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April 28, 2000
Web posted at: 5:00 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- In 1965, the U.S. started sending combat troops to Vietnam and began bombing North Vietnam. Ten years later, the war in Vietnam came to an end on April 29, 1975, when the last American troops and officials were evacuated from Saigon. A quarter of a century later, celebrants will gather in the city, renamed Ho Chi Minh City, to mark the end of what Vietnam calls the "American War."

Senator Max Cleland volunteered for duty in Vietnam in 1967, where he was promoted to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army. Cleland was seriously wounded in a grenade explosion in 1968 and lost both legs and his right arm. He has since been awarded the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service and the Silver Star for Gallantry in Action.

A Democrat, Cleland was elected to the Georgia State Senate in 1970 at the age of twenty-eight and became the state’s Secretary of State in 1982. A U.S. Senator since 1996, Cleland is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Chat Moderator: Good morning, Senator Cleland, and welcome to CNN News chat.

Senator Cleland: Good morning, everyone.

Chat Moderator: Please tell us about your Vietnam video journal and why you created it.

Senator Cleland: I felt that I was in the midst of the making of history. War, thank God, is an abnormal occurrence. If you happen to be in it, you should take away everything you can from it.

I was a young Army communications officer serving with the First Air Cavalry Division on the ground in the central highlands of Vietnam in 1967. When I first got to Vietnam, I bought a Super 8 mm camera with a zoom lens. It was film only and had no audio capability. The audio I recorded, usually in the evening on reel-to-reel tapes that I sent my parents and friends.

Later -- in reflecting on my experiences in Vietnam -- I converted the Super 8 mm film to video tape, brought the 1-3/4 speed audio reel-to-reel tape up to modern-day audio speed, and edited the film and audio chronologically, laying down an audio track with the video track.

I ended up with a video tape which chronologically describes in my own words my thoughts, feelings, emotions, and experiences right through the Tet Offensive in 1968, and up to the moment where we lifted off going into Khe Sanh to break the siege there. Ironically, the day the siege was actually broken on April 8, 1969, was the day I got wounded.

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Chat Moderator: How are the tapes being used now?

Senator Cleland: The best way to see any portion of the tapes is to access the CNN Web site. The tape was originally done for my own personal use, chronicling my personal history in Vietnam. I never imagined there would be an audience for the tapes. However, they do document visually and audibly the sights and sounds of the Vietnam War as it unfolded for me at the climactic moment of the war.

Question from Semperfi: Senator, are you in favor of normalized relations with Vietnam?

Senator Cleland: Yes, I am. There is no reason to exclude the Vietnamese from peaceful relations with their other Southeast Asian nations and with the civilized nations of the world.

I would say that I think the more normal our relations with the Vietnamese are, the better chance we have of providing closure for American families who still have missing in Southeast Asia. And that should continue to be a prime objective of our relations with the Vietnamese, providing an accounting for all American missing.

Question from When: When is the U.S. going to pay Vietnam the four billion dollars in war reparations promised by Nixon?

Senator Cleland: Forget it.

Question from rogins: Senator, have you forgotten the terrible memories of Vietnam or are they a consistent reminder?

Senator Cleland: You never forget. You can move on and adapt, but you never forget. It is one reason why I don't want to go back. For some people, going back and recalling the memories are a healing experience; I understand that. But, in my case, I think it would just be dredging up old pain for little or no reason at all.

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Question from Sunny1-CNN: Do you think there are still POWs in Vietnam?

Senator Cleland: Not alive. I think the North Vietnamese did not return all the POWs they had. I think they killed some. But I don't believe there is any American alive in Vietnam who wants to be repatriated.

Chat Moderator: Where were you when you heard that Saigon had fallen, and how did you react at the time?

Senator Cleland: I was working in Washington on Capitol Hill as a member of the staff of the U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. I felt a knot in my stomach and a very sinking feeling that the terrifying realities of the war and all of our doubts about it had been confirmed.

That is a terrible feeling to have after you have been personally involved, as I was, and believed in the cause initially, as I did, and came to the realization that things were not as I had been told, and so much American blood and treasure had been spent. Eventually, the cost was not worth the candle.

Part of the thing that drives me now as a member of the U.S. Senate and a member of the Armed Services Committee is that I hope to God we never commit our troops in such a fashion without proper support again.

Question from PhooCat: Sir, would you consider being on the Democratic ticket as a vice presidential candidate? So many of your fellow Vietnam vets would truly love to see that happen. You would get many, many Republicans to switch their vote. Mr. Gore, are you listening?

Senator Cleland: The answer is no. I have too many impeachable thoughts.

Secondly, with my good fellow Vietnam veteran Al Gore running, I am not sure the country could handle two Vietnam crazies at the same time.

Chat Moderator: Do you have final thoughts for us today?

Senator Cleland: Although political victory was never achieved by Americans in Vietnam, I think the American involvement did forestall any North Vietnam aggression for about ten years, allowing other Southeast Asian nations who had fallen under the threat of communist takeover -- particularly Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia -- time to gain strength, improve their economies and be able to stand on their own. Vietnam emerges 25 years later as a very weak country economically and somewhat weak politically.

I notice that the colonel who took the palace and accepted the surrender from the South Vietnamese officials sought asylum from Vietnam in 1990 because of his disillusionment with Hanoi and is now living in Pairs. What an irony. So 25 years after the war, which the Vietnamese ostensibly won, they are weak politically and economically.

Their neighbors are stronger and able to withstand communist approach. That may be the living legacy of America's involvement on the ground and in the air in the Vietnam War. It bought time for the surrounding nations to be able to fight off communism on their own.

I would say that any victory for Vietnam veterans was personal. The ability to go to war, withstand what is thrown at you and -- if you come back, in the words of Hemingway, "strong in the broken places" -- it is itself a miracle.

So there are several million miracles walking around today through the throes of war who came back divided about their service and sacrifice, but have still moved on to make a great contribution in politics and society among their fellow men and women. Even now, they are able to go back to the Vietnamese and provide uplifting strength and support for them. That is a great story and one that I am proud to be a part of.

Chat Moderator: It was a pleasure to have you with us today, Senator Cleland.

Senator Cleland: Thank you very much for listening to this chat.

Senator Cleland joined the News chat from the CNN Center in Atlanta. CNN provided a typist for him. The above is an edited transcript of the chat.