The Korean war has largely been forgotten today.
Not much hoopla when we came home but a hell of a lot better than that given the 'Nam Vets. The 'media' hung them with a terrible reputation of alcoholism, dope addicts and failures.
There have been many terrible movies made about 'Nam, mostly untrue, or showing only the bad part of that era and the participants. Two Vietnam veterans film producers decided to do something about it and investigated the lives of those who returned to civilian life. They found these Vets were like anyone else. Few dregs of society as proclaimed by Hollywood and the press but just normal people who picked up their lives and went on, many to great success. teachers, doctors, judges, and others. They found 8 of 10 vets were still married to their first spouse. 90% of those had children. 30% had attended college. Also, contrary to Oliver Stone's terrible film Platoon, 97% of Vietnam Vets received a honorable discharge and an insignificant number were imprisoned after returning home. These two men produced a film series that, at the Houston International film festival, won the highest award and they thought this gave credibility to put the series out to the public, Calvin Crane and his partner Robert Martinez, who sold his construction company to finance the project, heard " Over and over again, the media gatekeepers told us the series was too positive." Of course the media hates to publish or show anything positive about 'Nam that would destroy the stereotype of the Viet Vet
they original conceived. The complete story is in the March issue of the VFW magazine. I would like to see these 2 fellows on O'Reilly or Hannity or some other well viewed program. The name of the series is "A Long Way Home". The truth about Vietnam veterans. These men, and women, were as heroic as any other group that fought for our country and, of course, the freedom of others. No nation on earth has given more of their manhood and treasure than the United states of America including saving the Bosnian Muslin from genocide.
Ken |
