One of the names I remember hearing in the news often in my pre-teens was that of General William Westmoreland. He was the commander of US forces in Vietnam while Lyndon Johnson was President.

Westmoreland died on Monday at the age of 91. Clearly a major figure in one of the nastier of America's many incursions into foreign affairs.

I'll keep this post open for a while to link to obituaries and reaction to Westmoreland's passing. I'll kick it off with the Wikipedia page on Westmoreland, and a lengthy piece by New York Times obituarist Eric Pace.

• Washington Post obituary
• NPR Morning Edition - audio profile by Stanley Karnow
• The Guardian newsblog