In honor of the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, last month the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall was brought onto the Crystal Harley-Davidson property in Crystal River.
Chronicle correspondent Margo Wilson provided an excellent article here about the program sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Gathering organization.
While reading her article about this great program, I wondered how many schoolchildren came to the event that were knowledgeable about the Vietnam War.
About 20 years ago, the American Heritage magazine had a study called, “What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam?”
In that study, American Heritage writer Bill McCloud sent surveys to the principals of 60 junior high schools in Oklahoma in an attempt to find out at what grade level the Vietnam War is usually taught, how much time is usually spent covering it, and the number of veterans involved in teaching the war.
Thirty-five percent of the principals who responded reported that the war is not taught at all in their schools. When it was taught, it is usually part of an eighth-grade American history class, and only one to two weeks are devoted to it. Twelve percent of those teaching about the war were Vietnam veterans.
Even longer ago, in 1995, the L.A. Times had an article stating that some educators point out that the war is often covered quickly and superficially, particularly in high schools. Additionally, there’s a need for more comprehensive discussions about the war’s origins, including the U.S. involvement from the start.
In the years following the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, according to the Times, most school textbooks either ignored the war or briefly skimmed over it. Educators also tended to avoid the subject in their classrooms because the mere mention of the war could stir heated debate.
Some educators observed that while teachers recognize the Vietnam War’s importance, students today may be more interested in the anti-war movement and the counterculture it spawned than the war itself, neglecting the complex factors and long-term consequences.
Although many teachers consider Vietnam crucial to understanding American foreign policy and identify it as one of the key events in U.S. history, today’s high school students learn about the Vietnam War in much the same way they study other contemporary affairs – quickly and without much depth, educators said.
When President Lyndon Johnson sent the first U.S. combat troops to South Vietnam in March 1965, few Americans recognized that they were entering a grueling war of attrition that would leave a lasting scar on American politics and society.
I believe, however, that scar may be rapidly disappearing from memory within our school curriculums. Perhaps due to the controversies occurring during and after the war. In fact, we may now find subjects about military at war in our classrooms pretty much ceases in time at the occurrence of World War II.
Reporting the war
One of my biggest complaints concerned media reporting about the Vietnam War when, in my personal opinion, it insulted those who served in the Vietnam War with writings I truly find to not be factual. Especially after my being around Vietnam War Veterans these past 50 years and hearing their stories.
For example, Jerry Lembcke was an associate professor of sociology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 2013 for the History News Network, he had an article titled “Why Students Should Stop Interviewing Vietnam Veterans.”
He wrote that hundreds of men “remember” being spat on when they returned from Vietnam, even though there is virtually no record of those incidents occurring during the late years of the war, or even them being claimed at that time. Veterans, he said, indeed appear to graft onto their own biographies’ storylines from folklore and popular films and then recount those stories as “memories” when interviewed.
The mythology of the veteran victimized by his homecoming experience merged easily with efforts to revise other unpleasantries nagging public memory of the war.
Any corporeal weight that “mutual destruction” may have lacked was made up, he said, for belief that “unseen wounds” had come home from Vietnam as psychic damage carried by traumatized veterans. That belief gained standing in 1980 when post-traumatic stress disorder was added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM III). From there, he said, PTSD morphed from a diagnostic category into a cultural trope, signifying as well the combat bona fides of the victim-veteran.
With the potential of symptoms to validate martial accomplishment – a diagnosis as a “purple heart” – it should surprise no one that mental health workers were swamped with cases of “factitious PTSD” in the 1980s.
A mess of large, insulting verbiage and I have no idea how he came to those conclusions. Please, let me try and refute his outlandish statements.
The truth
I was spat on. We were spat on. And called horrible names upon return from the war while transiting L.A. International Airport and other arrival points. Returning from hell that day thinking it would be a day of honor, but becoming a day of tears and dishonor. It is a moment of my life and those of my brothers-in-arms never, ever, to be forgotten.
