hunt for supposed "Commies."
We knew we had reason to be afraid, because of Russia's isolation of Berlin, the split of Germany and Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech. We'd seen what Russia did to protesters in Hungary in 1956, and their infiltration of African countries. Europe was divided, with tanks massed on both sides.
You cannot imagine the fear in 1959 when Russia launched the first satellite--we were all vulnerable.
The shadow of those bombs really accounts for use ending up in Vietnam to prevent the spread of communism, and our continuing isolation of Cuba, which fell to Castro in the early 60s. Kennedy and Johnson  and then Nixon were following the national mindset of fear. I can remember high school debate where "detente" between the US and USSR was a controversial subject. With Russia getting ready to put missiles in Cuba, 90 miles south of us, what could we think. Khrushchev banging his shoe at the U.N., and threatening to bury us fit right in. The building of the Berlin Wall only cemented that fear through the '60s, and led to accusing hippies and war protesters as infiltrated by communists.
With the perspective of years, I react to much of the fear I see in America today after 911 against another enemy we don't understand. How else but fear do you recommend putting duct tape on your windows? That's as effective as getting under your desk or evacuating an entire city. Yet the long shadows of the bombs still linger, as we debate options of dealing with Iran and its nuclear development, and bandied fearful political name calling of "Socialist."
That's one  perspective of growing up in the shadows of nuclear bombs.

Hiroshima