Who really Spat on Veterans During the Vietnam War?

"Nixon used hippies as political footballs. Every time there was a rally, orders were given to bust heads" - Redford Givens, San Francisco War Protester

No photographs of veterans being spit on during the Vietnam War exist, but this image of a war protester shot down during a demonstration at Kent State University has always existed. Photo courtesy: Kent State

(SALEM, Ore.) - Americans overwhelmingly believe that U.S. combat veterans returning from Vietnam were spit on by anti-war protesters in airports. Many vets will tell you it happened, and others will tell you that they never saw anything close to it.

I have had vets tell me details about experiencing this and I believe them, but is there more to the story than meets the eye?

A former Vietnam era protester from San Francisco who worked with many of the era's most vocal protesters, Redford Givens, says the people doing the spitting weren't hippies, but government provocateurs.

Traditionally, an agent provocateur which is French for "inciting agent" is a person employed by the police or other law enforcement body who acts undercover and entices or provokes another person to commit an illegal act with the deliberate purpose of inciting wider conflict or harm.

In other words, he says the "hippies" who society largely believes harmed these veterans, were most likely posers, and not authentic. He believes they were government agents.

"Nixon used hippies as political footballs. Every time there was a rally, orders were given to bust heads. What would have stopped him from ordering this?"

Soldiers trudging through the jungle in Vietnam. Photo courtesy: anselm.edu

The anti-war movement of the 1960's was without a doubt, a thorn in the side of the national military machine. Network and local TV coverage of war violence at demonstrations and nightly reports of combat in Vietnam contributed to the cessation of hostilities there in the 1970's.

It was proven through impeachment proceedings that President Nixon lied to his country. To people like Givens, the notion of agents posing as hippies in order to discredit the movement is not that hard to swallow.

The scene brings to mind a pathetic portrayal of 1970's police in Cheech and Chong's "Up in Smoke" which shows Stacey Keach as "Sergeant Stadanko" and his band of boys normally dressed in blue, parading "undercover" as Hare Krishna's in orange robes with tambourines trying to gain access to a rock show in LA, in order to arrest the movie's main characters who are marijuana smugglers.

Can we really conclude that the government of the late 1960's was beyond such tactics?

Givens says the protesters were trying to end a war and that being violent with returning combat veterans would have been highly contradictory to their overall point of lessening violence and death in the world.

"One of my friends put flowers in the GIs rifles at a demonstration. We NEVER had any hostile interaction with GIs. Peaceful demonstrations ended with police attacks that were characterized as 'hippie violence.'"

He says stories about soldiers being insulted were complete fiction.

"We opposed the WAR, not the poor GIs who were forced into it. Any assault on a GI was probably the work of a pro-war agent provocateur because I never saw any of it and I hung with a VERY anti-war group. You don't win people to your side by insulting them or beating them up."

Self-described as an "unrepentant hippie", Givens says he can also testify to the positive effects marijuana and other illicit drugs had on some extremely burned out, combat shocked returning Viet Nam vets in the 1960s; certainly another taboo subject in some circles, but an undeniable truth in others.

His entire point stands in contrast to what so many perceive as the typical American experience, and yet this individual and many others in San Francisco are the same exact people pictured in images from the 1960's and early 70's protesting the war in Vietnam.

Marines in Vietnam carry one of their own to safety. Photo courtesy: bias.blogfodder.net

What was your experience? Consider this a fact finding mission, and please don't judge me for suggesting that hippies did not harass war veterans, I concede that it is entirely possible that they did. In fact, there is almost no doubt that some war protesters did spit on veterans if the problems with this specific problem were anywhere close to what they are described as being.

But was it the rampant problem it is remembered for today? That is my question to both veterans and former protesters.

If it happened, there also should be some proof through photographs. If we could see photos of that nature then we could possibly identify who was doing the spitting, and perhaps learn that there were hippies harassing returning vets, or maybe we will learn that the harassment actually came from an organized arm of the United States government or even a state or local agency.

Author Jerry Lembcke is the Viet vet who wrote The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam, in 1998. He argues that the common claim that American soldiers were spat upon and insulted by anti-war protesters upon returning home from the Vietnam War is an urban legend.

