March 29, 2016, - 11:35 pm

Vietnam Veterans Day: Honoring & Remembering Those Who Thanklessly Served, Got Spit On

By Debbie Schlussel

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I can’t let the day go by without noting that today is Vietnam Veterans Day. And without noting the dark, sickening irony of who created it.

Since it’s Vietnam Veterans Day, I want to thank all of the American men who served thanklessly in Southeast Asia, in many cases giving their lives or their limbs or their stability of mind and mental health. They went there after being drafted while, in many cases, rich kids and the well-connected got out of it through bribes, attending college or grad school, or using minor alleged injuries as excuses for ineligibility. They went there while frauds like Ted Nugent got phony deferments, as Nugent did, illegally and falsely swearing in documents that he was in school when he was really touring with his band.

They went there while all of those who got out of it protested and defamed them on America’s streets. While schmucks like Walter Cronkite went on the news every night and served as the Viet Cong’s PR machine, losing the propaganda war for them despite the fact that they were winning the war on the ground, with their blood, their limbs, and their minds. They went there and for the most part served honorably and yet continue to be defamed in Hollywood movies, TV shows, and the conventional wisdom of false narratives that painted and continues to paint them as murderers and rapists.

And, then, they came back and got spit on and treated horribly. My late father, H.L. Schlussel, MD, was a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, and it rightly disgusted him to see how these men, mostly from working-class White, Black, and Hispanic families were treated like dirt when they came home. That’s why, for most of his post-Vietnam medical career, he always treated Vietnam vets for free. He appreciated their service to our country and their valiant fight against Communism. And he did not appreciate what was done to them by Democratic Presidents who sent them to fight a war, with little moral or physical support, and in many cases, left them to die. Democratic Presidents who were half-assed, half-hearted, ambivalent, and unsure about whether they really wanted to fight this war against Communism in Southeast Asia, but sent these American boys there anyway.

It was the only war after which America’s fighting men came home and were treated like the enemy, like criminals. The only war in which our men went when called and, yet, they weren’t welcomed home. And that’s why it’s ironic, hypocritical, and chutzpah-dik (and not in a good way) to note who created Vietnam Veterans Day in 2012: Barack Hussein Obama, parishioner for over two decades of Jeremiah “G-d D-mn America” Wright.

It was Obama’s friends and mentors who led the protests on America’s streets against the Vietnam Vets while they were dying over there. It was Obama’s friends and mentors who lost them the war in the minds of America while they were actually winning on the ground over there. And it was Obama’s friends and mentors who spit on them and treated them like crap when they came home. Obama’s friends in Hollywood, who made crap like “Platoon,” depicting our Armed Forces in Vietnam as pot-smoking rapists and murderers. Obama’s gurus like Bill Ayers who not only led protests on the streets, but actually engaged in terrorism, including bombing the Pentagon.

Those were and remain Barack Obama’s gang: the men who led the collective spitting on our Vietnam Veterans and continue to spit on them in the public’s perception, in America’s college classrooms, and on the small and silver screens today.

So, today, I remember those who served in thankless service in a war we weren’t serious about. And I don’t forget those who spit on them, including the extended ideological family of the current Commander-in-Chief who pretends to care about what they gave and lost in Vietnam.

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U.S. Marines on the Ground in Vietnam . . .

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17 Responses

“They went there after being drafted while, in many cases, rich kids and the well-connected got out of it through bribes, attending college or grad school, or using minor alleged injuries as excuses for ineligibility.” You forgot “Just plain refused to go” like that great American (and best pal of Jimmy Carter), Muhammad Ali!
Thank you Debbie.

Tommy Thomas
U.S. Army 1974-77

Tommy Thomas on March 30, 2016 at 4:11 am

Thank you for the recognition and article. How badly this war was managed by politicians and how valiantly, heroically and victoriously was it fought by our combatants! While some (about 25% vs 60+% in WWII) were drafted many recognized the call from their country and what was at stake and went. As was suggested, the Domino effect did “take effect” when the US left and millions died under the communist boot. Those heroes, all, should be remembered for their duty and sacrifice as our WWI, WWII, Korea and Gulf/Middle East veterans are! The home front lost Vietnam, not the ‘boots’… moral ambivalence and failure to recognize the enemies infiltration into our politics and society lead to a perceived idea that the “U.S. was losing the war…” Tet was a fiasco for the PAVN but was a public relations victory that pushed us out of the war. We never lost a contested conflict but talk to the youth of today and they think the opposite. And look where America is now? Reeling from lunacy that began politically in the ’60s. God Help us. Thanks again!

