Let us also thank France for its aid in winning our indenpedant and teaching the value of freedom.
Regardless of how many feel about current eevents in Iraq, etc., we owe a great debt to many people in our history. Follow the link below.
i watched that 3 times and i did not see a single photograph from the Vietnam War, why is that?
is it because it was an unpopular war that we didn't exactly "win"? are we to only celebrate and honor the soldiers that fought and died in WWII? and since when did the Gulf War(s) start getting equal footing with WWII? were they really about the same thing? was the world in THAT much danger as it was in the early 1940s? did over 12million people die in the Gulf?
it's the same old nauseating hypocrisy: just because some idiotic policy makers and war-mongers in capitol hill got themselves entwined in a bloody war they had no business being in and half a million "grunts" were sent out there to do god knows what and so many of them came home in body bags and the media spoonfed us the horrors uncensored, EVERYONE wants to forget!
every Memorial Day it's the same ridiculous farce over and over, year after year. let's all celebrate the "greatest generation" but the "lost generation" who got the shaft from both ends of the political stick are left to fend for themselves and in fact are soon to be edited out of the history books altogether (if this photo-essay is any sign)
it's sad... truly, deeply sad. i would even say un-Americacn but that's too easy an out. it's just SAD!
(for those who're not here to speak for themselves)
... I might agree, even though I posted it. There are no images from Korea, either. So one might infer that they only showed winners. But I posted it anyway because regardless of that "hypocrisy", I do believe that the message is important. Notice they did not place any political or hidden agenda into the text, but just made the point of supporting our boys and girls (including my son) that place themselves in harm's way.
I know that many times you are a voice of cyncism on this board, and many times these posts are appreciated by me because there are times they're needed, but I really don't believe that this post should be controversial, other than your well taken point. Well taken to the point, that as a veteran of Vietnam I will e-mail a protest to the originators of that site.
Thanks for bringing it up.
F.
-- Modified on 7/5/2003 11:46:29 AM
for understanding. and also not taking it too personally (certainly was not my intent)
btw, i thought i saw one solitary example from Korea, but it's hard to tell (similar fatigues and gear)
seeing as you are a veteran (of any war, doesn't matter) i salute you with every fiber of my being (with absolute zero cynicism or jest)
happy 4th!
I have sent the following message to the CEO of the company that produced the photo essay. For those interested, the text follows:
Your photo essay entitled "We Support U" , shown at usaforever.org, does a great disservice to all Americans who fought, and died, for this country in Korea and Vietnam. The photo essay, which in principle is touching and certainly on target for sentiment, shows a direct link from World War II to the current Persian Gulf conflicts, with not one image of anything that had occurred in the intervening 40 years of American military involvement world wide. As commonplace as photojournalism was in both those conflicts, especially in Vietnam, I have to consider this a blatant attempt to hide those less popular wars as if they never happened, and the 100,000 or so Americans who fought and died don't count insofar as your firm is concerned.
I posted the link on a discussion board and have received many replies from veterans of those 40 years expressing my exact sentiments. I believe you owe us an apology.
Sincerely,
(Name Witheld her, but I did sign it in the original)
Captain, US Army 1964-1971
Thanks, Singleton. Your observation did not go unnoticed.
F.
I too was a bit troubled, even disappointed by the omission of
images from the Vietnam war. However as a veteran of that war in its late stages I can understand to some extent the unease with which we collectively as a nation still experience, to this day, when it comes to Vietnam. Despite some of the "healing" that was evident with respect to the Vietnam veterans at the conclusion of the first "Gulf War" the Vietnam "experience" still haunts us to this day or so it seems to me.
I consider myself fortunate (Understatement with a capital U) that I was NOT in a direct combat role. The lives of many of those men who "survived" their tour of duty have tragically been altered in ways that those of us who never experienced the hell of combat in Vietnam will ever be able to truly appreciate. Although in my combat support role with the USAF as an air traffic controller I and my buddies often came under hostile fire mostly in the form of rocket attacks at night on the base I never faced the up close and personal brutality of
combat, never even fired my weapon. I feel with respect to our mission most of us in combat support did our very best to support those on the front lines both on the ground and in the air. It is that sense of giving it everything I had to do "my job" to the best of my ability that I tend to remember about my own personal experience in Vietnam.
