Miscellaneous

"No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now. Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much. Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic." [Nixon]

The Vietnam War has been the subject of thousands of newspaper and magazine articles, hundreds of books, and scores of movies and television documentaries. The great majority of these efforts have erroneously portrayed many myths about the Vietnam War as being facts. [Nixon]

There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non veterans of the same age group (from a Veterans Administration study) [Westmoreland]

Isolated atrocities committed by American soldiers produced torrents of outrage from antiwar critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any attention at all. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 South Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and schoolteachers. [Nixon] Atrocities - every war has atrocities. War is brutal and not fair. Innocent people get killed.

Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison - only 1/2 of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes. [Westmoreland]

97% were discharged under honorable conditions; the same percentage of honorable discharges as ten years prior to Vietnam [Westmoreland]

85% of Vietnam Veterans made a successful transition to civilian life. [McCaffrey]

Vietnam veterans' personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. [McCaffrey]

Vietnam veterans have a lower unemployment rate than our non-vet age group. [McCaffrey]

2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. [Westmoreland] Approximately 70% of those killed were volunteers. [McCaffrey] Many men volunteered for the draft so even some of the draftees were actually volunteers.

Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate. "The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans' group." [Houk]

86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. (CACF and Westmoreland)

Sociologists Charles C. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, in their recently published book "All That We Can Be," said they analyzed the claim that blacks were used like cannon fodder during Vietnam "and can report definitely that this charge is untrue. Black fatalities amounted to 12 percent of all Americans killed in Southeast Asia - a figure proportional to the number of blacks in the U.S. population at the time and slightly lower than the proportion of blacks in the Army at the close of the war." [All That We Can Be]

Servicemen who went to Vietnam from well-to-do areas had a slightly elevated risk of dying because they were more likely to be pilots or infantry officers.

Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. 79% had a high school education or better. [McCaffrey]

If discharge or separation documents are lost, veterans or the next of kin of deceased veterans may obtain duplicate copies by completing forms found on the Internet at http://www.archives.gov/research/index.html and mailing or faxing them to the NPRC.

Alternatively, write the National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, MO 63132-5100. Specify that a duplicate separation document is needed. The veteranâ€™s full name should be printed or typed so that it can be read clearly, but the request must also contain the signature of the veteran or the signature of the next of kin, if the veteran is deceased. Include the veteranâ€™s branch of service, service number or Social Security number and exact or approximate dates and years of service. Use Standard Form 180, â€œRequest Pertaining To Military Records.â€

It is not necessary to request a duplicate copy of a veteranâ€™s discharge or separation papers solely for the purpose of filing a claim for VA benefits. If complete information about the veteranâ€™s service is furnished on the application, VA will obtain verification of service

The Department of Defense (DOD) is responsible for providing military funeral honors. "Honoring Those Who Servedâ€ is the title of the DOD program for providing dignified military funeral honors to veterans who have defended our nation.

Upon the family's request, Public Law 106-65 requires that every eligible veteran receive a military funeral honors ceremony, to include folding and presenting the United States burial flag and the playing of Taps. The law defines a military funeral honors detail as consisting of two or more uniformed military persons, with at least one being a member of the veteran's parent service of the armed forces. The DOD program calls for funeral home directors to request military funeral honors on behalf of the veterans' family. However, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Cemetery Administration cemetery staff can also assist with arranging military funeral honors at VA national cemeteries. Veterans organizations may assist in providing military funeral honors. When military funeral honors at a national cemetery are desired, they are arranged prior to the committal service by the funeral home.

The Department of Defense began the implementation plan for providing military funeral honors for eligible veterans as enacted in Section 578 of Public Law 106-65 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2000 on Jan. 1, 2000.

Questions or comments concerning the DOD military funeral honors program may be sent to the address listed below. The military funeral honors Web site is located at www.militaryfuneralhonors.osd.mil.

