Posted on 06/22/2004 3:09:19 AM PDT by TerryGale
I'm trying to catch up on my understanding of the Vietnam War (comparing with World War II). I hope someone will answer. I promise not to flame or judge any individual based on their answer.
On a couple of occaisions on the Howard Stern Show, Howard and Vietnam Vetran callers have discussed their 'ear necklaces' from the Vietnam War. I am aware that there were/are 'collateral deaths' in any war and the Vietnam War had its' share. I had never heard of 'ear necklaces' before. Killing people in war is one thing, collecting bodyparts for trophies is another. After hearing Howard and his callers discuss this, I Googled for it and turned up several accounts. Mutilating corpses seemed to be a 2-way street in Vietnam. Vietcong mutilated American and Korean Corpses (I wasn't aware that S. Korea had been in the war too)-- and U.S. forces did the ear necklaces. It is now 30 - 40 years later... What did Vietnam Vets do with these 'necklaces'? Did they eventually bury the body parts in the backyard? Send them to the local landfill? Are they saving them for their son's inheiritances?
Did Allied Troops mutilate enemy corpses in WWII? I wasn't taught that in history class. Germans supposedly 'salvaged gold fillings'. Japanese supposedly mutilated the dead. My father and uncle were both in WWII. Neither of them would talk about the war. Both lived with some degree of alcoholism afterwards. Both have been dead for years, so I can't ask them.
When did it become acceptable to mutilate corpses and keep the body parts? No wonder troops in recent wars had such high incidents of mental breakdowns due to stress.
Yep, Howard Stern is the fount of historical knowledge.
Wars and other unpleasant events do not cause alcoholism which your comment seems to imply.
Read Valiant's The Natural History of Alcoholism (Harvard, 1983) or other serious works.
Sincere or Zot-bait?
Anyone who gets their world view and history from Howard Stern should be bashed about the head and shoulders, troll or not.
Mutilating corpses is never acceptable, except perhaps in a very few extreme cases (fear of booby traps, for one). Especially for trophies! The very few veterans who would engage in such despicable atrocities are probably the same very few that John F'in Kerry testified that he joined with in engaging in said atrocities.
And they're probably the same very few vets that now support Kerry's campaign.
Hope that answers your question. "Hero" is the last four-letter word this veteran would use to describe John Kerry.
Semper Fi
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