The dedication for the first edition read as follows:
For those who bring war without necessity
From those who forevermore
Bear it.
A necessary war, what would that be? doubtfully one waged by the most powerful nation on earth against one of the tiniest and poorest; and for some ten years.
We Americans are always acutely aware of our own casualty counts. We have not, however, shown the same concern regarding the Vietnamese, both civilian and uniformed, killed or wounded or driven insane, in the conflagration. One million, two, three millions?
