As you can imagine, Joe Bangert's claims before the WSI caught a lot of flak from the veterans who post on the alt.vietnam newsgroup. For the record, I didn't see one person who believed him--or even one who didn't think his claims were laughable, even insane. (Remember, his nickname is "Crazy Joe." And this is the same man who wanted to demolish the Betsy Ross House and pull William Penn off of the Philadelphia city hall.)
Anyway, this is one of Joe Bangert's responses to some of this criticism:
I am the real Joe Bangert...
For the record, I am not haunted by my actions in Viet Nam. Having chucked
my medals over the fence during Operation Dewey Canyon III- my masculinity
does not hinge on dusty old pieces of metal nor colorful ribbons garnered
via tribal headbashing. The Winter Soldier Investigations were timely and
followed the My Lai incident- what happened at My Lai (they the DOD lied)
was not an isolated incident of aberrant behavior. Real veterans were
assembled from many units and time frames to explain to the American people
that what happened at Pinkville was- in a sense- SOP- you can deny it- but
then you would be lying- and this was just as Nixon and his lying sack of
shit administration who was elected to end the war but did NOT have a
secret plan to end the war, but rather expanded the war into the whole
Indochina theatre- 'Dewey Canyon I' operated in Laos in 1969- I was there
in the sky on the ground briefly. Thank God. Then in 1970 Nixon's
'limited incursion' into Cambodia ended in bitter defeat in seeking 'COSVN'
and ended up with South Vietnamese troops (Hackman Vo's people) beheading
Cambodians and eating their livers and hearts! Having been a helicopter
crew member I helped saved countless lives of wounded and transported the
dead and dying to their temporary resting places in the red clay of Quang
Tri and Thua Thien, Laos and Quang Nam.
This was followed by the assassination of American kids at Orangeburg and
Kent State who opposed the fucking war!
Being antiwar was a continuation of saving lives and preventing more killing
and wounding.
I am very proud that I worked tirelessly to undermine the Thieu regime and
help the American people cut off all aid to the Nguyen Van Thieu clique
They were/ and are fucking thieves and fascists. Wasn't it Nguyen Cao Ky
(sun glasses and purple ascot) and a former French Air Force lackey who once
said he greatly admired Adolph Hitler? You may recall that George Herbert
Walker Bush as well as Babs flew into Hanoi to give a speech on behalf of
Citibank (and was rewarded with a million Moonie bucks- was rumored to also
be in the market to buy 1,000,000 M-16's left behind to be used as some sort
of trophy for Viet Nam War buffs- the joke going on then in Thang Long town
was "Who wants to but a million ARVN M-16's- never fired- dropped once!"
I worked tirelessly after the war for reconciliation between our two
peoples and nations. I have no regrets. And yes, unlike you traumatized
hate-filled basket cases and right wing troglodytes I did go back and work
in Viet Nam in my own pursuit of happiness.
What I did is none of your concern. I'm okay with Viet Nam- there the
war is way over, it is here that closure has not occurred. I have many
friends over there as well as here. My friends over there include many
former PAVN soldiers who once fought against me- their friendship is a gift
which I cherish- I don't pretend you are my enemies today- but you sure act
it. Think about this. I'll take them anyDAY over most of you. And that is
a fact.
It is 2001 boys- grow up and get a life- THE WAR IS OVER! IT's ALL OVER!
WAR WHAT WAS IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! '
Biet roi, kho lam, noi mai nhinh thi biet' as they might say to me ovewr a
few cold Halidas or Con Ho's and that is the whole truth.
Now back to your fragging- and self aggrandizing- you all deserve each
other- I will drop in from time to time as is my perogative- and if you
don't like it- well -tough shit then.
I will not respond to your red baiting McCarthyite tactics and ad hominem
arguments.
Look at yourself in the mirror- what do you see? Pathetic nitwits.
There is one lesson I did learn in the 'Nam - some of the best people I
ever met served with me and some of the worst scurrilous scumbags were there
as well, as you so much remind me from time to time-
Well it is time for me to noi tieng Viet Nam so
Tam Biet ya'll- and get a new target tomorrow- and that's the way it is.
G.I. Joe < ;-)
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Hippy VV mbr VVAW E-6 from PA dumps cold H2O on YKW! July 10, 1998