Vietnam...Facts vs. Fiction

Capt USNR, (Ret) Marshal Hanson

[Swiss]

I was way too young to serve but I recall being told by the media that John Wayne's movie "Green Berets" was propaganda while "The Deerhunter" or "Platoon" was what Vietnam was really like.

Thanks to Mel Gibson's "We were Soldiers once" and what vets have written I have reversed my view.

[Unrepentant VN Vet]

I've read this thread through about four times and copied your posts for later.

Maybe I can write some more then.

Thank you, gentlemen.

[Rakkasan1]

good post!
did you hear John Kerry was in Vietnam?

[RVN Airplane Driver]

Yes, I heard he was in Vietnam, albeit a very short time, but I guarantee he was never in Cambodia!! He is a shining example of a lying cowardly POS!!

[Wolverine]

Be sure to check this..especially Session 8:
http://www.viet-myths.net/

[leadpenny]

The first combat troops didn't go into Vietnam until March of 65.

JFK had the advisor number up to 16,500. LBJ took it to 23,000 before 2000 combat troops (Marines) arrived to protect Danang Airbase.

[zot]

Thanks for the ping.

It is time to set the record straight.

[Wolverine]

May 13, 1967 Third Longest Parade in American History; 'Support Our Men in Vietnam'

 

Fascinating Video about Citizen Support for Vietnam Soldiers May 13, 1967

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THIS CLIP..!!

 

I've just been watching Session 12 http://www.viet-myths.net/Session12.htm It is terrific!!

Someone should write a piece on this video.

 

I was reviewing this link and discovered something entirely new to me! Fascinating FACTS AMERICA NEVER KNEW!

 

Surprising events from parades held at that time to honor returning soldiers in 1967; download this video first: 12) The Culpability of the Media (Click to See Video). 36,780kb.

 

How can the public trust the institutions, which have proven so unreliable in the past and which continue to display profound bias, to be their primary source of information about the malfeasances of government? To what extent should "arranging the minds" of the enemy, our troops, our nation and other nations, as T. E. Lawrence described, be a part of our national defense.

 

http://www.viet-myths.net/Session12S.wmv

Advance the clip to 25:30 and listen / watch....about 20 minutes.

 

May 13, 1967

Third Longest Parade in American History per presenter Charles Wiley.

'Support Our Men in Vietnam'

9 hour parade  from Washington Heights, Long Island, New York to Broadway, Times Square.

Film from WPIX

NYC police estimate 250,000. Mayor of NYC ordered police to retract the crowd estimate.

Presenter of this program Charles Wiley

Movie Film narrator Jack McCarthy

 

Charles Wiley often lectures about Vietnam - including events in the United States, as well as those in southeast Asia.  In addition to covering the war in 1962, 1964, 1968 (the Tet Truce offensive) and 1972 (the Easter offensive), he has returned to Vietnam, North & South, and Cambodia, since the conflict.   He knows many of the key players. During critical periods, Wiley had very long one-on-one interview/briefings with General Westmoreland, Presidents Diem and Thieu, Marshal Ky and other top figures. He learned much about the Vietnam war during his many extensive trips to China, the Soviet empire and Russia. 

 

Wiley's extensive knowledge about the home front during the conflict is based on vast personal experience with leaders and rank & file from both camps: those supporting the American armed forces and those in the anti-war movement. He was at numerous college teach-ins during continuous travel in the United States.   

                 

Charles Wiley has reported from 100 countries and regularly continues his world travels. His in-depth search for facts led to his arrest eight times by secret police throughout the globe, including the KGB, and imprisonment in a Cuban dungeon while he was a correspondent for New York City radio station WOR.   

Wiley has covered 11 wars, including reporting for NBC, UPI, the London Express and numerous other U.S. and foreign news media.   A graduate of New York University, Wiley's freelance articles and photographs have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek and Time.   A well known radio/TV talk show personality and commentator, he has appeared on hundreds of network and local programs throughout the country - including many times on CNN Crossfire and C-Span.   Wiley has lectured in all 50 states and on five continents - including talks in Germany, Taiwan, Australia, South Africa, Thailand, Belarus, Namibia and Albania. He lived briefly in the Soviet Union while giving talks at Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) University.  Wiley lectured, and resided on campus, in China (Jinan University, Guangzhou), Russia (Moscow State University) and  elsewhere abroad.

 

He contributed to establishing guidelines for a free press in Mongolia, spoke in Spain and Luxembourg (under the auspices of the U.S. government) and was a speaker for the White House Public Outreach Group.  Wiley has played a major role at international conferences in Great Britain and Italy - and lectured in New Zealand at the Ministry of Civil Defence Academy. He frequently addresses military audiences - in the USA and abroad - including the Naval War College, the Defense Intelligence Agency school, the Air Force school for its top NCO's, the Navy Postgraduate School, CincPac, the UK intelligence school and many others.

