I have a question that has been bugging me and hope someone from the Viet Nam era can provide some insights.
My question is about the whole stereotype of returning veterns getting spit on, especially in airports as they deplaned after return to the USA after being in combat. I can certainly believe that this happened on limited occasions. However, I can’t understand how a 20 year old combat vetern, in great shape, would not respond by kicking some serious butt? I think that the peace lovers that took such direct action would learn real quick that picking on a combat vetern had some very concrete risks.
I grew up in small town northern california, and Viet Nam veterns in my 10 year old eyes were accorded full honors, upmost respect and taken care of in the way that only a small town takes care of it’s own people. The cops in said podunkville were mainly WW2 and Korean vets and certainly not on the side of peaceniks, and would have happily joined in on kicking the tar outta some hippie that spit on a vetern. Maybe I was too young to understand.
Can some Viet Nam veterns shed some light on this “spitting” phenomenon? Did it really happen? Was it common? How did veterns react? [Understand that this might be a very personal topic for some people, so general answers are fine as well as anything else a vetern that lived through those times want to share.]
I was once arrested for being a Viet Nam war protester,
( Cost me a night in jail and a lot of trouble with my dad) And then I wound up losing my student deferment and joined the Air Force to keep from being drafted, and guess what? I wound up a Viet Nam era veteran. I was never spit on in airports, but I had my share of questions to answer from students who lived in the small town I called home. It was not an easy thing to admit, but I took the stance “My country, right or wrong”. Go figure. From protester to hawk almost overnight. Might have had something to do with my pop having been a “lifer”. I don’t think any of us really knew right from wrong in those days. History of course proved us ultimately wrong. Just my opinion.
Quasi
Considering that I was eight years old at the end of the war, I am not an expert, but I believe that LAX was a point of entry for a lot of returning soldiers. A soldier in an international airport in a large city would probably be an easy target for someone who wanted to “protest” the war in this manner.
I doubt that many soldiers would fight back. Even if they weren’t stunned that someone would do this, they were going home and would not risk being put into jail for striking a civilian at the very end of their tour of duty.
One of the vilest Urban Legends to come out of that miserable time.
I spent much of my time in those years with protest activists. Due to that, and some personal contacts and relatives, I had many contacts with the VVAW (Vietnam Veterans against the War). I never heard anything like that from them. It was the War we hated, not the men who served.
The Nixonistas seized upon this fecal nugget with self-righteous zeal, proof that we were all drug-addled traitors who despised America. The bigger the lie, the easier it is to sell.
I will never forget the newscasts of the veterans throwing thier medals back at the Capitol steps. You could almost feel the change when those brave men forced us all to look at what we had become.
Soon afterwards, as I recall, there were many VFW clubs that tried to prevent 'Nam vets from joining because they were politically suspect. Something about how they weren’t veterans of a “foreign war”, because the Viet Nam war wasn’t a declared war)
Personally, I would have moved to Canada, live in an igloo and eat seal blubber for the rest of my life rather than be drafted. Therefore, I cannot “salute”. I will have to be content with a simple “God bless you”.
As for Nixon, Kissinger, et al.…May God forgive you. It is beyond me to do so.
Vile? Damn Straight, urban legend, NFW. About 5 years ago a columnist for the Chicago Tribune (Bob Green?)did a series of columns about the “legend”. In his column he asked that people from both sides of the expectoration contact him with their stories. My recollection is that there were a number of servicemen (and women) who responded with specific dates and times of their encounters with the “patriots”. Those stories were printed in his column. To the best of my knowledge none of the spitters’ stories appeared, I don’t know why.
Pretty much what elucidator said.
I was a vet (USN, '64-'68), and during my hitch came to despise the war. So did quite a few of the other sailors and Marines attached to my ship, a LPD which spent most of those four years in Vietnam.
I encountered no spitting, and very little hostility, from protesters. They were against the war, not the service people. They did often engage us in conversation about the war, and talked to us about the wrongness of it. Usually they were right. They were as much against the killing of americans as of the vietnamese.
Popular slogan; “Bring our men home”.
No, no spitting. None. East coast or west. It might have happened, but if it did, it was rare.
I hate this legend.
Peace,
mangeorge
This is gonna sound silly, but the first I ever heard of Vietnam vets being spat upon was in the movie Rambo. I understand it was based on a novel called “First Blood” by David Morrell published around 1973? I wasn’t around then and don’t know how popular the book was, but it’s one possible origin of the legend.
Vietnam veteran here (Army 69-71). I was never spit upon and never really castigated by protesters. Never known any one who was.
When I went back to college after I had gotten my parts together, I would periodically be asked by a protester, who happened to find out that I was a vet, why I went, but usually it was in a truly questioning manner. I would generally answer that I was drafted and was not academically gifted (like Clinton) nor able to pull political strings (like Bush and Quale) to get into a safe National Guard unit. And maybe not brave enough to divorce myself from family, friends and roots to go to Canada.
As to the VFW not wanting me (or us). Well, it was as much my doing as theres. I was a wounded, decorated veteran and the VFW was very happy to have me as a member. I looked good in press releases, but it was run by what we used to call the “Class of '45” (WWII vets) who never understood the war we fought (not that we could for that matter all that well) or the people we had become, especially when we let our hair and beards grow.
In my case, at least, the VFW and I just moved away from each other. We had nothing much in common.
TV
There was a writer about two years ago who set out to “prove” that all spitting was Urban Legend material. He was wrong. One of our posters (whose privacy I will respect) was spit on as he disembarked on crutches.
On the other hand, the story told by the wild-eyed supporters of that war is pretty much an exaggeration. There were never long lines of protesters greeting planes and spitting on every uniform that passed.
It was a sad event that did happen, but not with any frequency.
(The other aspect of the story has been alluded to above: I have several Viet-Nam era veteran friends who enjoy telling of encounters with protesters who were shoved into alleys and thrashed. I suspect that these events were of the same sort–it did happen on occasion, but was hardly a common occurrence.)
Tomndeb:
Quick question–What military service was he? Everybody I knew landed stateside on military transport at a military base. There was no public disembarkation. Protesters never got close enough even to be that much of a noticeable factor. Some civilians were permited on base to greet returning personnel, but they were hand picked and invited.
And speaking as one who returned a bit worse for wear, wounded and injured personnel did not leave transport in public situations.
It wasn’t like World War I or II with soldiers marching off troop transports and marching down Broadway.
TV
As usual, tom probably has it right. It happened, but not with the frequency that one would think.
This link is a rather good review of the book that tom refers to. The book by Lembcke is rather dogmatic in its’ approach(it NEVER happened). Dr. Appy’s article strikes a good balance. IMHO.