And, as far as PTSD, I suffered with it for a long time. So bad I nearly committed suicide in later years. As did thousands and thousands and thousands of others. Many were successful according to a National Library of Medicine 1979-2019 study that found 94,947 Vietnam-era Veterans committed suicide.
I believe the veteran’s suicide figures state the true facts, entirely disputing that History News Network article.
Stories about the Vietnam War must be taught in our schools. It was an unpopular war but the sacrifices of America’s military to defend freedom must never be forgotten.
My most difficult task is talking with others who served in our war. Their experiences seem to always be on a level of horror that I did not face. Many times, I have gone home after having met with them and was unable to do much more that sit quietly and feel great sadness.
One of my worst experiences occurred after having met an individual who gave all to the fight for freedom in our war and paid a very, very heavy price. He is, in fact, one major influence to my demand to educate our students about the Veterans of the Vietnam War.
A man of valor
His name is Air Force Col. Philip Eldon Smith, a former prisoner of war.
In 1979-80 while on an assignment in Europe I was transferred to a Crisis Action Team formed under President Carter for operational planning of the rescue of hostages at the American Embassy in Teheran, Iran. A military operation known as Operation Eagle Claw. Our small team of consisted of specialists in five military areas ranging from communications, to airlift planning. We were commanded by Colonel Smith. Selected to lead us because of his “experience” as a prisoner of war. An experience of horror.
As a captain in the Vietnam War, he flew a fighter on 80 combat missions out of Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, before he was forced to eject near Hainan Island and was captured and taken as a prisoner of war by the Chinese on Sept. 20, 1965. After spending 2,734 days in captivity, he was released during Operation Homecoming on March 15, 1973. Continuing his military career, he served in a number of positions until military retirement on July 1, 1987.
One of his many decorations was the Silver Star and the citation read in part: “Ignoring international agreements on treatment of prisoners of war, the enemy resorted to mental and physical cruelties to obtain information, confessions, and propaganda materials. Lieutenant Colonel Smith resisted their demands by calling upon his deepest inner strengths in a manner which reflected his devotion to duty and great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”
We became very close during our Crisis Action Team operation until I deployed for an extended time to Egypt in support of the rescue attempt mission. Before my departure, I learned a number of things about the cruelties he had endured.
Tortured beyond belief while in near total isolation for seven years. Refusing to speak to his captors and needing speech therapy upon release. Torture methods I learned about that still today I am unable to describe without tears.
Why is his story and the story of the over 58,000 killed on the battlefields not being taught in our schools? Or, of the over 300,000 wounded? Or, of the over 300,000 who have died from exposure to Agent Orange and every single day we are seeing more and more die from their terrible diseases?
Why are they being forgotten except for the few days each year when a Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall appears in our towns? Or, the one day each year when we celebrate Veterans Day with a local parade that seems to be shrinking in participation more and more as time passes?
I find it shameful.
I find it humiliating.
Get it back into the schools
Our service and sacrifices need to be taught in America’s schoolrooms. There is no excuse for not doing so.
There are tools to help our educators bring the Vietnam War into the classrooms. For example, Washington’s Vietnam War 50th Anniversary program has an amazing compilation of resources and tools for educators to teach about the Vietnam War. There is a toolkit developed by their History and Legacy Branch that provides educators with a variety of materials and activities suitable for students of all ages, from elementary school to college. The toolkit aims to foster understanding and appreciation for the service of Vietnam veterans and the history of U.S. involvement.
The packet features recommended service-learning projects, educational posters that cover a variety of subjects, and suggested websites and resources for activities and events from notable sources. It can be found at the following website: https://www.vietnamwar50th.com/history_and_legacy/teachers_toolkit/
Another really great source for information for educators can be found at https://thewarhorse.org/collection-of-stories-published -on-the-vietnam-war/.
I hope with those assets our teachers will introduce more subjects about the Vietnam War.
We should never be forgotten.
John Stewart is a retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant and disabled Vietnam War Veteran. In 2016 he was inducted into the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame. His columns are sourced from public, government and private information. Content is checked for accuracy as best as possible; however, you have the responsibility to confirm content validity before committing any related actions.
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