Treatment of 'Nam Vets

[Tmy]

I checked out the Vietnam memorial this weekend. Its pretty cool as far as memorials go.

I was wondering, were Nam vets really treated that bad when they came back to the US? You always here that line about "they spit on us when we came home". Was that attitude really that prevelent? I can see in some parts of the country, but as a whole?

This was before my time.

[jj]

Originally posted by Tmy
I checked out the Vietnam memorial this weekend. Its pretty cool as far as memorials go.

I was wondering, were Nam vets really treated that bad when they came back to the US? You always here that line about "they spit on us when we came home". Was that attitude really that prevelent? I can see in some parts of the country, but as a whole?

This was before my time.

Yes, they were treated very poorly. The sick and injured ones were warehoused, not treated, and the ones who came down with some other problem afterwards mostly ignored. Some vet's organizations would not admit them because it was not a declared war, etc.

All in all, the treatment of 'Nam vets was beyond shabby.

[Dancing David]

It probably depends on whos treatment of whom is considered, the governement treated the Vets very poorly as did some (but not all) vetrans groups.

I have heard the story about being spit on and called baby killers as well, I hope it was only one whacko.

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by Dancing David
It probably depends on whos treatment of whom is considered, the governement treated the Vets very poorly as did some (but not all) vetrans groups.

I have heard the story about being spit on and called baby killers as well, I hope it was only one whacko.

I seem to recall some of the protesters against the war getting treated even worse, eg, shot and killed.

I am not trying to say that the treatment of vets was called for, but I think the times had both sides at each other's throats.

The result of My Lai would not have raised the respect held for vets either, as it clearly condoned the killing of innocent civilians. You don't have to try to hard to realise that My Lai was just the tip of the iceberg. Plenty of guys dipped out of the draft to avoid fighting, (including some presidents, although not for conscientious reasons).

Perhaps some more civil disobedience from those conscripted would have ended the war a lot earlier.

[JAR]

According to the Rambo movie "First Blood", it's true.

I don't know how true it is that Vets were treated badly after the war. My parents were never mean to Veterans of 'Nam.