Debunking a spitting image - (says Viet Vets never spat upon when they returned to USA!)

BOSTON.COM ^ | APRIL 30, 2005 | JERRY LEMBCKE

[CHARLITE]

STORIES ABOUT spat-upon Vietnam veterans are like mercury: Smash one and six more appear. It's hard to say where they come from. For a book I wrote in 1998 I looked back to the time when the spit was supposedly flying, the late 1960s and early 1970s. I found nothing. No news reports or even claims that someone was being spat on.

What I did find is that around 1980, scores of Vietnam-generation men were saying they were greeted by spitters when they came home from Vietnam. There is an element of urban legend in the stories in that their point of origin in time and place is obscure, and, yet, they have very similar details. The story told by the man who spat on Jane Fonda at a book signing in Kansas City recently is typical. Michael Smith said he came back through Los Angeles airport where ''people were lined up to spit on us."

Like many stories of the spat-upon veteran genre, Smith's lacks credulity. GIs landed at military airbases, not civilian airports, and protesters could not have gotten onto the bases and anywhere near deplaning troops.

[potlatch]

Thanks for sharing that Happy!

[stumpy]

I was NEVER spit on physically. About 3 and a half weeks afer returning "home" during the later part of the "TET" of 1968, I was at my parents home for the funeral of my grandmother. While sitting on a couch in front of a huge plate glass window, eating the goodie, my first cousin sat down (a recent graduate of bezerkely) and asked if I had enjoyed "butchering their children and raping their women"?

My reaction was immediate. I tried (till other family members pulled me off) to push the s.o.b. through the plate glass window so I could cut his throat with the broken shards of glass.

I haven't seen him since and still 37years later want to finish the job.

By the same token, approximately 9 or 10 months later, I was graciously allowed to participate in a ticker tape Parade in the city of San Diego when my prior unit Regimental Landing Team 26 returned to the United States.

Did I get spat upon physically?, NO. But emotionally Yes (by my own family).

Semper Fi All

[Dustbunny]

Debunking a spitting image - (says Viet Vets never spat upon when they returned to USA!)

That is an out and out lie. I happen to remember the spitting and so does my brother who served two years in Nam.

Just a case of the MSM trying to naturalize the smell of Hanoi Jane and her cohorts like John Kerry.

[SittinYonder]

Remembering the war in Vietnam through the images of betrayal is dangerous because it rekindles the hope that wars like it, in countries where we are not welcomed, can be won

Hasn't pretty much every war in history involved fighting "in coutnries where we are not welcomed"? Did the Germans welcome us in Wars I and II? I don't recall hugs and kisses from the Japanese when we landed on Iwo Jima. Were the French cheering on Wellington at Waterloo?

This struck me as particularly moronic in an otherwise particularly moronic column, but more than anything, I thought you'd be interested in seeing this thread.

We have a duty to make certain that this never happens to our returning soldiers again.

[SuziQ]

GIs landed at military airbases, not civilian airports, and protesters could not have gotten onto the bases and anywhere near deplaning troops.

Since he's glaringly WRONG about this 'fact', makes you wonder what else he's wrong about. GI's were through civilian airports all the time, going back and forth on leave. Maybe he means when they were shipped back home as a group, after their tours were over, but that doesn't negate the fact that they came home individually from time to time, as well.

[Syncro]

Thanks for the heads up.

Yea they won't print it, but this thread is doing a good job of bringing out the truth. Hopefully it will get spread around.

Fortunately the opposite is also happening and seems to be a growing trend. Lets hope so.

When flying to and from DC last month on one of the flights a Soldier came aboard and walked past us to go to his seat towards the back of the plane.

After the flight got off the ground the pilot acknowledged the Soldier's presence on the plane and expressed out gratefulness for his serving out country.

Jim and I started applauding, and most of the rest of the passengers joined in.

It was then that I glanced up into first class and saw that the pilot had upgraded the Serviceman's seat to First Class. I thought that was a great statement to make to one of the people helping to secure our country by being in the Service.

We also felt safer flying with him aboard. It's interesting that the pilot positioned him in the first seat behind the cockpit.

I've never flown first class, although once my carry-on bag did. That bag continues to this day to treat me in a condescending manner...

Oh, grate letter BTW.

[Syncro]

Thanks for the heads up.

Yea they won't print it, but this thread is doing a good job of bringing out the truth. Hopefully it will get spread around.

Fortunately the opposite is also happening and seems to be a growing trend. Lets hope so.

When flying to and from DC last month on one of the flights a Soldier came aboard and walked past us to go to his seat towards the back of the plane.

After the flight got off the ground the pilot acknowledged the Soldier's presence on the plane and expressed out gratefulness for his serving out country.

Jim and I started applauding, and most of the rest of the passengers joined in.

It was then that I glanced up into first class and saw that the pilot had upgraded the Serviceman's seat to First Class. I thought that was a great statement to make to one of the people helping to secure our country by being in the Service.

We also felt safer flying with him aboard. It's interesting that the pilot positioned him in the first seat behind the cockpit.

I've never flown first class, although once my carry-on bag did. That bag continues to this day to treat me in a condescending manner...

Oh, grate letter BTW.

[Interesting Times]

Great story.

I've never flown first class, although once my carry-on bag did. That bag continues to this day to treat me in a condescending manner...

I tried to get frequent flyer miles once for a bag that was sent to Toronto by mistake (I was headed back to DC), but no go...

Oh, grate letter BTW.

Thanks much.

[celtic gal]

Because of thie urban legend while on recruiting duty we had to hide our vehicles and go on campus in civies and change in the loo only to have college kids come out and throw things at us... Then there was the issue of going through the airports..In the late 60s and early 70s if we got military rates for flights we had to wear our uniform which was an open invitation to more abuse. I am a retired Woman Marine officer and I was not in Viet Nam though I was in Okinawa during 71 to 73...One did not have to be a Viet Vet to experience the wrath of those who opposed the conflict. For those who were in Viet Nam the insult was so much the worse.

[Nam Vet]

This leftist idiot wouldn't know truth if it jumped up and bit him in the a$$. While it is true we landed at military bases (I landed at Travis AFB) we still had to pass through civilian airports. I went through San Francisco and if you don't think a returning, uniformed vet didn't have a gauntlet to go through there, you have no common sense.

It was so bad at that time (Oct 68) guys who were in civvies were railed against for the simple fact they had short haircuts so they HAD to be in the service. Remember that guys?

Nam Vet

[reformjoy]

Never Forget

Hillary is Evil!