While we honor todays veterans, we can honor Vietnam veterans as well by following their example as great Americans to help those who deserve to live with dignity and respect and in freedom. The biggest factor, as far as I can tell, was television. Dark Truth Exposed: East Palestine Rail Disaster, BOAC 707 Sabotage, Why people should start business in Lithuania, Best Strategy To Play Online Baccarat Games, Effects of Incontinence in Various Areas of Life, Conversations from the porch Episode 19 with Jack Heart &, Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. Many American soldiers were exposed to Agent Orange and other chemicals during their time in Vietnam. Mistakenly kill a civilian and push the populace into the hands of the Viet Cong or kill a Viet Cong before they got you. What is most heartbreaking is that so many were left behind in both countries who suffered at the hands of despotic regimes. Always Remember, Your email address will not be published. Vietnam veterans were treated in despicable ways by Americans from being spit on to being called baby killers. It was a time of fear, but also an era of national confidence and of individual obligation. Why did Vietnam vets get called baby killers? Yael Halon is a reporter for Fox News Digital. A persistent but unfounded criticism leveled against those who protested the United States’s involvement in the Vietnam War is that protesters spat upon and otherwise derided returning soldiers, calling them baby-killers, etc. Many veterans feared that, if they talked about killing, they would be judged or mischaracterized by other peoples notions of what it means to be a combat veteran, Purcell said. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. It was shameful, it was ugly, it was rude My Lai framed the image that for too many retrospectively described the Vietnam generation. Joshua Smith, 82nd Airborne Divisions 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, talks to group of Afghan children during a combined patrol clearing operation in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, April 28, 2012. We are still seeing the effects play out in Afghanistan. Islamic terrorists attacked on 9/11/2001, and then President George Bush ordered the American Military, the best in the world, to respond and air strikes were carried out against the cowards that had trained in Afghanistan and killed innocent civilians with four hijacked airliners in New York City and Washington, DC. At his inauguration in January 1961, President John Kennedy said, Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.. This along with the use of napalm that probably also pushed the negative public image.Compare that with the heavily directed media coverage of the Gulf war 1991. Your email address will not be published. "When we came home, some of us were spit at. WebWhy? Why weren't those soldiers, such as WWII, Korean, and Gulf War vets,, called 'baby killers' too? Joe has spoken at high schools and colleges for 25 years about PTSD, war and how not to treat returning veterans when they come home to America after fighting for their country. UC San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. General Colin Powell and General Norman Schwartzkopf did not want a repeat of the debacle that was caused by the politicians in Congress when all of South Vietnam fell to the communists. Despite Sirota's contentions, Vietnam vets were a bit crushed coming home. Eighteen were Vietnam veterans and eight were deployed in Iraq. Sir, thanks for your service and 20 years of sacrificial loved for our beloved country. Even when the Veterans of the Vietnam War thank those men and women that followed them in subsequent wars and conflicts, the younger Veteran will often return that thanks to the Vietnam Veteran. WebThe short answer is that it was the result of a highly effective, decades long campaign by many forces in society bent on casting blame for America's defeat in the war The Operation Song Alumni Group has been meeting for their spring 23 songwriting sessions and the fruit of their most recent session (February 3, 2023) is a song titled Welcome Home From Vietnam. Pity became contempt. How you were treated by the country you defended, So heres a song. Martha's Vineyard Zippo, burning down people's homes in small towns (villages). Shira Maguen, PhD, UCSF associate professor of psychiatry and mental health director of the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System Integrated Care Clinic, which treats Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, said these emotional scars sometimes last for decades. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais). The regularly televised combat footage really brought the war home to the American public in a way that hadn't happened before. Four students were shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard while attending a protest after the events in Cambodia. Some Gave All. Their father served as an officer in the South Vietnamese Army and trained with U.S. Special Forces, but they have never learned what happened to him. WebAnswer (1 of 2): I served with the USMC in Vietnam in 1966.1967 and when I got home, I didnt want anything from anyone, because I had my life and all of my parts too. Why are Vietnam vets called baby killers? - Quora She said many veterans also described feeling guilt and shame about their experiences, while others felt numb after being exposed to so much killing and death in combat. This song was a group write, along with the very accomplished Nashville songwriter, David Kent. Legion Logistics is a third-party logistics provider (3PL) based in Newport, Kentucky. Your email address will not be published. Vietnam These children of World War II veterans learned their responsibility to serve when called or to volunteer before being called. Although not all veterans who have taken a life suffer guilt or mental health consequences, Maguen said the growing number of veterans seeking mental health services suggest that high numbers of veterans are experiencing moral injury. Vietnam Veterans, estimates are anywhere from 2.7 million to 3.3 million men, including 10,000 women; and the protesters, at that time, set the standard on how many others viewed those that served in South Vietnam, mostly negative. In 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson sent in ground combat troops, there was criticism and dissent, but the dominant image was of young Americans taking a stand in the jungle, a heady sense of Americans defending the free world.. WebBut, unlike their Nazi counterparts, U.S. soldiers could be redeemed: By confessing atrocities, the Vietnam veterans, once denigrated as "baby killers," were able to Covert Operations In Vietnam: The Incomplete History of US-Norway Collaboration. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Vietnam veterans are again doing what they did in the 1970s and helping their fellow veterans from Afghanistan to aid, evacuate, and integrate refugees who are at great risk. Why Were Vietnam War Vets Treated Poorly When They Returned? Starring Tom Selleck. The anti-war movement had extensive outreach programs towards veterans and active duty personnel which would be impossible if they were as hostile as commonly believed. Was the baby killer thing widespread or was it only a couple incidents? Author: Why Post date: 2 yesterday Rating: 4 (285 reviews) Highest rating: 3 Low rated: 2 Summary: A WebAnother myth is that anti-war protesters attacked returning soldiers. Winston Churchill, reflecting on the Boer War, understood it a century ago, and the Vietnam generation experienced it a half century ago. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homecoming:_When_the_Soldiers_Returned_from_Vietnam. The impact of their indifferent, if not hostile, reception was all the greater because they had assumed the responsibility of citizenship they understood was theirs. "Homecoming: When the Soldiers Returned From Vietnam is a book of selected correspondence published in 1989. James McCloughan, an Army medic who was awarded the Medal of Honor by former President Trump for rescuing wounded soldiers during the war, joined host Pete Hegseth in the episode along with several other veterans to detail their experience abroad and the hardships they faced upon their return to the U.S. "Vietnam veterans didn't talk about their war and about themselves," McCloughan recalls in the episode. For meand I think most others returningwe transported in a civilian airplane, that landed on a military base, which would have greatly restricted civilians from being where they could protest against us. Vietnam was an unpopular war where 58,200-plus combat soldiers were killed and more than 300,000 were wounded. Partially because the Vietnam war saw far more coverage of war crimes committed by americans than other wars, for example, see the massacres of My Lai and My Khe when a company of US infantrymen killed, raped and mutilated their way through over 500 people (according to the vietnamese government, american sources claim 347 total dead and wounded but only account for the actions committed in My Lai.). This meant that video of combat casualties and the horrors of war played out in living rooms every evening. They Called Us Baby Killers, Vietnam 1967 - YouTube In Minnesota and across the nation, executives are grappling with alarming operating losses. Other people being guilty of your misdeeds does not make you innocent of your misdeeds. One major drawback for the returning Vietnam Veteran, most of them came home alone, not with their units, and were easy targets of hostility, disdain, and disrespect for the groups of war protesters gathering at our Nations airports and other areas returning Veterans dis-embarked. Of all the tropes about the Vietnam War, one stands out far above the rest in American memory: It was the baby boomers war. A major difference between Vietnam and Afghanistan is the treatment of veterans at the end of war. Their leaders did not, although they were seldom honest about this. Did people really call Vietnam veterans baby killers? - Answers Ukraine War Anniversary: UN and China Work for Peace, Devilish Zelensky, Kiev Hid Its Dead Soldiers in the Ravines. The student movement and the The Vietnam War was a conflict that lasted from 1959 to 1975, and involved the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the National Liberation Front. Original Reporting. You look at WW2 for example they French wanted to be liberated from German control and helped where they could, I am sure in Germany bad stuff happend especially when the Soviets invaded. Since then a thank you for your service culture has arisen that has all but eliminated public displays of disdain and disrespect. On Wednesdays Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy broadcast on Nashvilles Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am the duo took a call from a Vietnam era veteran named Ben, who clarified the statement made by Nathan Phillips regarding his service as Vietnam veteran times was The new study, published in the October 2016 issue of Counseling Psychologist, further investigates the moral injury suffered by veterans who have killed and the stigma they carry. VA, DoD secretaries honor Vietnam War Veterans - VA News Like most Veterans of any war, Vietnam Veterans had their share of traumatic memories they could not leave behind, but these men and women that served and fought in South Vietnam also had to fight a war with their countrys conscience when they returned home to the United States. How many kids did you kill today? But by late 1969, when Americans learned of the atrocities committed against an estimated 600 civilians at the village of My Lai, some protesters focused on those who were serving in Vietnam, not as victims but as willing participants in their cruel and unjust war. Also, even though several decades had passed since the war in Vietnam and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there were still some Vietnam Veterans fighting in those wars and serving their country. Short- and long-term remedies are essential. The My Lai massacre was one of the most horrific incidents of violence committed during the Vietnam War. Its not that there Vietnam War was more horrific than other modern wars, but it was filtered far less effectively which stopped civilians from maintaining our willful blindness to its effects.