Department of Defense
Directorate for Public Inquiry and Analysis
Room 3A750, The Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1400

Of all the military bugle calls, none is so easily recognized or more apt to render emotion than Taps. Up to the Civil War, the traditional call at day's end was a tune, borrowed from the French, called Lights Out. In July of 1862, in the aftermath of the bloody Seven Days battles, hard on the loss of 600 men and wounded himself, Union General Daniel Adams Butterfield called the brigade bugler to his tent. He thought "Lights Out" was too formal and he wished to honor his men. Oliver Wilcox Norton, the bugler, tells the story, "...showing me some notes on a staff written in pencil on the back of an envelope, (he) asked me to sound them on my bugle. I did this several times, playing the music as written. He changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me. After getting it to his satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for Taps thereafter in place of the regulation call. The music was beautiful on that still summer night and was heard far beyond the limits of our Brigade. The next day I was visited by several buglers from neighboring Brigades, asking for copies of the music which I gladly furnished. The call was gradually taken up through the Army of the Potomac."
This more emotive and powerful Taps was soon adopted throughout the military. In 1874 It was officially recognized by the U.S. Army. It became standard at military funeral ceremonies in 1891. There is something singularly beautiful and appropriate in the music of this wonderful call. Its strains are melancholy, yet full of rest and peace. Its echoes linger in the heart long after its tones have ceased to vibrate in the air.
- from an article by Master Sergeant Jari A Villanueva, USAF.

2009-02-17
Jane Fonda's controversial documentary opposing the Vietnam War is to be released on DVD - 37 years after it was pulled from cinemas. Fonda opposed the American engagement in Vietnam, teaming up with Donald Sutherland and Fred Gardner in 1970 to form the FTA (Free The Army) tour, an anti-war road show, and their protests were filmed for the documentary. The movie hit cinemas in 1972, the same week Fonda made a trip to Hanoi, North Vietnam, visiting enemy forces. A week after its release, the film was pulled from theatres, with director Francine Parker accusing pressure from the White House for making the movie "disappear". [ Vietnam War Antiwar Movement, Protests ]

Lt. Gen. Victor Krulak headed all US Marine forces in the Pacific during part of the Vietnam War iht.com :: 2009-01-25
Victor Krulak commanded 100,000 Marines in the Pacific 1964-1968, period when the US dramatically increase its forces in Vietnam. Krulak, called "Brute" for his direct no-nonsense style, was a decorated WWII and Korean war veteran. He criticised the government's directing of the Vietnam War, saying that the war could have been won only if the South Vietnamese had been befriended and if enemy supplies from North Vietnam were cut off. "The destruction of the port of Haiphong would have changed the whole character of the war," he said two decades after the fall of Saigon. [ Vietnam War Battles and Soldiers ]

Pain of Vietnam War lingers for South Vietnamese veterans charlotteobserver.com :: 2009-01-25
Vietnamese-owned businesses in U.S. reflect prosperity. But beneath lies pain felt for a homeland deprived by 33 years of Communist rule: and the pain over the South Vietnamese war veterans. I caught a glimpse of that pain during a fundraiser for veterans living in Vietnam. "They are a group of people that have been forgotten," says Tran Ta, showing letters from vets, many with pics of war survivors with amputated limbs. Ta served as a captain in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and fought with Americans against the Vietcong. After Saigon fell in 1975 he was sent to prison for 8 years. After his release he came to America, and now runs a convenience store. [ Hmong Guerilla Resistance - Vietnam War ]

Tourists hunt vietnam war memorabilia, militaria vietnamnet.vn :: 2008-12-15
Paying just a few dollars, tourists can get keepsakes like id tags, coins, zippo lighters in Vietnam. Selling war memorabilia has been a business for several years, starting with the Demilitarised Zone Tour (DMZ). Tran Ha, a collector and provider of memorabilia, explained: "I collect war objects from hundreds of waste collectors... There are two things that foreign visitors favour the most: dog tags of US soldiers and medals - the older, the better. A waste collector said that 5 years ago, war objects were present in great quantity and they were melted down. But since tourists have been purchasing these things, they have become quite rare. [ Vietnam War Memorabilia, Collectibles ]