RogrDane on March 30, 2016 at 9:22 am

A salute to my Captain who served honorably as a pilot in Vietnam. He flew C 130s and said he will never forget the flights carrying row after row of flag draped coffins.

PaulaMalka on March 30, 2016 at 9:36 am

Ten years after the Vietnam War ended Chicago held a parade for Vietnam Veterans. An estimated 200,000 marched cheered by nearly 500,000 spectators. I was there. A lot of the Veterans wore their uniforms. One Veteran told me he was moved to tears by the difference between the welcome when he first returned home and the honor showed him at the parade.

PaulaMalka on March 30, 2016 at 9:52 am

Great article, Debbie, hard hitting and true, especially with regard to the hypocrisy of The Ex-Cokie In Chief. Love the part about his extended ideological family.

As an aside, it’s also the 35th anniversary of the Reagan shooting. If he hadn’t survived, we might already have been ripe for invasion and overthrow. The Reagan presidency delayed the inevitable, which is the demise of . . .

“this once great republic.”

Alfredo from Puerto Rico on March 30, 2016 at 10:24 am

Oops, the article was dated yesterday, didn’t see that. The Reagan shooting was today. Sorry.

Alfredo from Puerto Rico on March 30, 2016 at 10:25 am

Once again Debbie you provide a great post about a very good subject. This one is very near and dear to my heart. My father served in Vietnam. He didn’t get to evade going like douchebags such as Ted Nugent and Bill Clinton (who loathed the military). He also didn’t get to use the war as a photo op like John(I served in Vietnam) Kerry. I really do also want to thank BJC for those “awesome” pay raises during his 90s reign of error but that’s another story. When my Dad got home while wearing his USMC uniform he and his friends were spit upon and called baby killer by the brain dead Woodstock anti-war crowd. You know that same crowd that fermented the tiny warped leftist mind that infects our current Commander-in-Chief. These are the same sick minds who are now in all of our major institutions in this country. Primarily our education system. How else do you explain the current crop of college kids who are even as we speak are making fools of themselves during spring break. One of my Dad’s war buddies who finally got his 100% rating from the VA hated LBJ, Walter Cronkite, John Kerry, and Jane Fonda. Those four people among others exploited our good men that went over there to fight. Some of them came back whole and some like my Dad didn’t. I’ll always have great respect for Vietnam Veterans like my Dad and his unit. I will also have scorn for those people like Obama, Wright, Ayers, Dorn, Fonda, Clinton, Nugent, Cronkite, and LBJ. The last two since they’re Tango Uniform can feel the burn if you know what I mean. Semper Fi to all of the Marines that served and to the rest of our armed forces. This is your day and once again thank you Debbie for this post.

Ken B on March 30, 2016 at 11:03 am

I also thank you Debbie for the excellent article. You’re also about the only person in the media / blog world who has mentioned the day — in a way amazing when you consider so many of our so-called media / blog sphere elites today managed to escape and evade service and were unending in condemning those of us doing our duty.

Thank you,
ra2216

ra2216 on March 30, 2016 at 2:11 pm

Thank you for your honoring us veterans of the Vietnam War.

While riding my Triumph motorcycle to school a few months before I enlisted, 1971, while in traffic a motorist beside me rolled down his window to spit on me. He did. I was wearing a green beret and my dad’s WWII Air Force jacket. I must have looked like active duty or former military.

It was ugly back then because of the anti-war turmoil of the 60s created distrust. Black Panthers, SDS and others anger promoted that America was on the ropes.

I was not angry because of this incident but went about my life thinking how this man’s anger was misplaced.

Again thanks for your special post.

US Army 1971-1974

Panhandle on March 30, 2016 at 2:58 pm

I appreciate your bringing this up. The men who went to Vietnam were treated like freaks and criminals in many cases when they returned. The politicians were the ones who failed America and South Vietnam, and not the soldiers who fought and died there.

I can see why Barack Obama does not take Terrorism seriously, since he liked to pal around with an ex-terrorist like Bill Ayers.

Worry on March 30, 2016 at 5:50 pm

I’m a Viet Nam veteran, but I didn’t know that today was Viet Nam Veterans Day.

I don’t reckon it would make much difference if I had known about it.

With nothing interesting on cable television, and the rest of humanity sound asleep, I spent the long night hours working Codeword Puzzles (i.e., crossword puzzles without any clues), and therefore, just now woke up.

I served in the United States Army from 07 December 1967 until 03 December 1976, and was in the old Republic of Viet Nam from 12 December 1969 until 21 February 1972 (i.e., I had volunteered twice to extend my required tour of duty).

