Memorial ‘should remember Vietnamese victims’

Ennis Town Council has a moral responsibility to remember Vietnamese victims of the Vietnam War in a memorial planned for the town.

That’s the reaction of Clare Sinn Féin spokesperson, Anne Hayes to the council’s decision to erect a memorial to Irish men and women who served and died in Allied service in South-East Asia during the period 1959 to 1975, including the Vietnam War.

The memorial, at Monastery Park, has been privately funded by the Irish Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project and is expected to be officially unveiled in spring of next year.

Sinn Féin’s Anne Hayes commented, “The Irish Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project say clearly on their website that they were formed ‘exclusively to honour and memorialise their (Irish who fought for the USA and its allies) service and sacrifice’ and that is their right. However, the council have a different responsibility. I believe they must ensure the futility of this war is made clear to current generations. They must also ensure the innocent victims in Vietnam are remembered. We don’t even have definite figures for them but at least one million and perhaps as many as three million were killed. They died in carpet bombing operations, chemical warfare attacks, by the use of weapons of mass destruction and in acts of slaughter such as the My Lai massacre”.

“This state was neutral in the Vietnam war so it is not our place to commemorate one side over another. The fact that Irish born soldiers fought in it is irrelevant. Many soldiers were conscripted against their will and sent to die or suffer horribly in a war they didn’t even understand. That needs to be remembered as well.

“The IVNVMP are perfectly entitled to memorialise one group of people and ignore another. But at a time when the US are engaging in similar wars in the Middle East, civic bodies like the council have a moral obligation to remember the pointlessness of this war and remember it’s Vietnamese victims. Many were killed fighting to repel an invasion of their country but far greater numbers were innocents killed in wholesale, indiscriminate attacks,” she said.

Ms Hayes said it was particularly disturbing to hear talk of this memorial attracting tourists to Ennis. “Are we really planning to profit from war tourism? I call on the council to ensure the proposed memorial shows proper respect for the people of Vietnam and explains the suffering they endured,” she said.

In a statement Ennis Town Council commented, “The proposed memorial sculpture in Ennis is dedicated to Irish men and women who served in Allied military service in South East Asia during the period 1959 – 1975, including the Vietnam War. The memorial was first proposed by Matthew Carroll of The Irish Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project, who is an advocate for ex-veterans who served in South East Asia during the period 1959-1975. The Irish Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project, which is independent of the State, is providing €120,000 towards this memorial. Ennis Civic Trust in conjunction with Ennis Town Council is delivering the project as a Council project funded by a third party.

“It is proposed that the names of 29 Irish men and women who served and lost their lives in South East Asia, including Vietnam, will be listed on the Memorial which will carry the following inscription, ‘This Memorial is dedicated to the Irish men and women who served in allied military service in South East Asia during the period 1959 – 1975’. Those who were lost are listed in the order in which they were taken. The Names of the 29 Irish men & women who were lost to be inserted here. The people of the allied nations express their heartfelt gratitude for the service and sacrifice of those above and to their families, loved ones and the Irish Nation.”

“The memorial will be erected at Monastery Park, near Glór, and is scheduled to be officially unveiled in Spring 2014. This is a stand-alone project but the site and environs may also accommodate other memorials in the future.”

The IVNVMP are not affiliated with the Irish Veterans Memorial Project, a registered Irish charity dedicated to establishing and maintaining a memorial dedicated to all Irish men and women who served in foreign military forces from 1900 to the present day,” the statement concluded.