Laos, the most bombed nation per capita, still paying the price of Vietnam war reuters :: 2008-12-15
Imagine growing up in an area where the equivalent of a B52 planeload of cluster bombs was dropped every 8 minutes for 9 years. Then imagine seeing your kids being killed and mutilated by the same bombs - 3 decades after the war is over. Welcome to Laos, the most bombed nation per capita in the world. 1964-1973 the American military delivered 2 million tons of explosive ordnance in Laos. To put this into perspective, this is more bombs than fell on the Nazis during the Second World War. The bombing was aimed at putting down enemy supply lines during the Vietnam war that passed through Laos. [ Vietnam War - Strange Facts ]

Vietnam War crimes suspect William Doyle, "face of Vietnam crimes", dies salem-news.com :: 2008-11-20
Americans seem to have forgotten the mistakes of the Vietnam War: errors that destroyed credibility and the popularity of defeating the Communists in Vietnam. One of the soldiers who solidified the anger toward U.S. military was William Doyle, a "face of Vietnam crimes" who died aged 75. He will be remembered as the tough-talking Vietnam War veteran whose decorated platoon murdered hundreds of unarmed civilians in a case concealed by the Pentagon for decades. Doyle was a team leader with the famous 'Tiger Force' in 1967 that executed women and children in a bloody 7-month rampage. "We killed anything that moved. My only regret is that I didn't kill more." [ Vietnam War Special Forces ]

Saigon Songs: American propaganda war in Vietnam bbc.co.uk :: 2008-11-20
The most remarkable material often turns up by accident. So it is with the Saigon Songs, never before broadcasted recordings made in the Vietnam War. They date from the Americans' hearts and minds campaign, 1965-1967, as U.S. poured their ground troops into Vietnam in support of the South Vietnamese government. The campaign was run by Maj Gen Ed Lansdale. His weapons were not guns but words and music, through which he attempted to persuade the people to resist the North Vietnamese communists and the Viet Cong. Lansdale said that conventional war was different than people's war - and the latter had to be fought by other means than firepower alone. [ Art and Propaganda during Vietnam War ]

United States gives $1 million for disabled in Agent Orange hotspot ap :: 2008-11-20
The U.S. and Vietnam set up 3 new programs to help people in Danang, where American troops stored and mixed Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The U.S. sprayed 75 million liters of extremely toxic Agent Orange and other herbicides across Vietnam during the war to strip Vietnamese guerrillas of ground cover and kill their crops. Dioxin, a highly toxic element of Agent Orange, remains in soil and sediment for years and poses a severe health threat to anyone who touches it. Vietnam thinks as many as 4 million people have suffered serious health problems linked with Agent Orange. [ Agent Orange: Chemical Warfare ]

Although the articles linked from Vietnam War in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor. The editor is also not responsible for the content of any external Internet sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2006-2009. All rights reserved.

When a Veteran leaves the 'job' and retires to a better life, many are jealous, some are pleased, and others, who may have already retired, wonder if he knows what he is leaving behind, because we already know.

1. We know, for example, that after a lifetime of camaraderie that few experience, it will remain as a longing for those past times.

2. We know in the Military life there is a fellowship which lasts long after the uniforms are hung up in the back of the closet.

3. We know even if he throws them away, they will be on him with every step and breath that remains in his life. We also know how the very bearing of the man speaks of what he was and in his heart still is.

These are the burdens of the job. You will still look at people suspiciously, still see what others do not see or choose to ignore and always will look at the rest of the Military world with a respect for what they do; only grown in a lifetime of knowing.

Never think for one moment you are escaping from that life. You are only escaping the 'job' and merely being allowed to leave 'active' duty.

So what I wish for you is that whenever you ease into retirement, in your heart you never forget for one moment that you are still a member of the greatest fraternity the world has ever known.

VETERAN FRIENDS: Are glad to see you after years, and will happily carry on the same conversation you were having the last time you met.

VETERAN FRIENDS: Have shared a lifetime of experiences no citizen could ever dream of...

VETERAN FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place and say, 'You better drink the rest of that before you spill it!' Then carry you home safely and put you to bed...

A veteran - whether active duty, retired, or reserve- is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The Government of the United States of America' for an amount of 'up to and including my life'. . . and military wives are as much veterans as their spouses.

Please share this with anyone who's had active duty service prior to January 2002 and planning for retirement. In a nutshell it boils down to this: You qualify for a higher social security payment because of your military service, for active duty any time from 1940 through 2001 (the program was done away with in January 2002). Up to $1200 per year of earnings credit credited at time of application - which can make a substantial difference in social security monthly payments upon your retirement. You must bring your DD-214 to the Social Security Office - and you must ask for this benefit to receive it!

