Every generation living seems to have or had a war take place, and in every war we have vets. There have been a few wars in my lifetime, and one of those (the first tv war) took place in Vietnam.
Due to the fact that this was the first tv war, its been saturated through press and tv, and we have not been allowed (nor should we) to forget the war vets from this conflict.
The reason why I write this is I for one (ashamedly so now) have never given a moments thought to the vets from the oppposite side of this conflict, and it was watching the episode of topgear lastnight and listening to the Vietnamese war vet on the beach that brought this home to me.
Bearing in mind its politicians that create wars but never fight them, did anyone else other than myself notice the ommision of recognition for the Vietnamese soldier from that time. Or is it just me?
Yeah I totally get what you mean by the ommission of the Vietnamese experience - I guess it’s for two reasons - culturally we are very close to the Americans and can relate to them and their experience - whereas most of us don’t have much knowledge of south east asian culture (except the cliches) and find it difficult to empathise with people who are culturally at this distance from us.
Also our idea of the war has been shaped by Hollywood - I doubt any of us have seen any films made by the Vietnamese on their experience.
There is also a racist aspect to it - people get conditioned to seeing yellow or brown people in the gunsights of a Vietnam era huey or an Iraq era apache helicopter - and they get reduced to the level of targets in a computer game - rather than the living breathing human beings they are - people who in different circumstances might help you out if you found yourself in trouble in their neck of the woods, or, again, in different circumstances people who would invite you to their homes for dinner or a bed for the night - as people in south east asia and the middle east often do - as traditions of hospitality are still very strong in these parts of the world.
When you look at it like this - you realise what a sick load of sh1t war is.
I find what you say there the truth sid, and its hard for me or anyone else to argue differently on this one. Its just the way that it came to me completely out of the blue after listening to the guy on the beach, having spent the whole show laughing myself breathless.
And indeed what a hospitable race of people. A suit made in one day! Roadside vehicle maintenance in the rain. Bike to boat conversions Id have some of that, sod the AA
I’m just downloading this now on iplayer once I have watched it I will cast my view but yer know what you mean never really thought about the otherside.
Being a little older than most of you lot, I actively demonstrated against this war that was nothing more than a charade to prop up a corrupt puppet government in a country a good chunk of the world had never heard of.
I can only admire the way the Vietnamese have come to terms with a foul period of their history and do not seem to hold a grudge. (Though I understand they are not quite so fond of the French.)
If you want to show a little financial respect, there are some Vietnamese based charities still helping war veterans and, just as/or even more ? important, kids with birth defects caused by the American use of “Agent Orange” chemical defoliant. (There is little or no government help for either group.)
If i remember rightly, the museum in Saigon actually used to be called the American War Crimes Musuem but they later changed the name to be a bit more diplomatic when they started encouraging the tourist trade.
Must have been amazing being around in those days oldguy - nice one - the 68 generation and all that - were you at the U.S. embassy clash with the police in 68 (or was it 67)?
Amazing also that the Vietnamese came out of such a brutal war in such good shape as a people.
Arrived a bit too late for Grosvenor Square. The place was heaving for at least two blocks around by the time I arrived. It was '68 as I recall.
A professional photographer friend covered the Square for one of the big newspapers but had a lot of his photos suppressed. A pity, as they reportedly gave lie to the official history of the day about who did what and when.
Don’t necessarily believe Wikepedia’s version of the “truth”.
Thanks for the anecdote Oldguy mate - I really envy you for living through those times - I was born in 69 and have no first hand experience of the sixties so my image of those times consists of archive film (Vanessa Redgrave in a head band and Tariq Ali marching to Grosvenor square set to the soundtrack of the stones ‘Streetfighting Man’.
- the 68 generation and all that - were you at the U.S. embassy clash with the police in 68 (or was it 67)?