I guess this is as good a day to do this as any. The question I want to look at is “Were Vietnam vets really abused and/or spat on when they returned?” I’d especially like the oopinions of other Vietnam vets but anyone is welcome
For starters, I AM a Vietnam veteran, a paratrooper and Ranger. I was there April 1967-68, in the army from Apr66 to Jan69. (early out for college)
There seems too be a current meme—I see it a lot on facebook— that Vietnam vets were mistreated and spat upon when they returned. A lot of people apparently believe this and some Vietnam vets push this. And its so always linked to hippie and liberal blaming (“They stabbed us in the back”) that we can safely call it a conservative meme.
But how real is it? It certainly is different from my own experience. When I came home, my family and friends welcomed me warmly and some of them were protestors. My mom went to jail twice protesting the draft and others in my family protested too. I lived in the SF East Bay, a known hotbed of protest (think: Berkeley)
I never had a bad experience with the American public while in uniform, to the contrary, I remember many people were extra friendly and nice. In those days of the draft, nearly everyone was close too someone in the military. Twice my check was picked up anonymously at restaurant. Twice stewardesses put me in 1st class.
I never believed the Hippie Spits on Soldier story because after being a soldier I became a hippie. I never heard of a hippie spitting on anyone, its not what we were like. In my opinion, based on intimate knowledge of soldiers and hippies, in any hippie-soldier confrontation the much greater likelihood is the soldier spat on the hippie.
It always seemed so counterintuitive—the hippie spits on the poor soldier who then shuffles away feeling all oppressed and abused—yet I don’t know ANYONE who wouldn’t react violently. And any soldier for sure—yet the story never ends “...and then the soldier kicked the hippie’s ass.” Which is what I would expect.
And then there’s other stories of mistreatment and neglect by society in general. We never got a parade. No one ever thanked us for our service. Geez I gotta say it sounds pretty whiny to me sometimes. My dad and uncle were WII combat vets and I never heard anything like this from them. They got home after the parades were over too. I asked my dad and he said no one ever said thanks for your service to him, either, it was just expected of you. Personally I felt happy just to be alive
They’re really playing the victim card: The meme is to make Vietnam vets the “victims” of hippies/ liberals. I think this is bullshit to a large extent. I think as a whole Vietnam vets were not treated worse than any other vets, it was an unpopular war for many reasons.
I’ve talked to a lot of other vets about this and it seems to be a conservative belief—hippies and liberals stabbed America in the back---Jane Fonda and john Kerry are always mentioned here—and then treated Vietnam vets awful. The liberal vets believe one thing and conservatives another. Its an urban myth IMHO
Well all I have to say is that the truth us no one has ever abused, insulted and mistreated me like the Army did. After that, civilian life has been a breeze.