Obituary: William Westmoreland

* William Westmoreland, United States general in Vietnam. Died aged 91.

The death of the general who became a hate figure for a generation of young Americans during the Vietnam war drew no public statement from Washington, a sign of the controversy his name can still provoke.

General Westmoreland died at a retirement home in Charleston in his native South Carolina.

Though the bitterness left by arguably the most unpopular and unsuccessful war in American history has faded, his name is still attached to the deaths of 58,000 Americans and at least 1.5 million Vietnamese.

General Westmoreland led US forces in Vietnam between 1964 and 1968. During that tenure, the number of US forces in Vietnam rose from 20,000 to more than 500,000.

After the Tet Offensive in 1968, which shook public confidence, he asked President Johnson to send a further 200,000 men. Johnson refused.

The general retired in 1972 and devoted much of his time to veterans' affairs. In November 1982 he led thousands of veterans in a march in Washington to mark the dedication of the Vietnam War Memorial. It was, he said, "one of the most emotional and proudest experiences of my life".

Yesterday James Gregory, president of the Charleston chapter of the Vietnam veterans association, described General Westmoreland as "a great leader". He had received "a raw deal", Mr Gregory said.

"The war was actually run by the White House, not by the leadership in the field."

In 1982, the general sued CBS for $120 million in damages after a TV documentary accused him of falsifying estimates of enemy strength in Vietnam. After 18 weeks of testimony, the CBS apologised, just as the jury was to start deliberations.

To the end, he was unrepentant over his role in the war, blaming the US failure, not on his generalship, but on a lack of troops, the shortcomings of the South Vietnamese Army and declining public support at home.

"I have no apologies, no regrets. I gave my very best," he said in 1985, "I've been hung in effigy, I've been spat upon. You just have to let those things bounce off."

Few held a field command for so long, he insisted.

"They put me over there and forgot about me. But I was there seven days a week, working 14 to 16 hours a day."

- INDEPENDENT