Posted on 02/04/2007 9:46:03 AM PST by lowbridge
Posted by Dan Riehl on February 3, 2007 - 19:27.
There's a growing blog debate going on as regards peace activists spitting on returning veterans during the Vietnam era. It begins here at Slate in an article claiming the charges are false.
The myth of the spat-upon Vietnam veteran refuses to die.
At Volokh, Jim Lindgren points out some weaknesses in search mechanisms that could lead to the stories not showing up in contemporaneous reports, leading to the assumption that it didn't happen.
Always up for a Google challenge, I decided to take a look and can confirm that spitting and more did in fact take place. Stored on a government server found via advanced Google, there's this first person account - also available in pdf.
As a young Marine officer Carl Bourne was trying to help recruit University of
Connecticut students into the USMC. Some UConn students responded by spitting at him and throwing ink on his dress uniform, Bourne said about his experience on the Storrs campus.Bourne was the target of spitting and ink throwing in 1973. As a lieutenant he paid for his uniforms, so the ink was not a welcome alteration, especially considering the low pay of the early 1970s. He said he was also called a "baby killer" – right in his own home state.
Another instance is documented in a government fact sheet.
The Legacy of Psychological Trauma from the Vietnam War for American Indian Military Personnel
"I was spit on and called a baby-killer in the mainstream culture when I first came home, and no way any college would accept me or any good job would be open to me. I felt too ashamed and enraged to accept the love and gratitude my family and community showed me. I thought I was going crazy, waking up in a sweat trying to choke my wife, seeing signs of Charley around every corner when the weather was hot and steamy.
Another report covering multiple instances from Cornell that should also be available through the Library of Congress and a Veteran's History Project.
The Tet Offensive began 37 days after Henschel arrived in Vietnam. His unit was sent into Hue, the old imperial capital.
Henschel's platoon was almost wiped out and Henschel himself was shot in the head when he tried to rescue a wounded comrade. The unconscious Marine was placed on top of a tank. When a shell hit the tank, Henschel fell off, and the tank apparently ran over his left leg.
"At this point, probably everyone thought I was dead, but I was unconscious for seven weeks. I regained consciousness in San Diego, Calif., at the naval hospital there. I weighed 72 pounds," Henschel said.
Henschel tried to go to college after he recovered, but he had trouble concentrating because of his injury and discovered that many fellow students at Cornell were hostile.
"I can't count the number of times I was called a murderer," he said. "And actually spit in my face."
Another first person account via a DOD publication:
Back in the 1960s, Cannon graduated from high school and 10 days later was enlisted in the Air Force. He was stationed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines for 17 months beginning in June, 1967. Upon his return to the United States, he was spit on three times while riding the cable cars in San Francisco simply because he was in uniform.
This below from a California Assembly Bill on Public Safety circa 2003:
"Overcome by their hatred, people threw rocks at the returning soldiers. Some spit at them. Others physically attacked them and tormented them. No one should have to endure that kind of hate-related violence for simply agreeing to serve their country."
None of the above reports have a dog in this fight now. But obviously they support reports like this at Black Five:
It happened to me, and I asked my father if it had ever happened to him. If anyone were to be on the receiving end, it would have been him after being involved in the Ohio State riots and Ohio University riots for years.
As The Jawa Report suggests, the notion that returning veterans weren't abused, particularly by spitting, after Vietnam is simply pathetic revisionism by an increasingly revolting Left that opposes the war, while claiming to support the troops.
Were that so, they would not be so interested in revising history and, by default, calling so many of our troops, both past and present, liars to boot.
So, can we question their patriotism now?
That, along with their credibility, their masculinity, and their ancestry.
An extremely important observation.
When I got off the shuttle bus from Travis to San Fran Intl. in April of '69, I was spit on by some long-haired, greasy punk. I backhanded his ass about 6 feet into a taxi.
The rest of them left me alone.
I also only think the left mouths support of the troops so they can avoid being labelled what they really are: anti-democracy protestors. That's what they were for Vietnam and that's what they are for Iraq.
Like a GI is going to waste his precious leave time or delay going home dealing with or reporting this type of incident. Every second of my leave time and the time between landing in the U.S. and reaching home was precious to us. Besides, who wants to admit this happened and not be able to tell how they beat the hell out of the person who did it?
Here's the lesson learned. Someboy spits on you, you knock their ass out. Period.
if America's military was anything like what they say, comparing us to nazi germany for instance, they would be terrified to make a peep. obviously, since they do not hesitate to throw insults and blame, their claims are false.
nice job with the hippie puke, btw. wish i had seen it.
"Returning Veteran decks democrat"
That would help.
Or some such marxist doubletalk ...
I'd submit that we should be questioning whether or not they are still breathing. I choose "not"...
My paternal grandmother stayed alive until I returned from the Nam in late Feb.1968. This was during the middle of the Tet offensive.
I didn't feel "at home" with my family so I'd cut the leave short, reported in to Pendleton early and signed a waiver to go back.
After the funeral service for my grandmother, while sitting on my parents couch (placed in front of a huge plate glass window, my first cousin sat next to me (a graduate of Berkely).
He turned to me and asked "did you enjoy butchering their children, and raping their women?" I reacted immediately, and tried to push him over the sofa and through the plate glass window so the broken glass could cut his throat.
I was told to leave by my family. Haven't seen that sob since, and still to this day want to finish the job on him.
Oh, by the way. The day before this, one of the guys in my squad's letter had arrived telling me the guy who took over my squad when I left had been killed by a sniper 3 days after taking over for me. Semper FI
Well, I haven't been spit on, but my car with Veteran plates has been spit on. So yeah the moonbats still harbor resentments, and still hate our country.
Thank you for serving.
Sorry what you went through.
Kick the spokes out of their bikes. Piss in their bongs. Worse yet, make them take a shower. Or get a job.
I believe it just happened at the lastest "anti-war ralley" in D.C. - and there were plenty of witnesses - in fact the guy was on O'Reilly.
The veteran had been wounded (lost a leg I believe) and somebody from the "anti" group spit at him.
Now .. where would they get the idea to do that .. except that they were surrounded by hippies who did do that before.
"The myth of the spat-upon Vietnam veteran refuses to die"
The above is a lie. This happened many, many times outside of and within the terminals at SFO, albeit only with individual Vets or very small (2 or 3) groups of them. Larger numbers of Vets were not overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of freaks sometimes gathered during their heydays. Not just spit....blood, feces/urine, and some other unsavory substances.
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