Is America Ready For "Vietnam War Re-enactments" (ala Civil War Re-enactments)??

AmericanInTokyo ^ | 10 July 2002 | AmericanInTokyo

[AmericanInTokyo]

VANITY--

Having seen several Civil War re-enactments, some in the South and some north of the Mason Dixon line, having seen the big business growing out of these programs be they memorabilia, home cooked-era recipes, Civil War music, uniforms, weapons replicas, and the thousands of people who watch and participate, I have been wondering.

For the most part we are reliving the distant past which points up a particuarly shattering and bloody period of American history. We are often, as spectators or participants, able to add all aspects into this equation: entertainment, drama, tragedy even comedy. It is almost as if we can be transported back in time 130 years over just one weekend.

It seems a certain Distance of Time from the actual terrifying events allow us to do this. Perhaps it is because no one, in any way connected to the terror of war at that time, lives and is around to talk about it.

This is just an vanity- academic question on my part. I am wondering if fairly large Vietnam War re-enactments could take off in the USA, much on the level of Civil War re-enactments, now that we are 25 plus years out from Southeast Asia? One even thinks it might even be possible to recruit Asian Americans such as Vietnamese, Korean, Taiwanese, Thai etc. to actually play the role of NVA, Vietcong or perhaps allied ARVN troops on the US side to lend even more reality to it.

Replica of equipment could be available. 1960s Acid Rock or Country music at that time could pipe through the encampments.

Is this even possible though? Are we still too connected to the real terrors and blood of that war that it would be difficult to position us further away, even introducing elements of humor into the theatre? Of course, few sites in the US could look similar to Vietnam terrain; perhaps sponsors could construct something of a set with bleachers. I know at Gettysburg they have much the same thing arranged.

In closing here, just wondering, particularly as it is the summer season of Civil War re-enactments, and particularly since we have Freepers who fought in those other terrible battles of Southeast Asia, so is this something that we as a nation would not be able to get around doing until the mid 21st century or 22nd century? What would be the reaction and the possibilities?

[AmericanInTokyo]

Has anything on a large-scale been planned? Would this flop?

[weikel]

Hmmm my father was there in 71 I wonder what he would think.

[Dog]

Not a good idea...

My oldest brother served in Nam during TET....got wounded. I saw the nightmares he had when he came home... first hand.

Don't see this happening

[CecilRhodesGhost]

How about re-creating the Gulf of Tonkin battle. Everyone could sit and do nothing. Then someone could phone DC and cite the battle (which some say never happened) as reason to increase the war effort. That would be exciting to watch.

[AmericanInTokyo]

It to me is an amazing question and possibly quite a debate. I would imagine some would not mind going to see it, and others perhaps would steer clear for fear of opening old wounds. It might be something good, though, for kids born way after Nam to at least see, to educate them from a historic perspective. I wonder what other Freepers with Nam experience would think.....

[AmericanInTokyo]

Cool. Thanks. I guess a Mayaguez incident could be stage, circa 1975, but you'd need a lot of water and some fake islands.

[ArrogantBustard]

I've seen living history displays of the World Wars and of the Korean war, but not actual reenactments. There's one slight problem: the battlefields were "over there". Reenactments from the French and Indian War, the War for Independance, and the War Between the States are done on the actual battlefields. Anything else is a "muster", or a "living history display", or some such.

[AmericanInTokyo]

My premise is that 'time heals' but that perhaps in this case (Vietnam), there has not been adequate time. (On the other hand, we could probably do a Grenada or Panama re-creation?)

But then again, I could be wrong. I thank Freepers for kicking this around a little bit.

[CecilRhodesGhost]

The Gulf of Tonkin, near the northern Vietnamese coast, was the site of one of the key incidents that that deepened American involvement in the war in Vietnam. In what is known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the American government claimed that Vietnamese patrol boats fired on the U.S. destroyer Maddox, pictured above, on two separate occasions in early August 1964 in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Although later serious questions were raised about the nature and even the existence of the attacks, President Lyndon Johnson seized the opportunity to secure a Congressional resolution authorizing him to take "all necessary measures to repel any armed attacks against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression" in Vietnam. This authorization, often called the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution," essentially provided the Johnson Administration with a blank check for further expansion of the war without having to seek additional Congressional approval.

[weikel]

Well he was a doctor in Saigon not a combat grunt so I don't think he had any "issues" after coming back but he did say he was shot at a few times( Vietnam had no true front though Saigon was certainly safer than Quang Tri).

[AmericanInTokyo]

Yes, the problem would definitely be that the location is not there and the terrain problem. But then again, that could be overcome with some ingenuity.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Gotcha on that. (Saigon safer than Quang Tri)

[Conservative Chicagoan]

The socialists are always trying to react the 1960s. Wait a second...

[CecilRhodesGhost]

I think a Vietnam War Re-enactment could be happening real soon.

It's called Iraq.

[discostu]

Too late, already going on. Doesn't have a lot of oomph yet. Friend of mine that's in the SCA (medieval/ renaissance re-enactment) and a few years ago he went to a "re-enactment fair" outside of Flagstaff (northern AZ, not very near the Grand Canyon) that had re-enactors (and merchants selling to re-enactors) of just about every major conflict ever, including WWI, WWII, Korea and Viet Nam (they had Hueys, actual honest to God Hueys... only 2 but DAMN).

[AmericanInTokyo]

And to think, in 2002 now that place is turned into a money making tourist operation, complete with all these rinkydinky boats that take Americans, Europeans and Japanese all throughout Halong Bay, just off the Gulf of Tonkin......

[Old Lady]

Reenactments are big business. I think Living History is great up to a point - it's wholesome fun, preserves history, etc.

There are some Civil War reenactors who are fanatics, though. Plenty would sign up if real bullets were used.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Thanks. I figured that someone would have an idea or a report. Do they include enemy NVA? Wondering how that would look if you had some 6'1"" fellow, 220 lbs. with a beer gut (rather odd, I think)...

[CecilRhodesGhost]

Things change. Who would have guessed Argentina would be broke and pathetic in 2002? As for re-enactments, let's also consider re-creating CIA operations like Chile in the early 1970s. We'll need plenty of planes to toss people out into the ocean. Could actor Ron Silver be prodded into playing Kissinger again?

[AmericanInTokyo]

Thanks. I figured that someone would have an idea or a report. Do they include enemy NVA? Wondering how that would look if you had some 6'1"" fellow, 220 lbs. with a beer gut (rather odd, I think)...