Ken Burns - Vietnam

[RKM]

My good friend and neighbor of almost 40 years did 4 tours in Viet Nam serving in the Marine Corps. Only towards the end of his life did he ever start talking about his experience. A lot of times he would only recount the funny things, but eventually would talk of the bad. He had nightmares for years. Sometimes he would camo up, grab a weapon and go sit in his tree line in the back yard for hours at a time. He told me once that is where he felt safe and "at home".

 

[Poke78]

My good friend and neighbor of almost 40 years did 4 tours in Viet Nam serving in the Marine Corps. Only towards the end of his life did he ever start talking about his experience. A lot of times he would only recount the funny things, but eventually would talk of the bad. He had nightmares for years. Sometimes he would camo up, grab a weapon and go sit in his tree line in the back yard for hours at a time. He told me once that is where he felt safe and "at home".

If I were a new neighbor without the information you related about him, I'd be very concerned when I saw that. Bless him for his service. Some experiences just don't let go of the human psyche and it comes out in different ways. For my WW2 veteran dad, it was alcoholism.

 

[donner]

I'm just getting caught up but the backstory of Ho Chi Minh is fascinating

 

[dennishoddy]

I'm just getting caught up but the backstory of Ho Chi Minh is fascinating

That it was. I thought Eisenhower sent the first troops over there. Finding out it was Truman, and Ho considered the US as an allie was a revelation. We trained the early Viet Minh using the WWII OSS.

 

[O4L]

The back history has been very interesting.

 

[Mos Eisley]

Like everything else...I blame the French.

 

[Frederick]

I'm very interested in military history, so i'll be watching it every night at 7 central when it's on.

Dang, I wanted to see it but the old man was watching football. I'll go see if it airs at another time. Thanks for the reminder!

You can watch it in your web browser if you have Cox.

My good friend and neighbor of almost 40 years did 4 tours in Viet Nam serving in the Marine Corps. Only towards the end of his life did he ever start talking about his experience. A lot of times he would only recount the funny things, but eventually would talk of the bad. He had nightmares for years. Sometimes he would camo up, grab a weapon and go sit in his tree line in the back yard for hours at a time. He told me once that is where he felt safe and "at home".

I don't think combat vets owe us anything, but i feel that it is a great disservice when they don't talk about their experiences.

I think we can learn a lot from combat vets. If we don't learn from the past we'll regret it in the future. A lot of Vietnam's experiences appear to be played out in Afghanistan and Iraq.

From a historical point of view, we should gather as much first hand survivor accounts as we can to help us paint a bigger picture of the cataclysm that was the Vietnam war.

from a personal point of view, talking about your experiences with family members can be therapeutic in many cases. But those stories can be passed down to later generations, and remind us of the Horror of war. it helps me understand what those brave souls went through.

As an American, it's easy to be partisan against the enemies of your country. but Vietnam was not just an American tragedy, but a human one. I think it's great that we are able to travel to Vietnam and see the war from another perspective. It almost makes it feel as if we were the bad guys in that war.

 

[donner]

That it was. I thought Eisenhower sent the first troops over there. Finding out it was Truman, and Ho considered the US as an allie was a revelation. We trained the early Viet Minh using the WWII OSS.

While i wont pretend to know how things would be different, there just seemed like so many points where things would have gone another direction if one or two things had changed. If Wilson had seen Ho's petition, if the OSS medic hadn't rendered medical aide, if Truman would have received any of Ho's letters, if Dooley hadn't died.

I thought Ho quoting Jefferson after the Japanese defeat was very surprising.

Heck, even the stuff about Kennedy not wanting the war, but being unwilling to withdraw and give up the territory to the communists because of what it'd do to his reelection chances was interesting. And who knows what would have happened if Kennedy had lived and things not been passed to LBJ

 

[SMS]

Lots of hidden history from that era, heck, from all eras really lol.

Ken Burns does good work.

 

[Annie]

Lots of hidden history from that era, heck, from all eras really lol.

Ken Burns does good work.

What's that saying? History is written by the victorious or something like that.