Heartbreak in HiDef

[mickeym]

I'm watching the 'Vietnam in HD' special on History Channel, and it's breaking my heart right now. They've got two guys who served over there talking about when they came home, and people's reactions/responses to them. The one guy was saying how he came home in his uniform, with his medals on his chest, and he was proud of himself, full of patriotism... and people were staring at him, whispering, moving away from him. He was in a bus terminal (or airport), and the seats were full... except for the one to his left and the one to his right, and how people would rather stand or sit on the floor than sit beside him. The other guy was telling how protesters surrounded the car he was getting into, banging their signs on the hood and roof, and hitting the windows, shouting and calling him names.

40 years later, and these guys still get choked up trying to talk about it.

Matthew and I talked about some of this last night. He didn't know that our soldiers returning from Vietnam were...attacked, yelled at, called names, spit on, had garbage thrown at them. He was pretty shocked.

Comments

[missyjack.livejournal.com]

That sounds awfully like the "they were just following orders"excuse. And it's hard to comment further on that without entering Goodwin territory.

I would maintain individuals are still responsible for their own actions.

[elizah-jane.livejournal.com]

And saying that "support the troops" = "the government is always right" sounds awfully black at white.

I didn't say individuals weren't responsible for their own actions, but I don't think members of the military are inherently evil either.