Anyone watch this series? I recorded all 10 episodes and I am half way through it. It is sort of shocking to me how little I actually knew about it. Especially since my dad fought in it. One of the first things one of the servicemen they have on the show says is "Its like the crazy uncle that no one talks about" and that is so true. What a screwed up mess from start to finish. Especially since the whole thing looks like it could have been avoided with a petition from Ho Chi Minh that was never delivered to Woodrow Wilson. LBJ was a complete turd, I hate him even more now. Just an all out shit show. If you haven't seen it it is well worth a look. Long but very well done.
I saw a documentary a while back,.. Ho Chi Minh was an early admirer of the USA, especially of our founding fathers and the revolutionary war. When he declared Vietnamese independence, they threw a parade, the car Ho was riding in had little American flags on the fenders. Minh had a series of correspondence with Roosevelt wanting U.S. support, but Roosevelt died and Truman broke off communications with Ho Chi Minn, turned his back and let France retake Vietnam. Sad, maybe the horrors could've been avoided.
I think it was on PBS, originally aired a month or so ago but I'm sure you can find it if you look. I know its "On Demand" if you have that feature
I have always really felt for our soldiers who went there only to return to be unappreciated- for whatever reason.
yeah, the way they were treated stunk. They were soldiers following orders, many of them drafted, they went through hell, then came back and were treated sorta like criminals. America learned from that I think,.. the 2nd Iraqi war was very unpopular, but we never blamed or disparaged the soldiers.
He's not alone. And the way we were treated when we came home is why I have a severe dislike for California. Particularly the San Francisco region.
Has there ever been another war where the soldiers got the blame? Really criminal how those guys were treated, and there's no better proof of just how fucked up the hippie generation was.
In hindsight, it's easier to see how ignorant we were. I'm wondering to what extent today, regardless of our political persuasions, we look for simply solutions and make scapegoats to pile all the blame on while being blind to reality.