A highlight of my service in Viet Nam was a thirty day special leave to visit Israel, where I went on Jewish guided bus tours to see as much of the country as I could.
__________________________________

“MY TRIP TO ISRAEL”
BY: JOHN ROBERT MALLERNEE

Gather ’round, my comrades
And I’ll tell of the day
I boarded a plane
And flew far away.

In Viet Nam, I’d spent
Six months and a year
Living like a dog
And surrounded by fear.

So, I bid “Farewell!”,
With leave orders in my hand,
As Trans World Airlines
Flew me to the Promised Land.

The Land of Israel,
The Land of the Book!
I could hardly wait
To have my first look!

After many long hours
Above the clouds we’d trod,
Trans World Airlines
Finally landed at Lod.

In Tel Aviv,
I roomed at the “Park”
And ventured forth,
Happy as a lark.

Bethlehem, Masada,
Jerusalem of Gold;
I visted them each,
And other places of old.

I met a young lady
On my guided bus tour.
Entranced by her femineness,
I thought, “Vive L’ Amour!”

From Montreal, Canada,
Is where she came.
But, I was too shy
To ask her name.

All through the trip,
I watched her and stared.
She would never know
How much for her I cared.

We would never meet,
As decreed by the Fates,
For the girl went to Greece,
As I flew to the States.

I bought Yemenite jewelry for Mom,
An antique sword for myself.
Pictures of Israel
Are in albums on the shelf.

Though I’m back in Viet Nam
With my head in a whirl,
I remember Israel,
And I remember that girl.
__________________________________

John Robert Mallernee on March 30, 2016 at 6:00 pm

    If anyone is interested, here is the URL for my homemade amateur video recording of ME (!) performing a song that I composed, “WELCOME HOME, AMERICAN VET”.

    https://youtu.be/-RnF1aKAoxM

    “WELCOME HOME, AMERICAN VET”

    Words and Music by:
    JOHN ROBERT “SAIGON” MALLERNEE

    VERSE # 1:
    The war is over.
    Everyone’s gone.
    It’s cold and raining
    And I’m all alone.
    I wish that someone
    Could tell me why
    Each time I close
    My door and cry!

    CHORUS:
    Hup! Two! Three! Four!
    Welcome home, American vet.
    We’re grateful, but,
    There’s no jobs yet.
    You shouldered the burden.
    Now, carry the blame.
    You should have stayed home
    Instead of playing the game.
    Go to school.
    Now, here’s your check.
    You’ve gotta pay it back
    If it isn’t correct.
    Shut your mouth
    And obey the law.
    We don’t want to hear
    About the things you saw.

    VERSE # 2:
    It’s always raining.
    The sun doesn’t shine.
    But, I’ve come home.
    So, give me what’s mine.
    Don’t leave me out
    Of society’s race.
    Don’t leave me behind.
    All I want is my place.

    VERSE # 3:
    It’s cold and lonely.
    I feel like a fool
    And it’s so useless
    To be sitting in school.
    With my machine gun,
    I could make it all right.
    I can’t get adjusted.
    All I know’s how to fight!

    John Robert Mallernee on March 30, 2016 at 6:27 pm

      Cool song Mr. Mallernee and from one vet to another I thank you for your service to this great nation.

      Ken B on March 31, 2016 at 9:15 am

The disdain for our Vets shown then is yet perpetuated today by BHO2 and his groupies via the disgraceful state of the VA Medical and Benefits systems.

AestrangeD on March 30, 2016 at 6:01 pm

Interesting that Snopes.com claims the ‘Vietnam Vets being spit on’ thing is an unsubstantiated urban legend.

BTW I must stick up for Muhammad Ali who was certainly not a draft dodger as one earlier poster painted him. He went to court and took the consequences for his moral stand (losing his boxing license in the prime years of his career).

Vic on March 30, 2016 at 6:14 pm

We won the Vietnam War! Then liberal Democrats pulled defeat out of the jaws of victory.
The Democrats continue to be traitors and worse.
See video link for details:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hqYGHZCJwk

Steve G on March 30, 2016 at 9:09 pm

Ms. Schlussel, I know that you were a little child at the later stages of the Vietnam war and remember the new-coverage of that war and how Mr. Cronkite sensationalized the situation in South Asia.

I intrinsically wasn’t around during the whole Vietnam war (1957-1975), but I did my own epistemological modus-operandi on it and also being educated on it during my school days (no, I wasn’t propagandized on it, but was taught the whole facts on it), that hypothetically, this nation won that war, but as I both and the OP (Debbie Schlusel) argued that it was exaggerated for detrimental reasons and unfortunately our soldiers at the time returning back here to the States were treated like enemies themselves by mainly protesters on college campuses at the time.

Sean R. on March 30, 2016 at 11:38 pm

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