 

See more: Manhattan Serenade http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,840883,00.html

Video: The Impact of Media (Requires Windows Media Player) 45 MB, 58 mins run time.
This video is Part II of Television's Vietnam, narrated by Charlton Heston and scripted by Peter Rollins. The complete video is available at the following website: http://www.conservativemall.com/detail.php?id=922

 

Articles of Interest:

How to Lose A War: The Press and Viet Nam By Robert Elegant
Excerpts from THE MILITARY and The MEDIA: Why the Press Cannot Be Trusted to Cover a War by William V. Kennedy
A Battle for Truth: CNN has irresponsibly maligned the brave Special Forces members of Operation Tailwind. By Tom Stump, Philadelphia Inquirer
Media's War on Vietnam Veterans by James Webb, Wall Street Journal, July 15, 1998
Bert Kinzey on CNN
The Fourth Estate is a Fifth Column, by Bob Lonsberry
Newsroom conservatives are a rare breed, By Randy Dotinga, Christian Science Monitor, June 3, 2004
Coalition Soldiers Question News Media Following Roadside Bomb... Francis W. Porretto June 5, 2004
The Real Difference Between Iraq and Vietnam by Jack Wheeler

Suggested Reading:

THE MILITARY and The MEDIA: Why the Press Cannot Be Trusted to Cover a War, by William V. Kennedy, 1993, Praeger Publishers (Greenwood), ISBN:0-275-94191-4
The Big Story, Peter Braestrop
Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
News From Nowhere, Edward.Jay Epstein

Learn more about the Viet-Myths you always knew but the Media never covered!    http://www.viet-myths.net/

This free app may make it much faster and easier for you downloading these large files:

http://www.xi-soft.com/default.htm

 

http://www.viet-myths.net THese are large downloads. I recommend Session 8 & 12. 

 

1) (Click to see video (whole session)-- Click here to see Admiral Denton's Keynote Address only)

2) Post Celluloid Stress Disorder (PCSD) (Click to see video)

3) Winter Soldier Investigation (Click to see video)

4) The Best and the Brightest (Click to see video)

5) From Vietnam to Iraq (Click to see video)

6) War Stories I -- The View From the Field (Click to see video)

7) War Stories Part II -- The View From Headquarters (Click to see video)

8) The Uncivil War (Click to see video)

9) The Third Rail(s) of Veteran Politics (Click to see video)

10) Teach-In 2004 (Click to see the Video for DSL/Cable or Dial-up)

11) What Other Outcome was There? (Click to see video)

12) The Culpability of the Media (Click to See Video)

13) Teaching the Vietnam War (Click to See Video)

14) POW/MIA Issue -- Fact Fiction and Spin (Click to See Video)

15) The Vietnamese Point of View (Click Here for Press Release) (Click to See Video)

16) Aid and Comfort to Our Enemies (Click to See Video)

17) The Last Battle of the Vietnam War (Part II)
The Myth of the Returning Warrior Click to See Video

[George - the Other]

Totally Awsome! Thank you :)

[George - the Other]

Totally Awsome! Thank you :)

[Wolverine]

Narrated by Charlton Heston

http://www.viet-myths.net/AimImpact.wmv

[Balata]

bttt

[BIGLOOK]

I have met so many who claimed to be VN vets over here.I can only recognize three that are legit, a Navy Corpsman ( lost a leg.....served with Marines in Khe Sanh, an Army artilleryman....met him once , he kept asking me to speak louder, nearly legally deaf, and a guy I went to the UH with who served nearby up in I Corps. One other, an Army trucker....knew his way around the Central Highlands. All of these guys could state their units and locations, had their DD214s and old MACV cards, knew what Freedom Hill, Monkey Mountain, Happy Valley and DogPatch were. China Beach wasn't a TV show.

Everybody else I met who claimed to be a VN vet told stories that put them all over the Nam, horror stories mostly that worked well getting them on Social Services rolls for State assistance. No Creds, no souvenirs (i.e. saved Salad, a Kabar, a photo of a buddy or hootch, no unit patch and had no clue what "don't mean nothin' meant).

Pardon the rant. Welfare clowns don't amuse me.

Happy New year Nam Vet and Gunny and Rat.

[Chieftain]

Happy New Year to ALL of us. Let's make every effort to make ALL the OEF and OIF vets welcomed and appreciated whenever we see one.

[TheCrusader]

"JFK had the advisor number up to 16,500."

That's a lot of "advisors". Something tells me many of them were "advising" the South Vietnamese by killing vietcong and showing them how it's done.

[PhilipFreneau]

>>>As with much of the Vietnam War, the news media misreported and misinterpreted the 1968 Tet Offensive.<<<

Mostly by the Traitor, Walter Cronkite. I hope a very hot place is Hell is reserved for that pathological LIAR!

[dpa5923]

Self-ping

[Skip Ripley]

There appears to be a number of Vietnam Vets on this thread. I just want to thank you for your service to your country. It is truly an injustice that your sacrifice went unrecognized for so long by so many and that this slander aganst your mission and accomplishments continues today.

[Smokin' Joe]

bttp

[Chieftain]

I really like your response, Frank. I want to share it with some folks outside FR, may I?