Newsweek Perpetuates a Lie
by MissLaura

In a story about Chuck Hagel and John McCain's friendship and differing views on Iraq, Newsweek says of the Vietnam era

There's a small problem with that: Despite the widespread belief these days that troops returning from Vietname were spat on, there's not a shred of evidence from that time period that this ever happened. In his book The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam, the sociologist Jerry Lembcke looked for evidence of episodes of spitting. As he wrote in a 2005 Boston Globe op-ed



Lembcke goes on to cite a 1971 poll finding that more than 90% of Vietnam veterans said they had met a friendly homecoming. Unless someone can step up with some actual evidence, reporting from the time the spitting was supposedly happening, not unsubstantiated rumors, supposedly reputable media outlets like Newsweek need to avoid making these misrepresentations and retract the ones they've already engaged in.

I hope people read this before the angry posts fly.

I put the above post here in hopes that anyone who can contest the claims of the above writer goes to Kos through the link provided in the title and tell her what you think and what you experienced.

MissLaura probably wouldn't understand Noonan. I'm not sure what the relevance was in her post anyhow and how it pertains to today.

Bob Kerry had this to say in his book "When I Was A Young Man", page 232. He wasn't exactly spat on but when he was in Philadelphia in 1969 undergoing rehab with his prosthetic leg he writes about an incident that occurred at the Martin Luther King track meet at Villanova.

"After the race I was taunted by a group of long-haired men who blocked the exit and knocked me to the ground as I pushed past them to leave."

I don’t believe my experience was outstanding, and I do believe most post Vietnam war experiences were more subtle.
Prior to my going into the Army I worked on a ranch in north central New Mexico. My duties were typical of the common ranch hand, my employer typical of most cattle ranch owners. At this point in time we enjoyed a good working relationship that I thought of as friendly and rewarding. This is where I was employed when I received my draft notice, in the late summer of 1967. Rather than take the two year obligation under the draft, I enlisted for the choice of Army schooling. I entered the Army in the fall of 1967 with a three year obligation. It wasn’t long before I found myself in Vietnam, where I stayed for an extra tour of duty.
Three years and a few months later I found myself disinterested in returning to the cowboy life, so I began taking classes at our university. The town where I went to high school was a small ranching community of just under two thousand. It’s where my folks lived so this is where I first stayed after my return from Vietnam. I have to say, I didn’t stay very long, the attitude of the people who I used to call friends and neighbors had somehow degraded to a very uncomfortable level. My former employer and his family treated me as if I was spreading a plague. I’ll never forget the day I parked in the back of the grocery store parking lot, got out of my pick-up and headed into the store. My former employer and his whole family were just leaving the store, seeing me they literally ran, hands full of groceries, from the front of the store to where their car was parked, just to avoid having to talk to me.
The small town atmosphere had lost all appeal for me. Not even my closest buddies from high school would engage me in small talk, it was like having a contagious disease. The only exception were the few other men who had also been in the military, who also were experiencing a disconnect with the home folks. At the time I was seeing an old girl friend, who would tell me what the local people were saying. They knew of my multiple tours to Vietnam, and of the decorations I had obtained and concluded I was no longer sane and that I should be avoided at all cost.
I was home about six months when I moved to the city and tried my best to just blend in. It wasn’t long after that and I found myself surrounded with friends who were veterans such as myself. Today these same veteran friends make up my social circle. To date I haven’t spent ten minutes back in my old home town.

boy does that sound like my home town i spent maybe 3 months before i left and i was in the navy for four years

Well, I provide a shred of evidence because it happen to me in the Atlanta Georgia Airport in 1972.

I was going home on leave after I'd had an accident so I was on crutches. I was also traveling in uniform because back then the airlines would give servicemen a reduced fare but you had to travel in uniform to receive it. And one of the anti-war heros targeted me to spit on and call a baby killer.

I veiw this as another attempt to revise history akin to holocaust denial because there is good reason for that widespread belief servicemen were spat upon.

vfguenley points out what I believe most RVN vets found:
none spit on most of us, everyone appeared to think
we might go off, gouge eyes and rip throats, for no reason. They
were half right. Most wouldn't go off for no reason, and those who did
most often dropped or ducked from a car backfire. But, while
few wanted a fight, the escalation of force had definately changed.

I didn't know Bob Kerry had a prosthesis. Learn somethin' every day.