Posted on 12/12/2006 12:03:41 PM PST by DogBarkTree
I got this in an email today and was hoping someone with more knowledge on the subject than me could verify if this account of her visit to a POW camp is true. If true, then Hanoi Hilton alumni should do the Swift Boat thing on Hanoi Jane.
Snip>
Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the "100 Women of the Century." BY BARBRA WALTERS
Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam.
The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot
The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat.
In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison the "Hanoi Hilton."
Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American "Peace Activist" the "lenient and humane treatment" he'd received.
He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward on to the camp Commandant's feet, which sent that officer berserk.
In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton.
From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the "Hanoi Hilton",,, the first three of which his family only knew he was "missing in action". His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a "peace delegation" visit. They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand.
When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: "Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?" and "Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?" Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper. She took them all without missing a beat. At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper.
Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.
I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.
I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia; and one year in a "black box" in Hanoi. My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Ban me Thuot, South Vietnam, whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs.)
We were Jane Fonda's "war criminals."
When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her.
I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received... and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as "humane and lenient."
Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weights placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.
I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.
These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of "100 Years of Great Women." Lest we forget..." 100 Years of Great Women" should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.
There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer and she needs to know that we will never forget. RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt, USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron, Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343
I never thought of Snopes as the last word on anything.
I thought the photo of Jane Fonda posing on an enemy anti-aircraft gun and grinning like a schoolgirl was enough to get her indicted and convicted for treason. That is documented. Anything else she did is just extra.
America made a serious mistake in not prosecuting violations of the law in her case and a number of other peaceniks.
[I never thought of Snopes as the last word on anything.]
They put it pretty straight but lean hard left when you get to the political stuff. You will see "rumors" about the Clinton's take on a different feel than "rumors" about the Bush's
I have no use or respect for Jane Fonda, and I can't fault the guy involved in the spitting tale. As long as he was willing to pay the penalty for the assault, that was his adult decision to make--like MLK violating the court injunction in Birmingham against a non-permitted parade. Since I was fortunate enough to avoid becoming a POW during my time in SEA, it is not my place, nor that of anyone who did not endure that experience, to be critical of those fellows' reactions even to this day. The Barbara Walters special and designation is a meaningless and vacuous event not worth the time to condemn it.
"I never thought of Snopes as the last word on anything"
I have seen several instances where they were wrong. One was during the census. The urban legend was that census takers were asking for SS#s. Snopes refuted it, but it was later confirmed in national news (for certain areas only). I don't think Snopes ever retracted their statements.
We will NEVER forget !!
Barbara Walters? Who gives a rats ass what she thinks.
The Fonda trip became unforgettable because it infuriated Americans, especially Americans in uniform, many of whom still regard her as a traitor. She praised the North Vietnamese, posed for a photo at a Communist anti-aircraft gun emplacement, made several radio broadcasts for the Communist North Vietnamese in which she called American military leaders "war criminals," then when some of the POWs returned home and described mistreatment by the North Vietnamese, she said Americans should "...not hail the POWs as heroes, because they are hypocrites and liars."
There is no dispute that her visit took place and that her words and actions were in support of the enemy. This particular email includes three stories, two of which have been denied by the POWs who are named, and one of which has been confirmed as true by the source, although he was not named in the email.
First, the "100 Women of the Century" was a project of the Ladies Home Journal and a TV special hosted by Barbara Walters. Jane Fonda was one of the 100. How the email story about the POWs got started is not known, but it has been widely circulated.
TruthOrFiction.com located Jerry Driscoll who said that the accounts about him in the email are "...the product of a very vivid imagination" and he requests that people please stop passing it on to others.
TruthOrFiction.com also contacted Mike McGrath, of Nam-POWs, who says the Larry Carrigan events never happened either. He says Carrigan calls the story a "hoax" and does not want to be associated with it. McGrath also says that some versions of the email include an account from a Dave Hoffman and that his story is true. Hoffman says he was tortured (hung by a broken arm) until he agreed to go before Jane Fonda. He was among a small group who witnessed one of her radio broadcasts for Hanoi. The part of the email that begins with "To Whom it may concern" is true. It's a quote from an article titled SHAME ON JANE originally published on the Advocacy And Intelligence Index website on April 28, 1999 and written by Michael Benge who was a civilian captured by the North Vietnamese in 1968.
In his statement, he also makes reference to a missionary nurse who died in captivity.
For your interest, that was Betty Olsen, a Christian Missionary Alliance nurse from New York.
In 1988 in an interview with Barbara Walters on 20/20, Jane Fonda talked about her Vietnam visit and issued what some feel was an apology but which her critics say was not enough.
Fonda said, "I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of the things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm...very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families."
In 2005, Fonda published her autobiography in which she described in detail her decision to go to North Vietnam. She said it was primarily motivated by her desire to document the U.S. bombing of important dikes that, if destroyed, could kill tens of thousands of people and devastate the lives of millions. The U.S. had denied the bombings. In the book, Fonda is unapologetic about the trip or her participation in broadcasts on radio Hanoi but regrets the pictures taken of her at the gun emplacement. She said it made it appear as though she was celebrating armaments aimed at American planes, which was not how she felt and was not the context in which the pictures were taken. She reminds readers that the U.S. investigated her trip and found no reason to bring any charges against her. She also describes her longstanding support of, and interaction with, U.S. military personnel and says her only beef was with the U.S. government, not the troops.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.