When Vietnam vets came home (Soldiers being spit on is just an urban myth)

WINSTON-SALEM -- Last week voters went to the polls to select a vision for the future. Now Americans must find a way forward together. This week, as we honor service and sacrifice on Veterans Day, an image from this political season must be put to rest.

The presidential campaign featured the resurgence of a myth from the early 1990s. That myth is that soldiers returning from Vietnam were spit upon by citizens or war protesters. That claim has been used to turn honest differences of opinion about the war into toxic indictments.

As a scholar of urban legends I am usually involved with accounts of vanishing hitchhikers and involuntary kidney donors. These stories are folklore that harmlessly reveals the public imagination. However, accounts of citizens spitting on returning soldiers -- any nation's soldiers -- are not harmless stories. These tales evoke an emotional firestorm.

I have studied urban legends for nearly 20 years and have been certified as an expert on the subject in the federal courts. Nonetheless, it dawned on me only recently that the spitting story was a rumor that has grown into an urban legend. I never wanted to believe the story but I was afraid to investigate it for fear that it could be true.

Why could I not identify this fiction sooner? The power of the story and the passion of its advocates offer a powerful alchemy of guilt and fear -- emotions not associated with clearheadedness.

Labeling the spitting story an urban legend does not mean that something of this sort did not happen to someone somewhere. You cannot prove the negative -- that something never happened. However, most accounts of spitting emerged in the mid-1980s only after a newspaper columnist asked his readers who were Vietnam vets if they had been spit upon after the war (an odd and leading question to ask a decade after the war's end). The framing of the question seemed to beg for an affirmative answer.

In 1998 sociologist and Vietnam veteran Jerry Lembcke published "The Spitting Image: Myth, Media and the Legacy of Viet Nam." He recounts a study of 495 news stories on returning veterans published from 1965 to 1971. That study shows only a handful (32) of instances were presented as in any way antagonistic to the soldiers. There were no instances of spitting on soldiers; what spitting was reported was done by citizens expressing displeasure with protesters.

Opinion polls of the time show no animosity between soldiers and opponents of the war. Only 3 percent of returning soldiers recounted any unfriendly experiences upon their return.

So records from that era offer no support for the spitting stories. Lembcke's research does show that similar spitting rumors arose in Germany after World War I and in France after its Indochina war. One of the persistent markers of urban legends is the re-emergence of certain themes across time and space.

There is also a common-sense method for debunking this urban legend. One frequent test is the story's plausibility: how likely is it that the incident could have happened as described? Do we really believe that a "dirty hippie" would spit upon a fit and trained soldier? If such a confrontation had occurred, would that combat-hardened soldier have just ignored the insult? Would there not be pictures, arrest reports, a trial record or a coroner's report after such an event? Years of research have produced no such records.

Lembcke underscores the enduring significance of the spitting story for this Veterans Day. He observes that as a society we are what we remember. The meaning of Vietnam and any other war is not static but is created through the stories we tell one another. To reinforce the principle that policy disagreements are not personal vendettas we must put this story to rest.

Our first step forward is to recognize that we are not a society that disrespects the sacrifices of our servicemembers. We should ignore anyone who tries to tell us otherwise. Whatever our aspirations for America, those hopes must begin with a clear awareness of who we are not.

(John Llewellyn is an associate professor of communication at Wake Forest University.)

Survey this one. I was never spit upon.

Just joined FR I see. Glad to see you were never spit on, whether you are a conservative or a DU troll or whatever. I would guess that most vets were not, but there sure were a lot that were, reading through this thread. See the previous posts I made in this thread, there are links to news articles and a book about vets who WERE spit on. And it still goes on - you don't have to have your uniform on, you just have to be around the typical left wing extremist:

http://www.620wtmj.com/620programs/charliesykes/weblog.asp?id=8&entry=4649 FRIDAY, Oct. 22, 2004, 2:51 p.m.

COMPASSIONATE LIBERALS: UPDATE (AGAIN)

Note: On Thursday night, an antiwar protestor in Milwaukee spit on a returned Iraqi war veteran, Marine Major Jerry Boyle. Boyle is a Republican candidate for Congress in Milwaukee. Boyle served in Operation Iraqi freedom and was posted to Baghdad shortly after the invasion. Although he is an underdog in the race, he has shown up for every campaign forum, where he's won high marks for his civility and willing to face hostile audiences...

