William Westmoreland Quotes & Sayings

The last man in the world who should have been criticized was the American soldier. They should have criticized me. — William Westmoreland

They're asking women to do impossible things. I don't believe women can carry a pack, live in a foxhole, or go a week without a bath. — William Westmoreland

President Johnson did not want the Vietnam War to broaden. He wanted the North Vietnamese to leave their brothers in the South alone. — William Westmoreland

I was participating in my own lynching, but the problem was I didn't know what I was being lynched for. — William Westmoreland

I've made this statement many times: If I would have to do it over again, I would have made known the forthcoming Tet Offensive. — William Westmoreland

Anytime it was advertised that I was going to be at a particular place, the radicals would be there, the cameras with TV news. — William Westmoreland

When I took command in Vietnam, I gave great emphasis to food and medical care - and to the mail. — William Westmoreland

I don't take criticism lying down. — William Westmoreland

When the soldiers came home from Vietnam, there were no parades, no celebrations. So they built the Vietnam Memorial for themselves. — William Westmoreland

In the end, we lost IndoChina to the communists. But we did not lose Southeast Asia. — William Westmoreland

I haven't yet figured out how I was made first captain, because I was not an outstanding student. I was an adequate student. — William Westmoreland

Vietnam was the first war ever fought without any censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind. — William Westmoreland

I see battlefields that are under 24-hour real or near-real time surveillance of all types. I see battlefields on which we can destroy anything we can locate through instant communications and almost instantaneous application of highly lethal firepower. — William Westmoreland

Militarily, we succeeded in Vietnam. We won every engagement we were involved in out there. — William Westmoreland

The Vietnam memorial is a masterpiece. The names of the dead are listed there, chronologically. Just the names. — William Westmoreland

It's the first war we've ever fought on the television screen and the first war that our country ever fought where the media had full reign. — William Westmoreland

Television is an instrument which can paralyze this country. — William Westmoreland

We were succeeding. When you looked at specifics, this became a war of attrition. We were winning. — William Westmoreland

As the senior commander in Vietnam, I was aware of the potency of public opinion - and I worried about it. — William Westmoreland

War is fear cloaked in courage. — William Westmoreland

We moved in to help the Vietnamese defend their country and confront the Viet Cong. — William Westmoreland

We have reached an important point when the end begins to come into view. — William Westmoreland

We'll blast them back into the stone ages! — William Westmoreland

My wife was my greatest asset. I didn't marry her until after World War II, but she has complemented me in every job I've ever had. — William Westmoreland

I have no apologies, no regrets. I gave my very best efforts ... I've been hung in effigy. I've been spat upon. You just have to let those things bounce off . — William Westmoreland

The military lead turbulent lives, but they are people like everybody else. — William Westmoreland

It became very clear that Hanoi was in effect strategically running the Viet Cong operation. — William Westmoreland

This was a type of war that we'd had no experience with before. Some of our policies were kind of trial and error in character. — William Westmoreland

By the end of the summer of 1973 I thought it was virtually impossible for South Vietnam to survive. How in the heck could they? — William Westmoreland

I do not believe that the men who served in uniform in Vietnam have been given the credit they deserve. It was a difficult war against an unorthodox enemy. — William Westmoreland

I don't think I have been loved by my troops, but I think I have been respected. — William Westmoreland

We had the best food any battlefield ever had. — William Westmoreland