Lembcke says he found no evidence to suggest this ever happened and suggests that vets being called "Baby Killer" may have come in part from the common chant by protesters aimed at President Lyndon Baines Johnson, "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"

A Lt. Col who was held captive in the Vietnam War returns home to his family

On the other hand, Columnist Bob Greene's 1989 book Homecoming summarizes interviews with several dozen Vietnam veterans and focuses on firsthand accounts of mistreatment from anti-war protesters. He claims that protesters did indeed commit these acts.

Unfortunately, Greene fell from grace when his employer of 24 years, the Chicago Tribune newspaper,fired him for sexual misconduct.

While Lembcke served in Vietnam, Greene gained his fame touring with rock star Alice Cooper which led to one of his most popular national hits; Billion Dollar Baby in 1975. I guess it is all up to the individual to learn what the truth is, and it is a good idea, because nothing evokes raw emotion like this subject.

As a present day war reporter and photographer, I have a serious problem with people abusing veterans of war, but I also have a problem with campaigns of lies and deceit intended to create something that wasn't, or didn't.

I hope this article brings some real feedback from those who were there, and please be civil because this is not intended to put people on a warpath, it is about establishing truth in a world where all sides far too often uses propaganda for fuel.

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with almost twenty years experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist and reporter. Today, in addition to his role as a war correspondent in Afghanistan where he spent the winter of 2006/07, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated only with Google News. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

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I'm sure someone ran into someone who spit at them but from my experience most of what you have heard or read is a urban legend.When I came back through San Francisco nothing happen all the way back to NYC.A friend who I served with and still a close friend today claims he was hit with a orange that came out of nowhere at LAX,but there was no overt anti-war statement.If anything the silence/apathy towards us Vietnam Veterans was more painfull than any protest would be.But most of us are long over it and have moved on.

I happened on this quite by accident. I am only 45, a Marine machinegunner combat veteran from much later on. My father was a mustang Marine officer who fought in Vietnam as a combat engineer. No one spit at him. BUT: I distinctly remember one of his closest friends showing us his dress blues, which had been ruined by a female college student who had thrown blood on him when he was at her school recruiting as an "officer selection officer." AND I can clearly remember one of my mother's closest friends, whose husband had been killed in action in the Army in Vietnam, telling us about harassing phone calls in the middle of the night. These things aren't made up by "conservatives," they're what happened during that time. Denying it doesn't make it not so. The idea that "Nixon had it done" is foolishness. The anti-war left had people prone to inexcusable excesses, as did the other side. Everyone ought to own up to what they did and didn't so. Semper Fi.

Just being a Marine in training in California brought out alot of hate from people, none "hippies" but locals who were sick of Marines. The idea of anyone spitting on me at an airport would be amusing. The newspapers would be filled with hundreds if not thousands of accounts of "hippies" being killed in airports. Has anyone ever seen a hippie in an airport? Could they afford the parking? Imagine the sign: please give me your spare change so I can go to the airport and wait all day so I can spit on a 200 pound Marine and hope to outrun him before he stomps me into the ground. Hell, I would give him anything I had. The real enemy is the 400 corporations that denied Vietnam Veterans jobs out of policy. Burger King still has a "Vietnam Veteran" employment denial box on its applications.

"I put far more trust in a compilation of law enforcement incident reports than I do in individual opinions, for obvious reasons."Ty Cello Just remember that reports aren't void of opinion.

In the late 1970's a reporter (now deceased) developed a database using law enforcement records compiled by Military Police(MP's), Shore Patrol(SP's) and civilian authorities in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and San Diego that reflected civilian attacks on (in uniform) soldiers, sailors, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard personnel. This was during the Vietnam era and from what I remember, the highest frequency of attacks were in the Bay area, then Seattle, Portland and very few attacks in Sad Diego. I suggest these attacks were something we would now possibly classify as hate attacks. I guess the records this reporter made are lost, but the military never throws away their records, so if someone wanted to review assault incident reports from this time period you could get a more accurate picture of what happened to all of our military not just those returning from Vietnam. Being spit on certainly happened, but it was other criminal behaviors against our military that is the real story. This was a very bad time in our history, and these assaults were and are unforgivable. I put far more trust in a compilation of law enforcement incident reports than I do in individual opinions, for obvious reasons.

