Vietnam: A War on Poverty

The scene is far more grim than anything portrayed in the decrepit U.S. veterans hospital in Born on the Fourth of July. In a forgotten corner of Ha Bac province, about 40 miles from Hanoi, 200 Vietnamese army veterans, many paralyzed from the waist down, eke out their lives in a primitive government shelter. Tucked away from the nation's gaze, they are among more than 10,000 severely wounded veterans from the four wars Vietnam has fought since 1945. An additional 300,000 disabled soldiers are scattered throughout Vietnam, doing the best they can without the help of the government. In wheelchairs, the...