This is something to put in your files for when you apply for Social Security down the road. It is NOT just for retirees, BUT anyone who has served on active duty prior to January 2002.
FYI - this benefit is not automatic, you must ask for it!

At http://www.usocares.org you can send a care package to a service member:
With your $25 donation, the USO will deliver a care package of requested items, including a 100-minute prepaid calling card, toiletries, sunscreen, handy wipes and other requested items. In addition, you can include a personal message of thanks for their service and let them know they have not been forgotten this holiday season."

Vietnam Wall Visitor Center Approved

Underground Facility Will Be Located Near Existing Memorial

By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 4, 2006; Page A01

The federal commission with final say over monuments and memorials in the
nation's capital gave the green light yesterday for the newest addition to
America's front yard: a sprawling underground Vietnam Veterans Memorial
visitor center that will be constructed between the Lincoln Memorial and the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall.
The center will be the first new memorial project on the coveted Mall since
the National World War II Memorial was built. Preservationists, who have
wanted to conserve the Lincoln Memorial's grounds, fought the center. But
the project was championed by some veterans groups that have long been
troubled by the understated nature of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall and
want to provide more history and context for its list of more than 58,000
Americans killed or missing in the war.

With memorial space at a premium in Washington -- where some groups have
quietly fought for years to get patches of land inside traffic circles for
memorial statues or slivers of pocket parks for monuments -- the Vietnam
veterans won one of the biggest prizes of all yesterday.
"It's a good day. This was a long time in coming," Jan C. Scruggs, president
and founder of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, said after the National
Capital Planning Commission approved the project yesterday.

The project has drawn criticism because of its potential to convey
conclusions about a conflict that tore the country apart. But Scruggs said
the 25,000-square-foot center will be a neutral, fact-based presentation
that will pay tribute to U.S. soldiers. It may include a movie theater, a
three-dimensional battle scene, mementos left at the memorial, and a wall
where pictures of slain soldiers will be projected on their birthdays,
creating a dynamic tribute that changes daily.
Because it will be the only sizable visitor center dedicated to a single
conflict's veterans, some planners worry that it will create an opening for
others to lobby for similar additions to memorial rotundas, fountains or
statues in Washington.

"Each memorial will ask for their own visitor center," warned Elizabeth
Merritt, deputy general counsel for the National Trust for Historic
Preservation, who testified against the project at the commission meeting
yesterday.

Not all veterans like the project. Vietnam War veteran Ray Saikus flew in
from Cleveland yesterday to tell the planning commission that an underground
"bunker or tunnel" is insensitive to veterans who fought enemies
underground. "It will be more a tribute to the Viet Cong," Saikus said.
He also said his fellow veterans in the Midwest believe that an underground
center is "being placed out of sight, hidden as if in shame."

Planners do want it out of sight -- but for aesthetic reasons.
According to 14 design guidelines established by the planning commission
yesterday and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts last week that must be
followed as a condition of approval, no portion of the center can be visible
from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Constitution Avenue or surrounding
streets.
The center must be built below the existing grade on the land surrounding
the Lincoln Memorial. Any skylights, monitors, light wells or sunken areas
cannot be seen from surrounding sidewalks, according to the commissions'
guidelines.

Among the other requirements: The center must have a single entrance for
both visitors and service personnel, and the lighting must be subtle. The
footprint of the center must be within the root areas of the existing elms,
and no new parking can be constructed to accommodate the visitors.
The center will cost $100 million, of which the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Fund has raised $25 million. The sponsors expect to have a design selected
by the end of this year and plan to get final approval for construction
early next year.

Some preservationists worried that the requirements will be circumvented
because of political pressure.
"This project is embroiled in politics," said Judy Scott Feldman, chairman
of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall. She said there is a danger that
the guidelines "are meaningless and unenforceable."
The campaign for the visitor center was fueled by the same kind of passion
that Scruggs brought to win creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a
subtle tribute dedicated in 1982 that consists of simple granite panels
containing the names of the dead and missing. Some Americans had trouble
conceptualizing a nontraditional memorial without trappings such as statues
and fountains. But it is now the most popular site on the Mall, with 3.8
million visitors last year.