As I posted earlier there are literally millions of stories, because millions served during this war. I also mentioned there are things far worse than being spit on, and that location/timing had a lot to do with one's homecoming reception. I will never forget laying on a litter with an IV in both my arms watching a couple of smashed eggs on our bus window streaking as we picked up speed heading towards Travis. Then for the last 40 or so years hearing all the different versions of what happened in Vietnam (almost always unninformed opinions and historically incorrect facts). It was hard to turn on the television and not see a show where some psychopathic Vietnam veteran was acting out. The Vietnam veteran was mischaracterized then and still is today. Those of you who had uneventful homecomings I am glad for you, those who didn't, I understand. FYI, people you would be utterly surprised how many non-veterans out there pass themselves off as war veterans. We exposed many at one time (happening even now in our current conflict), as did many expose a few who testified before congress with John Kerry. Those of you who may be interested, just go look up "Myths about Vietnam" on the internet and see what you learn. Many of you might be quite surprised, and those of you who have an agenda, well we can only hope you also learn about us combat veterans and who we are. We were the best America has ever had during the military draft periods. By the way, many of these Vietnam veterans were also WWII and Korean War veterans. Big age range people.

We army guys came in through Travis. (NO CIVILIANS) And yes even being against the war when I returned; anybody spit on me might be hurt.

I was in the Air Force and returned to Norton AFB in San Bernardino, CA. Based on all I've heard from others, I would be willing to bet that all the branches landed at one base or another and not at any commercial airports. I returned in Jan. 1971.

As an Army Officer Dude, I flew out of and flew back from sunny southeast Asia into McChord AFB, early in a dark morning -- no civilians. A Captain suggested I change from my very messy summer tans into civilian clothes before I went to Sea-Tac for a flight to the East Coast because of protestors. But I saw none, either at Sea-Tac, or at National Airport in Washington, DC where I landed in the late afternoon of April 4, 1968, about 3 hours after Martin Luther King had been assassinated. Some Welcome home !~!~! Peace Out and In,

I came back in February '68. And still hadn't lost my startle reflex when MLK was killed. It made you think "the world" was as crazy as Nam!! I flew into Travis AFB and then caught a flight out of San Francisco International. Nary a protestor in sight. Not even a Hare Khrisna.

I was in the Army. Came back in March 1971 via Okinawa? (maybe Japan, I can't recall), then to Alaska, then to Ft. Dix in NJ. Never saw any peace activists. I brought back an SKS and carried it on the civilian flight from NJ to Mich. Had to put it in the coat closet.

I came back via Japan and Alaska to Travis and then Oakland Army Terminal. I didn't see anything civilian, except the stewardess until I hit the Frisco airport. They specifically warned us against getting into fights at the airport. ( Yall never take me alive, coppers!) Supposedly we were still under Army discipline for a few hours. I got home, loaded my magnum and figured the few hours were up. I was yelled at once, while in uniform, in Boston. Big deal. When I went to Jr. college in San Bernardino, the nicest people I met were in the on-campus peace movement. They turned me on to VVAW.

Ok, most of you guys know I was not in VN, so I don't have the experience of transferring from military hop to a commercial airline. However, I was in uniform at Sea-Tac heading home on leave at Christmas 1968 -- to bring my wife back to the Ft Lewis area to await the outcome of my Conscientious Objector application and what we felt would be my eventual imprisonment. Anyway, I had purchased a "military rate" ticket for the trip home; but when I got to the airport the airline refused to accept it insisting that rate was not valid during the holidays. They wanted $40 to board me on the flight. I had only a few dollars. The plane is booked and lots of folks are in line waiting for tickets to materialize. The airline held my ticket while I scrambled for the money. I'm going place to place, no spitting protesters anywhere, but also no Travelers Aide--it was either closed or couldn't help, I can't remember. So, back to the counter I go ready to lose my committment to nonviolence. The same civilian who was standing behind me when I first got there was still there. If I don't get the ticket, he does. He taps me on the shoulder and hands me $40! I get to go home, God is good and the good samaritan also gets a seat. The wife shows up with the cash and it's a merry christmas, indeed. How's that for a classic anti-spit story, so there you go. peace, now...again. PS: no spitters sighted at Newark airport either, who woulda' thunk it?

We went through Okinawa going and coming. We stowed all our stateside stuff, taking only utilities (aka fatigues), boots and personal gear. On return we collected the sea bag full of uniforms and the flew out of Kadena, AFB, through Alaska and into LAX. As we had also processed all the paper work, we could then get a commercial flight directly from LAX to head off on leave - except for the lucky ones who were getting "early out" packages. This was spring 70. 3rd Mar Div was starting to pull back and some of those guys had to go back with their gear on ships. I assume they steamed into S. Diego, but don't know for sure, guess it might have been Long Beach or San Fran. There were no peace demonstrators that I recall. I do remember some "save the whales" signs and some of the guys I was with gave them some mild harassment.

