The Vietnam Story

[dmccarty]

Check out the link below before wasting time watching the documentary starting tonight; which many consider a communist propaganda story. It is your decision just as I have made mine. I was there; saw the aftermath of the devastation of HUE in the sacking of 1968.

Review Of Ken Burn's Vietnam PBS Series - Maggie's Farm

Ron

Another interesting tid bit in the link, is about the photo of the execution of Bay Lop by Major General Ngoc Loan.



Many years ago, I remember reading/hearing what the photographer, Eddie Adams, said about the events of the photo, which is almost always missing in any discussion of the photo. A picture may be worth a 1,000 words but the words may not be the truth. I found this link which has quotes from the photographer that match what I remember:

Re: Eddie Adams' Saigon execution photo: Open Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Adams later commented Lt Col. Loan told him as a post-justification for his brutal act that the captive, a Viet Cong captain, had killed Loan's closest aide, a South Vietnamese army colonel, along with the colonel's wife and their six children

Lem commanded a Viet Cong assassination and revenge platoon, which on that day had targeted South Vietnamese National Police officers, or in their stead, the police officers' families; Lem was captured near the site of a ditch holding as many as thirty-four bound and shot bodies of police and their relatives, some of whom were the families of General Loan's deputy and close friend.

He had been killing police officers and slashing the throats of their wives and children.

The general killed the Viet Cong; I killed the general with my camera. Still photographs are the most powerful weapon in the world. People believe them, but photographs do lie, even without manipulation.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Most accepted sources, American, European and Asian back the numbers given by Ken Burns, and not this extremely high number.

I went through some of my books which mention 3,000 executed. The 15,000 number is from a book that was pretty detailed about Tet and Hue but I can't find said book. It might have been from a library or a book I have in storage. What it is my head is that there were multiple mass graves found, 3-5, with thousands in each grave.

What numbers did Burn's state?

Later,
Dan

 

[milkman]

Another interesting tid bit in the link, is about the photo of the execution of Bay Lop by Major General Ngoc Loan.

View attachment 523233

Many years ago, I remember reading/hearing what the photographer, Eddie Adams, said about the events of the photo, which is almost always missing in any discussion of the photo. A picture may be worth a 1,000 words but the words may not be the truth. I found this link which has quotes from the photographer that match what I remember:

Re: Eddie Adams' Saigon execution photo: Open Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review







Later,
Dan

I remember seeing that execution, the guy hit the ground and blood was shooting out of his head, about two feet into the air, really sickening.

 

[dmccarty]

I remember seeing that execution, the guy hit the ground and blood was shooting out of his head, about two feet into the air, really sickening.

The film is pretty graphic, but there are photos of the families of an ARVN officer executed by the VC that are pretty graphic as well, yet we never see those photos.

Later,
Dan

 

[Rock knocker]

I went through some of my books which mention 3,000 executed. The 15,000 number is from a book that was pretty detailed about Tet and Hue but I can't find said book. It might have been from a library or a book I have in storage. What it is my head is that there were multiple mass graves found, 3-5, with thousands in each grave.

What numbers did Burn's state?

I can't remember what Burns stated, but I think it was something like "up to 6,000". You have to remember that there was vicious fighting there, and another three to four thousand civilians are thought to have died in the cross fire.

 

[mjarrels]

There is also a good show on NEFLIX titled the last days of Vietnam about the fall of our Embasy. Ambasadar Martin did a great job taking care of his people.

mark

 

[ultrarunner]

As a kid I remember the constant stream of medivac helicopters ferrying in wounded to the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital...

I really enjoy Ken Burns work but this time I decided to opt out after comments from friends that served.

The Bay Area has a very large Vietnamese Community and I work with several Doctors that fled Vietnam... all dedicated and humble people.

One came from a family of Doctors and they all fled... to this day he insists not knowing how a patient is going to pay for treatment... doesn't want it to influence his decision on what is medically necessary and he will come in to the office on weekends to see a patient in need.

 

[dmccarty]

As a kid I remember the constant stream of medivac helicopters ferrying in wounded to the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital...

One of my relatives lived right next to a cemetery from the 60's until well after the war ended. I would visit during the summer and we would often hear volley fire from funeral services. We would go over to the cemetery and pick up brass when we could find it. I bet I have some of that brass somewhere...

We used to live in Atlanta and we would go camping up in the mountains. The Army would sometimes be up in the woods at the same time and I can remember getting stopped at road blocks a couple of times. One of our favorite campsites was a company sized perimeter in the forest. The perimeter had fox holes and was quite large. There was a big pile of saw dust in the middle of the perimeter and for some reason there was a large amount of brass in that saw dust. We would play on the saw dust and pull out as much brass as we could.:laughing::laughing::laughing:

At a nearby cross roads, the army had left a large mortar. Kinda odd they left it there but it was always there when we went by. :confused3:

Twas not uncommon to see large army convoys on the highway.

Later,
Dan

 

[Rock knocker]

My friends wife was an infant who flew out the day before the C5 crashed airlifting another load of babies out.

 

[ultrarunner]

Ed Daly was a friend to all of us kids... my brother took care of his two Arabian Horses and he deified all authority air lifting women and children in a daring rescue...

He was one tough son of a gun with a heart of gold and used his personal fortune for humanitarian causes with no use for Red Tape or Bureaucracy...

Ed was barred from going back and the US sent the C5 that crashed after takeoff...

The reason Ed was barred is because it was deemed his plane was not safe for infants.

World Airways' Audacious Vietnam Baby Airlift | HistoryNet

World Airways Returns to Vietnam

Ed Daly - Wikipedia

Not to get too far off into the weeds... when I stop to think of all the notables I have come across as a kid growing up in East Oakland it kind of boggles my mind... love it or hate it a lot of historical event and figures are tied to Oakland and the SF Bay Area.

Some of the airlift children have gone to become notable in their own right...