On my show this morning, Boyle described himself as "livid" over the incident, but had restrained himself from responding in any way...

Here's the story as relayed to me by one of his campaign aides: Charlie:

I would like to relay to you a disturbing and unsettling incident which happened tonight at the Alverno College debate between Gwen Moore and Jerry Boyle.

Boyle has attended every debate and forum he has been invited to, even ones where it has not been the friendliest of audiences receptive to his Republican message.

Last night's debate at Alverno College was one attended by mostly people which will not vote for him in next month's election, but was a well run and fair debate none the less.

The questions were pointed and thoughtful and the answers were equally to the point. The topics ranged from foreign policy to the economy. The stark contrast between Moore and Boyle was pretty clear to those in the audience. Boyle was to the point and made it evident that although his was not the most popular opinion in the room, this is what he believed in.

Many people approached him following the debate to discuss the topics and their views and several said although they did not agree with his stance, commended him on making great arguments and being forthright in his presentation.

One man, unfortunately took the opportunity to ruin the evening.

As Boyle was walking from the stage to the reception, a graduate student from UWM spit on Boyle as he passed by.

Boyle, restraining himself, went to the restroom to clean up let this incident go.

I, however, did not.

After seeing Jerry wipe the spit from his jacket, I asked him what was going on and asked the young man why he spit on him.

Although it was witnessed by several people (at least five) he denied it and approached me looking for a confrontation. He walked up to me and got right in my face.

I asked him why he spit on Jerry and he said he didn't but should have because Jerry didn't answer his question to his satisfaction.

He called me an imperialistic pig and said that I was a puppet for an imperialistic regime. I asked him if that was a new term he had just learned in school and that I was very proud of him for using it in a complete sentence.

To make a long story short, after a little more verbal back and forth, he was ushered away by his teacher and escorted from the building.

My point is this. Are we now at a time when, even at a debate with dissenting views have the right to spit on each other?

Will he go home and brag to his friends that he spit on an Iraqi War veteran?

Is that the culture we live in now? This is not Kerry vs. Bush, its a small debate at Alverno College on the south side of Milwaukee.

He liked that fact that Gwen Moore is against bunker busting bombs (which she repeated) but will spit in the face of someone who helped liberate a country of 25 million people from a homicidal madman and made the world a safer place in the process.

To their credit, the people at Alverno apologized, but the damage was done.

If there are any liberals listening to your show, please ask them to take a step back and think before they act like this. Political discourse is what our country was formed on, but actions like this are all too common and its time to rein it in.

This was indeed a sad day for Milwaukee and America as a whole.

Sincerely yours,

Matt Lambert

No problem, but would like to know what you think of the articles concering vets being spit on. Or what stories have you heard from other vets concering the subject? Or for that matter, what are your thoughts on even the wives of soldiers being spit on? Like this one:

http://www.aetc.randolph.af.mil/pa/AETCNS/Apr2003/041103123.htm

April 11, 2003

Spitting Incident Reminds Servicemembers to Stay Safe

By Staff Sgt. J. LaVoie
56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. (AETCNS) -- The wife of a military member received an unexpected message recently from an anti-war protester.

Jessica Resendez, who was wearing a sweatsuit printed with an Air Force emblem, was walking through a shopping center parking lot when a woman grabbed her sleeve and asked her if she was in the military.

After explaining that she was the wife of an airman, the woman spat at the ground near Ms. Resendez’s feet and said, “This is what I think of your military.”

“She was looking at me with the most hate I’ve ever seen,” Ms. Resendez said. “I looked at her and said ‘How dare you.’ It was all I could say. I (then) walked back to my car and cried.”

Air Force members need to be prepared for these incidents, especially when wearing their uniform or clothing printed with Air Force emblems in public, according to an Air Force Office of Special Investigations agent at Luke.

“With current world events, varying views of the public and higher stress levels, one should always be cautious and vigilant of their surroundings,” said Special Agent William Pillai, acting commander of Air Force OSI Detachment 421.

People confronted with a similar situation should walk away, Agent Pillai said.

Specifically, do not argue with the individual or allow the situation to become violent.

Despite the incident, Ms. Resendez continues to wear her Air Force T-shirts in public.

“I’m proud that I’m part of this family ... even if people want to spit at me,” Ms. Resendez said.

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