Recollections: Lately there's been a lot of "chatter" about G.I.'s being spit on during the Vietnam war era so I just thought I'd get into this spitting controversy. The closest thing I ever got to being spit on was when I took the Sante Fe from San Diego to L.A. to visit a friend in Pasadena in October 1970. While walking down a dark street in Downtown L.A. in my navy dress blues, a car with a few black guys drove by when the guy in the front passenger seat yelled and called me a honky mothetf^%$#r. I honestly believe it had more to do with the racial problems in the country rather then feelings about people in the military service or the war in Vietnam. Nevertheless, being alone on a dark street in a bad section of town and being called a racial slur by a car load of guys kind of shook me up. Shortly after that incident, I went up to a couple of white L.A. cops while trying to get directions to Pasadena. I overheard one cop say to the other," lets beat up some niggers tonight" ( his exact words). After that, I kind of understood where those brothers were coming from. Also, many years later when the Rodney King story broke, I wasn't the least bit surprised. About an hour later that same evening I was walking down Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena when some young girls in a mustang yelled to me. This time, it was the kind of yelling an eighteen year old sailor, or for that fact, a fifty six year old retired firefighter would like. Another spitting story I would like to share is the one a gung ho navy reserve lifer and hard core republican told me. As he was quoted in a recent article which was published in a local North Jersey newspaper, Frank was at a bar in Haledon, New Jersey in 1975 where he was spat on for being in the navy. He forgot that when he first told that story to me, he said it happened in a diner in Wayne , New Jersey. Nice going Rambo! Peace and Solidarity

I came home from Thailand via Oakland AF Base, processed out, then caught a civilian flight from San Francisco. There were hippies in the terminal, but they certainly didn't hassle me. I was disappointed that I had FINALLY gotten to California and I didn't see a hot rod. On the plane a couple people asked to not sit next to me, but there was no scene, and certainly no spitting. I was surprised that my neighbors didn't come over to welcome me home. I just think it was a time of very heated emotions (September 1969) and no one really knew what to say to a Vietnam vet. It was better to say nothing, and thereby avoid saying the wrong thing. Some of that exists to this day.

Tim King as I posted below there are things far worse than being spit on. May I invite you to go to meet with some Vietnam veterans at the various organizations we have. Sure you will meet many who say nothing negative happened to them, but that would be the minority. Also another minority are the ones who used illegal drugs while in Vietnam and continued that behavior when they returned to the world. What you sound like is what I had to hear from different professors all the way through college and many other uninformed people in different business and social situations. The real reason PTSD had such a negative impact on Vietnam veterans was because the negative homecoming was a total "negative environment" that continues even today. You took one individual in your above article and his credibility simply does not exist for the majority of combat veterans. Possibly many of the veterans you have talked to were sitting on a ship in the Gulf of Tonkin where you do not even need one finger to count how many ships were sunk (or in some rear area that provided a place where they could get involved with drug usuage. It did not happen in line units, at least not on a significant level. We were not suicidal!). But what the majority of us do share is the incredibly rotten homecoming we had which caused so many veterans to suppress their feelings until they have become pretty difficult to help (that is what the "Post" in PTSD means). Tim go to the Salem Vet Center and ask if you can participate through a full group cycle (many weeks) with some Vietnam vets? You may gain some insight, but probably not a lot, but some, it's an experience thing. What many of us worry about is if our returning veterans start suppressing as we did (because of false and misleading info about them), then we have failed to learn from our past. There will be no healing until those who treated all veterans (including the current ones) acknowledge their bad behavior, apologize, then pursue positive actions to give substance to their apologies. Tim, this will not happen, it just won't. By the way around 2/3's of those who went to Vietnam were volunteers, and I am hardly considered a far right ideologue, a pro-veteran, yes, most definitely. As soon as I click this message I will be driving 3 veterans to the Portland VA in my SUV, one has a wheel chair so I need the storage room. I do this without payment, I do it because they need my help. That's what veterans do for one another when they understand what they went and are going through.

