Brian Douglas Roesch

The author grew up in farming country in the US. Drafted in 1970, he trained as a helicopter gunship pilot, then served in Thailand during 1974–1975 as a rescue helicopter pilot, not in combat. He believed the government’s claim that the US was in Viet Nam to fight communism. In Thailand he learned, however, that a French colonial invasion had brutalized Viet Nam for decades. What else hadn’t the US government told?

Having grown up among farmers, he believed that most o them would fight back if invaded. Most of Viet Nam’s people were farmers and other countryside people. Were they fighting against the US because of a Western invasion? Brian returned to the US and began digging.

He also worked as a criminal defense lawyer for many years, learning to dig for the real facts in each case, that made the controversy happen..

Beginning in 1990, he traveled to Viet Nam. Through the years, he returned. He visited sites and interviewed some participants, who described their views from childhood on up. He was able to visit libraries, the Viet Nam National Archives, and museums rich in facts.

In the US, he discoered thousands of declassified reports by US consuls in Viet Nam from 1889 into the 1950s, enabled by invasion force. This is part of history. But it does not appear in high schools, colleges, universities, webinars, videos, or books for the public.