This time, Scruggs had congressional help. Legislation was passed in 2003
that made the center an exception to the 2001 creation of the Mall's
"reserve" area, where new construction is banned.
The legislation did not specify a site, however, and Scruggs knew he wanted
it front and center. The rigorous site selection process that sent him to
several federal agencies dictated that his group study other sites on less
prominent pieces of land.

Scruggs was so determined to get the site he wanted that he hired an urban
anthropologist from Howard University to generate an 11-page analysis of the
phrase "at or near" to make his point that the legislation said the center
should be "at or near the Wall."

When that wasn't enough to eliminate the other study sites, he took his case
to Congress. A representative introduced a bill to the House in March that
pinpointed the site he wanted. It passed by a vote of 404 to 4 and is
lingering before the Senate.

Senate approval would mean little, now that the planning commission has
approved the site. As part of its review, the commission examined an
environmental assessment report that determined that the center would have a
minimal impact on the area.

    You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.
    So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)

    "An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

     An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as Native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim.

    In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan . The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

    An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

    An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

    An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

    When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

    As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan . Americans welcome the best of everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.

    The national symbol of America , The Statue of Liberty , welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America .

    Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

    So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

Dave Rabbit Bio of RFT-1.doc (61 Kb) attached

----- Original Message -----
From: 'Robert Donnan' <redchief@adelphia.net>
To: 'Robert Donnan' <redchief@adelphia.net>
Sent: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 10:23
Subject: Fwd: Wild story from Vietnam days

Mr. Bradley,

I thought in 95 7/8 FA left Hawaii and went to Alaska. Am I wrong or
did they move back?

Thanks,
Patrick McAnnany
ptmcannany@aol.com

Ann Margret

Viet Nam 1966

Richard, (my husband), never really talked a lot about his time in Viet Nam
other than he had been shot by a sniper. However, he had a rather grainy, 8 x
10 black and white photo he had taken at a USO show of Ann Margret with Bob
Hope in the background that was one of his treasures.

A few years ago, Ann Margret was doing a book signing at a local bookstore.
Richard wanted to see if he could get her to sign the treasured photo so he
arrived at the bookstore at 12 o'clock for the 7:30 signing.

When I got there after work, the line went all the way around the bookstore,
circled the parking lot and disappeared behind a parking garage. Before her
appearance, bookstore employees announced that she would sign only her book
and no memorabilia would be permitted.

Richard was disappointed, but wanted to show her the photo and let her know
how much those shows meant to lonely GI's so far from home. Ann Margret came
out looking as beautiful as ever and, as second in line, it was soon Richard's
turn.

He presented the book for her signature and then took out the photo. When he
did, there were many shouts from the employees that she would not sign it.
Richard said, "I understand. I just wanted her to see it."

She took one look at the photo, tears welled up in her eyes and she said,
"This is one of my gentlemen from Viet Nam and I most certainly will sign his
photo. I know what these men did for their country and I always have time for
'my gentlemen.'"

With that, she pulled Richard across the table and planted a big kiss on him.
She then made quite a to-do about the bravery of the young men she met over
the years, how much she admired them, and how much she appreciated them There
weren't too many dry eyes among those close enough to hear. She then posed
for pictures and acted as if he were the only one there.

Later at dinner, Richard was very quiet. When I asked if he'd like to talk
about it, my big strong husband broke down in tears. "That's the first time
anyone ever thanked me for my time in the Army," he said.

That night was a turning point for him. He walked a little straighter and,
for the first time in years, was proud to have been a Vet. I'll never forget
Ann Margret for her graciousness and how much that small act of kindness meant
to my husband.

I now make it a point to say "Thank you" to every person I come across who
served in our Armed Forces. Freedom does not come cheap and I am grateful for
all those who have served their country.

If you'd like to pass on this story, feel free to do so. Perhaps it will help
others to become aware of how important it is to acknowledge the contribution
our service people make.

Don't be too busy today...
Share this inspiring message with friends and family

Statistics about the Vietnam War