Spitting on returning Vietnam vets

[RBCal]

Originally Posted by Wild Redhead

We are talking about the most unpopular war in the history of the United States.

The Civil War wasn't very popular. There you had Americans shooting other Americans which is kinda violent.

The Iraq War isn't very popular. There you had Americans torturing prisoners and posing them in nude positions and taking pictures. Thats kinda icky and violent.

Originally Posted by Bombfixer

I was returning from Viet-Nam in July of 1969. We flew from Da Nang to Travis AFB via Japan and Alaska. We landed at Travis AFB in Oakland, CA. On July 25th I was bussed to San Francisco International Airport to await further transportation Eastbound. I was spit on, had coffee spilled on me, and recieved very hostile stares and rude comments like "baby killer" said to me. Some of those who were with us actually had their "awol" bags ripped from their hands. "Awol" bag was a name given to a small gym bag sized carry on that we used at the time.

I enlisted in 1976.

After VN, During the first few years of my career I did witness occasional 'bad' or rude behavior by US citizens toward US servicemembers.

There was often a general hatred of servicemembers in some cities.

I was hassled by cops in Newport News Virginia, spent a night in a cell, I ended up paying a $100 fine. They said they did not like sailors being loose off-base or 'on the beach' as we called it.

My experience was walking through San Francisco A.P. Where a young woman came up to me and spat out the words, "kill anyone this week" with a glare in her eye, the young fellow with her apologized and stated that the woman didn't really understand. In that one incident the summation of my return home can be found, sometimes I was greeted, sometimes I was reviled. It didn't just end there, the media loved its deranged psycho killer vet character, there was always some Green Beret lunatic, killing, or harming someone, so that the Good non-vet could come to the rescue, needless to say this didn't promote a positive image of the returning Vietnam Vet.

[mdbigdee]

Originally Posted by Lainie

Yes, and the site rules state that you must post your real age. So if you've been subtracting a few years, you might want to update it.



Not all the students who were shot were hippies, or anti-war protestors. That was one of the problems with the Guardsmen's claim of self-defense: some of the people they shot were just walking to class. And you can't really compare the Guardsman to soldiers who served in Vietnam; people joined the Guard to avoid going to Vietnam.

I do get your point that there was ugliness and violence on both "sides" during Vietnam. I was a kid, but I do remember Vietnam and the 1960s. I particularly remember the Kent State shootings, which occurred in my hometown a couple of miles from my house (but that's another story).

One of the students that was killed that day was in ROTC and would have been commissioned in 6 months if he had lived.