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Ennis memorial planned for Irishmen who died in the Vietnam War

Town council believe monument could act on a tourist attraction to the 1.4 million veterans in the US

CATHY HAYES,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, December 9, 2012, 11:04 AM

Updated Sunday, December 9, 2012, 11:04 AM

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The town council of Ennis, County Clare, has voted to erect a memorial to the Irish people who died during the Vietnam War.

Photo by Google Images

The town council of Ennis, County Clare, has voted to erect a memorial to the Irish people who died during the Vietnam War.

The council unanimously voted in support of the memorial proposed by the United States-based veteran representative group. The memorial will commemorate the Irish men and women who served and died in allied service in South East Asia, from 1959 to 1975.

The memorial will be erected near Clonroadmore Park, as part of the International Remembrance Day, in November 2013.

According to the proposal the names of those Irish people who lost their lives will be listed on the memorial along with the inscription “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.”

RTE reported that the council says the memorial could potentially serve as a tourist attraction to the estimated 1.4 million veterans in the United States.

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Stiofain | Dec 13, 2012, 07:54 PM EST

That's right Scrivner, like this last election you lost!How many good loyalist left America when that terrorist Washington took over, or that Marxist Lincoln invading that southern country. And before you call me a traitor I volunteered for Vietnam(USAF,'68) later with studies to defend the war I found out what a mistake I had made.

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pilib04 | Dec 13, 2012, 06:31 PM EST

How about a memorial to those Vietnames killed at My Lai? Or perhaps the Irish killed on Bloody Sunday in Derry. Does Ennis have a memorial to the victims of Monaghan-Dublin or Ballymurphy? Who is putting up the money for the memorial since it is supposed to lure people to Ennis.

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pilib04 | Dec 13, 2012, 06:27 PM EST

I second WK's suggestion. A memorial to all who died, including the 2 million-plus Vietnamese men, women and children.

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flyonthewall | Dec 11, 2012, 04:49 PM EST

Should Ennis Town Council consider erecting a monument in memory of millions of innocent men, women and children slaughtered by a capitalist induced Judeo-Christian western alliance?

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WoundedKnee | Dec 11, 2012, 01:58 AM EST

I'd support this monument if it also listed all the Vietnamese dead. But it doesn't. Just like the monuments to the Irish British soldiers that are now so revered in Ireland never list all the Germans, Turks, Hungarians etc. that they slew. But the key here is in the final paragraph--"a tourist attraction". The Irish will do anything in the hope of making a buck. Just like they put on ersatz concerts of Irish music for tourists, but themselves prefer to listen to Beyonce or Brittany. But above all, the Irish are fools. Are the folks in Clare so moronic as to think that someone in Fayetteville Arkansas or North Platte Nebraska is going to say "Gee, I need to vacation in Ireland this year. I really MUST see that Vietnam War memorial in Clare County!"

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Scrivner | Dec 10, 2012, 03:46 PM EST

Uncle Ho's minions were so well loved that over TWO MILLION Vietnamese risked life and limb to escape after the US pulled all aid to the south. Yes, paying big bribes to sail on an overloaded, rickty boat thru pirate infested waters was a testament to the NVA's kind treatment of it's subjects. Or maybe a trek thru jungles, dodging bugs, vipers and and drug lords (whence the "Golden Triangle" got its name) to spend years in a slum-like Thai refugee camp is more indicative of fondness for a communist life style. The Viet Nam War (or as the Vietnamese call it: The American War) was not lost in Hue, but on the streets of Chicago.

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Stiofain | Dec 10, 2012, 02:34 PM EST

There was no South and North Vietnam or at least not according to the Geneva Convention Accords the US co-signed in 1954,the line drawn is "a demilitarized zone not a political divide." Well that was true until Eisenhower and J.F. Dulles re lazied that Ho Chi Minh would win a national election.slaine9 many Vietnamese draftees,after training,would dessert and join the NLF(Viet Cong)if they were going to fight they might as well fight for their country.

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Stiofain | Dec 10, 2012, 02:23 PM EST

s well fight for their country.

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Seanmor | Dec 10, 2012, 01:50 PM EST

The Vietnam Wr (2961 to 1975) probably never would have started if Vietnam had not been partioned in 1954, and the lives of about 60,000 U.S military men and women might have been spared. The partition of Korea in 1964 caused 3 years of ware 5 vears later (June, '50 to July of' 53) in which over 50,000 American forces lost their lives. A quarter century before Korea was partitioned, the government in Westminister established a border that seperates the northeast region of Ireland from the rest of the country, and that artificial border has caused the loss of thousands of lives. When they learn that partitions do NOT work.

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slainte9 | Dec 10, 2012, 10:00 AM EST

1. I'd think the Northern Irish would applaud any endeavor to combat Communism. 2. Though the Communists among us would have us believe otherwise, most of the Vietnamese dead were killed by the Vietnamese using weapons supplied by the Soviet Union and Red China. Remarkable as this may seem to leftwing ideologues there were many Vietnamese in the South who did not want to be ruled by the North.

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IrelandNorth | Dec 10, 2012, 05:47 AM EST

(i) Imperial wars notwithstanding, is it beign put up to truly commemorate fallen Irish of US Army in Au Lac, or as yet another scam to attract American tourists? (ii) Unlike Remembrance Day Sunday Commemorations that commemorates fallen Irish in British Army during WWI, will it remember WHY they died rather than just that they did? And (iii) will Galway City Council now get around to passing a motion to erect a memorial to its distinguished alumnus Ernesto 'Che' Ó Loingshie-Guevara?

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merefalow | Dec 09, 2012, 04:59 PM EST

ANY MEMORIAL GOING UP TO THE MILLIONS OF VIETNAMESE WHO WERE KILLED FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT TO SIMPLY RULE THIER OWN COUNTRY AFTER A THOUSAND YEARS OF FOREIGN INVASION AND DOMINANCE,now what country does that remind me of,slips my mind,put a memorial to people up if you must but dont legitimise a rotten colonial war.

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