THE RETURN HOME
A REFLECTION ON U.S. CITIZENS’ REACTIONS TO THE VIETNAM WAR, AND THE SOLDIERS AFFECTED BY THOSE REACTIONS 1969, MORATORIUM TO END THE WAR IN VIETNAM
THE VIETNAM WAR SPANNED OVER two decades and had some of the highest causalities of any war up until that date. Unlike the previous world wars that U.S. had fought in, this conflict received extreme protest from the U.S. people. The protest was not only against the government, but major hostility grew towards those who were sent to fight, incited by incidents like My Lai. On March 19th, 1968 Charlie Company U.S. Division’s 11th Infantry Brigade, opened fire on the small Vietnamese village of My Lai. The troops killed more than 500 men, women and children in the course of three hours. After this, despite the constant violent guerilla attacks from enemy forces, the public view shifted and the actions of the Charlie Company became the most noticeable act of violence in the war.
Below are some significant actions of antiwar protestors in the 1960’s.
ANTI WAR
Marches
Beginning in the early 1960’s U.S. Citizens, mostly comprised of young people and Veterans from previous wars, started protesting the war. Similar to the Civil Rights movement, one of the major methods of protest was through marches. Often times at marches draft cards and service papers were burned. In 1966, a group of 100 Veterans traveled from New York to the White House to return medals and honorable discharges as a sign of protest. The largest protest was the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam on October 15, 1969. Millions participated throughout the world; they gathered in large cities and heard speeches on why the war should be ended. This was followed a month later by a Moratorium in DC, where over 500,000 people attended.
Riots on Veteran Centers
Protestors were not always peaceful. Throughout the war several Vietnam memorials were attacked, throwing paint on the names of the people who had died in the war.
Teach-ins
Defined by the Webster dictionary as:
An extended meeting usually held on a college campus for lectures, debates, and discussions to raise awareness of or express a position on a social or political issue.
Teach-ins were created during the 1960’s surrounding the Vietnam War. The most notable Teach-In was in 1965. It was held at the University of Michigan, and broadcast to universities throughout the nation.
SOLDIERS POINT OF VIEW
Unlike soldiers from the previous world wars, there was no grand welcoming home of Vietnam Veterans. While studies show that around 85% of Veterans transitioned back into civilian life well, the treatment of soldiers drastically changed from the prior wars. For many, wearing their uniform in public invited hostile reactions from civilians they had fought to protect. Below are some quotes from stories that past Veterans have shared, surrounding both the war and their return home.
NOTE: below are just six views from coming home to war, as always there are a multitude of experiences from the thousands of men and women who returned*
“I came out on a stretcher at Travis Air Force Base in California, and got stuff thrown at me, rotten eggs, tomatoes. All of us coming off that airplane were wounded, and they were throwing stuff at us. … I can refer back to when the World War II people came home and they were heroes. When we came home we were the enemy, I think. I felt like we were the enemy. That really hurt…” Terry Tople, Machinegunner, 9th Infantry Division
“When we came back from Vietnam and landed out there—you are just so happy to be home, and you have these long haired pukes out there waving signs about baby killers. I was almost to the point where I was bummed out... I rode home on a bus. I got home about 5:00 and Dad picked me up in Pierre, and we went on down to Winner and stopped down at the bar when we got there. It was like I won the Medal of Honor or something. People really treated me good…” Pat Murphy, Navy Sea Bees
“It was truly once in a lifetime thing, you know, when a soldier comes home. There’s no other feeling like it…. But when it came time to socialize—I mean, I came back in February, and it wasn’t too hard to figure out where the guy with the short hair and the golden suntan had just come from. I guess what sticks in my mind the most to this day- very shorly after I came home, I saw this poster of an attractive girl dressed in semi-hippie garb, and the poster said, “Girls say yes to men who say no”— no to the military…. You almost wish you could go back to Vietnam, because these guys don’t know what the hell is going on…” Dale Bertsch, Infantry-Truck Driver, 9th Infantry Division
“Dealing with people was kind of a disappointment because nobody really knew much about Vietnam. A guy I used to play baseball with said he hadn’t seen me in a long time and, “Weren’t you in the service or something for while?” it was like I’d never been away. Nobody asked very much about it; they’d ask you if it rained a lot in the monsoon, if your M-16 jammed and if you ever had any dope, and that would be the end of the conversation. I did have one incident later on at college. A guy in my fraternity was kinda drunk. I wasn’t telling them a bunch of war stories, but somebody asked and I had said something about Vietnam. He was really against the war, and he exploded. He held an imaginary rifle with a bayonet and shoved it at my neck. He said, “How would you like it if someone did that to you, to kill if you’re actually face to face with killing, so you can really understand it.” He was going to raise my consciousness. He had never talked to me about what I did in Vietnam. He didn’t know what I did or what I thought, but he just totally hated me…” Tom Magedanz, Rifleman, 1st Marine Division
“I remember landing in the airport and going in the men’s room and getting out of my uniform and putting on civilian clothes. I decided I didn’t want to be encountering anybody and getting a hard time for being one of the “baby killers” coming home; so I kind of sneaked home…” Rod Anderson, Surveillance Pilot, Army
“It took only a few days at home for most of us to realize that our descriptions of Vietnam, told in the mystic/cryptic jargon we learned there—metaphors that unconsciously integrated killing and dying with C-rations and mall call—frightened our families, embarrassed our friends, and sometimes provoked hostility. In tacit agreement with society, we negotiated the price of our reentry—silence.” Captain Suzanne Budd, United States Air Force
IN THE CLASSROOM
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• Based on what you know about the Vietnam War—do you think that U.S. Citizens had the right to protest?
• The actions of the Charlie Company reflected upon all U.S. Armed Forces. “Baby killer” was a constant insult thrown at Veterans returning home. If you were a Vietnam Veteran what are the benefits and hardships of coming home?
• Is protesting against a war disrespectful to the soldiers fighting that war?
• As seen on your timeline a protest in Kent State turned into a riot, and 8 people were killed. The first amendment gives the right to free speech. Where is the line between protesting and rioting?