The politics of the war from the micromanaging of combat operations by the "civilians" in Washington to the protests of the anti-war movement in the streets is a topic in itself and too emotionally draining for a discussion here and probably one that few would care to rehash since the emotions of people are all over the map on Vietnam.
It was a war that was so ill conceived and resulted in such a tragic loss of life on both sides that, to this day, I think many just want to try and put it behind them. Is that the way it should be? Well perhaps not, but I think it is human for people to avoid things that are so difficult to grapple with on an emotional and perhaps even ethical level especially for those who lack any firsthand experience.
So perhaps the intent of the author of this website was to avoid Vietnam because of the contoversy that still surrounds it to this day. If that is the case I still think it was a mistake to exclude the Vietnam veterans in this tribute to the military,
but perhaps understandable. Only the authors can provide their rationale for this exclusion.
Sorry for rambling on about a topic that is far removed from the interests of most on this board. It is just that on this holiday celebrating the Independence of our nation that my thoughts and concerns are heightened with respect to the men and women serving in our armed forces and especially those engaged in Iraq.
Is it the veiled spectre of Vietnam that I see looming on the horizon in Iraq? Perhaps, but then again it may just be my somewhat cynical attitude towards some government officials in positions of power sending young men and women off to battle while they stand behind the curtain and pull the levers and direct things from the comfort of their offices on capitol hill or elsewhere. I hope they are able to rise to the occasion and do the right thing (to some extent it may be too late for that)
but although increasingly troubled by how things are playing out in Iraq I am still, at this point, willing to give them somewhat hesitantly the benefit of the doubt.
My thoughts and concerns go out to the men and women serving in Iraq and elsewhere in hostile operations and to their families
who endure the separation from their loved ones serving in harm's way.
I've always felt this photo expresses much of my feelings upon returning home. The eyes say it all.
That photo says it all. The eyes do tell a story. I recently learned an interesting factoid relating to the Vietnam War:
The average GI that landed in Normandy in June. 1944 and fought through VE Day actually spent, on average, 40 actual days in combat over the 11 months of war. The grunt that served for one year in Vietnam, on average, experienced 240 days of combat, or 6 times the amount of his WWII counterpart.
If you compound that with the facts of the type of war, Western traditional vs Guerilla, not knowing who or where your enemies were at times, this is a staggering difference. And it says alot about the plight of the veterans from the Vietnam era who had and are still having their difficulties.
Thanks for the post, Woof, and welcome home, Brother!
-- Modified on 7/6/2003 5:16:59 PM
Let us also thank France for its aid in winning our indenpedant and teaching the value of freedom.
We do absolutely owe France a debt of gratitude for their help. I sometimes wonder why their current view of the US is so dim. But I don't want to get into another "Flame the French" type of thread. That's done with. The purpose of the post is for our sons and daughters in harm's way. Period. Thanks for your comments.
F.
In response to those who indicated the absence of references to the Vietnam and Korean Wars in the link I posted above, I e-mailed the author protesting those omissions. The e-mail itself is too long to post here, but the gist of it follows:
1. The original photo essay was never intended to be so widespread. It was done as a tribute to one of the firm's employees currently serving in the Persian Gulf, and the parallel was drawn by the company between the persecution of the Jews and other ethnic groups by the Nazis in World War II and the persecution of ethnic groups by the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. The omission, he said, was the constraint on producing what fit into the presentation model.
2. The firm also has produced a Vietnam tribute, of which I was unaware. A link to that one is on this post, and I urge you to look at it. It's at least as good as the first photo essay I linked, and it did bring me to tears.
3. The firm is currently working on a similar project for the Korean War. I have no doubt that it will be equally compelling.
I must admit that when singleton brought the omissions to my attention, I got seriously pissed. As a veteran of the Vietnam War, I felt as slighted as I did when I came home to mostly cold shoulders. After looking at the link below, my hat's off to Pressaprint Corp. for their compelling homage to my brothers and me.
F.
-- Modified on 7/7/2003 10:10:16 AM
God bless the folks who have given such a stirring tribute. I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes and a head full of memories of some of the finest men in the world who I had the privilege of serving with. We were young. We were strong. We were full of dreams and hopes for the future. We are older now, but still believe. To all of my brothers, both present and gone, I love you.