Foreign News: INDO-CHINA A War of Gallantry & Despair

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An American correspondent remarks: "But the military war can be won, the way any war can be won, if you are willing to pay the cost." A British correspondent interrupts: "The way you did in Korea?" The American does not answer and the French journalist continues: "You demand, everyone demands, history demands that we fight on out here. But there is something about Asian wars these days. They cannot be won in the old ways. You cannot win unpopular wars. We are up against something too big."

This attitude among men of good will is part of the scene of Indo-China. But it is the attitude of resignation, not of surrender. The soldiers fight on in this unnerving war knowing that the enemy may be all around them, and not sure that their friends are behind them. There remain, too, those Vietnamese nationalists who have chosen dangerously against Communism, and having chosen, deserve defending. So much remains to be done, but so much has already been done. And so much is lost if Indo-China is lost.