Posted on 03/19/2004 6:57:03 PM PST by Hon
[Your search terms have been highlighted. To remove highlighting, click here .]
The Vietnam Veterans Radio network has obtained audio tapes, recorded between 1964 and 1971, of regular daily broadcasts from Radio Hanoi's 'Voice of Vietnam', "...to American soldiers involved in the war in Vietnam," featuring reporters Thu Houng (better known as 'Hanoi Hannah') and Van Tung.
VVRN received the Radio Hanoi tapes, as well as recordings of Radio Peking, from Jack Bock, a W.W.II vet from Washington state, who had worked as a civilian communications technician in Japan and Thailand during the Vietnam War. In a letter, Jack said he had heard VVRN on Radio For Peace International's short-wave broadcasts, and thought we might be interested in the tapes, which he had stored in his barn until now. Jack said he had recorded the tapes "to get another slant on the news," and pointed to the "charges and counter-charges over the so-called Gulf of Tonkin Incident in August of 1964" as an example, adding, "Looking back, it is easy to see who was lying."
After receiving the tapes, VVRN's initial review found, as Jack had told us, that they contained a great deal of static and interference, including, no doubt, US jamming. We contacted Chuck Haddix, director of the Marr Sound Archives at the University of Missouri-KC, who offered to 'clean' the tapes for us. However, after hearing a portion of 'partially cleaned' tape, and realizing the historical significance of their content, Chuck put us in touch with Les Waffen, director of the Motion Picture, Sound and Video Branch of the National Archives. Les told us that the tapes of Radio Hanoi were "very rare," and said that his department had the equipment and staff necessary to clean the tapes digitally. They did an incredible job!
Except for a change from patriotic Vietnamese music in the earlier tapes to American rock and folk music later, the format of Radio Hanoi's Voice of Vietnam remained basically the same over the years, and includes:
News headlines and reports critical of the Vietnam War from the World, and from around the world
Combat Action Reports, with descriptions of the fighting and the names and locations of the American units involved
Lists of the names, ranks, and serial numbers of Americans killed in action during the previous 24 hours, along with their families' names and hometown addresses
Speeches, poems and songs by American POWs, deserters and antiwar activists
Reports on the anti-Vietnam War activities of active duty GIs, primarily in the US and in Europe, and on VVAW's actions (including the Winter Soldier Investigation, Operation Heart of America, and the signing of the People's Peace Treaty)
Reminders that "Vietnam is not American soil," concern that "you could go home in a body bag," and encouragement to "demand your withdrawal from Vietnam now"
Copies of the Radio Hanoi/Radio Peking tapes, cassette and reel-to-reel, are available from VVRN. To receive a chronological catalog outlining the contents of these historic and revealing broadcasts (68 separate entries) from the Voice of Vietnam, send a self-addressed and stamped (52 cents) envelope plus $1.00, or just a buck and a half, to: VVAW/VVRN, 7807 North Avalon, Kansas City, MO 64152.
Doc Upton is the Midwest Coordinator of VVAW and lives in Kansas City. He was a Navy Medic with the First Marine Division in Vietnam.
Oddly enough, if you look at any Kerry speech during the period (including what he said to the Senate) these were his main talking points.
Joint Treaty of Peace
Between the People of The United States of America, South Vietnam and North Vietnam
Preamble
Be it known that the American people and the Vietnamese people are not enemies. The war is carried out in the names of the people of the United States and South Vietnam, but without our consent. It destroys the land and people of Vietnam. It drains America of its resources, its youth, and its honor.
We hereby agree to end the war on the following terms, so that both peoples can live under the joy of independence and can devote themselves to building a society based on human equality and respect for the earth. In rejecting the war we also reject all forms of racism and discrimination against people based on color, class, sex, national origin, and ethnic grouping which form the basis of the war policies, past and present, of the United States government.
Terms of Peace Treaty
- The Americans agree to immediate and total withdrawal from Vietnam, and publicly to set the date by which all U.S. military forces will be removed.
- The Vietnamese pledge that as soon as the U. S. government publicly sets a date for total withdrawal: they will enter discussions to secure the release of all American prisoners, including pilots captured while bombing North Vietnam.
- There will be an immediate cease-fire between U. S. forces and those led by the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam.
- They will enter discussions on the procedures to guarantee the safety of all withdrawing troops.
- The Americans pledge to end the imposition of Thieu-Ky-Khiem on the people of South Vietnam in order to insure their right to self-determination and so that all political prisoners can be released.
- The Vietnamese pledge to form a provisional coalition government to organize democratic elections. All parties agree to respect the results of elections in which all South Vietnamese can participate freely without the presence of any foreign troops.
- The South Vietnamese pledge to enter discussion of procedures to guarantee the safety and political freedom of those South Vietnamese who have collaborated with the U. S. or with U. S. -supported regimes.
- The Americans and Vietnamese agree to respect the independence, peace and neutrality of Laos and Cambodia in accord with the 1954 and 1962 Geneva Conventions and not to interfere in the internal affairs of these two countries.
- Upon these points of agreement, we pledge to end the war and resolve all other questions in the spirit of self-determination and mutual respect for the independence and political freedom of the people of Vietnam and the United States.
Pledge
By ratifying this agreement, we pledge to take whatever actions are appropriate to implement the terms of the People to people Treaty and to insure its acceptance by the government of the United States.
That is correct and Karl Rove must ask himself every night, "how can I be so lucky as to have Kerry as the opponent?"
That is correct and Karl Rove must ask himself every night, "how can I be so lucky as to have Kerry as the opponent?"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.