Many people on the left want to believe it didn't it happen. Just because it didn't happen in large numbers doesn't mean it that how the vets were treated is justifiable. Check this link out http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=48;t=000368;p=1 This was a debate on the treatment of vets after Vietnam. An example post:"As a "spitee," I just love these attempts to rewrite history. Let's not let these people get away with it. The way returning veterans were treated was disgraceful. I joined in 70 and was a cadet until commissioning in 74, did not go to Vietnam, yet have a barracks bag full of abuse stories. Marching in a Veterans Day parade in NYC; bags of human feces thrown into the formation. Hometown pastor called me aside after a service while on leave, had me kneel down, and asked God to forgive me for being "a mercenary butcher". Direct quote. Went to West Point's away game at Boston College; same weekend as the "peaceful" anti-war riots (are we pretending they didn't happen, too?); physically attacked in a bar by peace activists." Waiting for a plane at SF Airport; had to come to the aid of a kid fresh back from Vietnam who was being physically attacked by "pacifists." Want more? First time back on leave I called the girl I'd been dating for 2 years in high school; parents wouldn't let me speak to her; said they didn't want their daughter associating with "undesirables." I know why people want so badly to rewrite history. Many of them have a hell of a lot they want to pretend did not happen. After I got my appointment, one of the peace-loving hippies in my highschool called me a facist and threw a punch. As fate would have it, after retirement I moved back to my hometown and a couple years later the very same guy moved in across the street. He is now a gung-ho, super patriot (now that he isn't facing the draft) and mortified by how he acted when soldier-bashing was fashionable. I wish spitting was the worst of it. Much prefer that to having to march a mile at rigid attention with some "peace-activist's" shit smeared on me. But I'm not bitter. No, sir. Not after the electro-shock therapy. In fact I feel much better now. Anybody seen my pills?"GI Joe This was a comment made by a Vietnam Veteran. The claim that Hippies didn't spit on them is equivalent to saying that the Holocaust and 9/11 didn't happen.Essentially you are calling vets ,who said hippies spat on them,liars. Hope this isn't too long "man".

"I feel like a broken record having to repeat that this is a business, not a democracy."Tim King So )(and(*^*and off people who visit your site is a smart business plan? Who do you think makes a site? The people do. It is a community. How great would your site be if no one visited it?Do you think advertisers would give you money if no one visited it? Keeping your community alive is important. I have seen many a good site ruined because the owner started thinking he was what made the site and not that people added to it. "No, if you don't already have the answer at hand, they did not operate the factories. I'm not sticking up for hippies, but they are Americans too and I am sick and tired of divisive politics and this site's mission is to unite, not divide."Tim King The only way this nation may heal is for the hippies to get on their hands and knees apologize for the mistreatment of the Vets. I gave quotes of what happened.Yet for someone who claims he is a marine he seems to like forget his fellow marines. Remind me to never have you watch my back. I used to respect you. Now I find that respect misguided. "We have our two resident right wing at-all-cost characters here, Sawyer is the one dude's latest name, and GodsofChaos, is the other."Tim King At least I make a stand against horrible mistreatment of (even if a few) Vets. You are nothing more than an apologist for the hippies.

Yeah, I see what is going on here. We have our two resident right wing at-all-cost characters here, Sawyer is the one dude's latest name, and GodsofChaos, is the other. So all these veterans come along and say for the most part, it didn't happen to them. These are guys who are the people I was trying to solicit information from. I think we all agree that this did happen, but it wasn't nearly of the magnitude that some people want to have you believe. Vietnam was an unpopular war, some people like these two mentioned above still have not either figured that out, or admitted it into their pattern of thought. It is a fact that many Americans exhibited poor behavior there and drugs were a major issue as well as a country that didn't respect their sacrifices as they should have. The problems of not being accepted went way WAY beyond the "Left" as these characters say, it is revealed in these very posts that a lot of the flack came from vets of previous wars, and I have talked to a lot of my friends who served in Vietnam about that one. So, were the hippies operating all the businesses that wouldn't give these guys their jobs back? No, if you don't already have the answer at hand, they did not operate the factories. I'm not sticking up for hippies, but they are Americans too and I am sick and tired of divisive politics and this site's mission is to unite, not divide.

Another way of viewing this story from a combat veteran perspective: How many veterans from other wars were treated worse than the Vietnam veteran? None! Even today it still is a topic that generates so many different opinions, and most of those are uninformed opinions. Just being in the military, or going over to a war zone does not give one insight to what happened to the Vietnam veterans decades ago or any other special insight into the accumlative effect the mischaracterizations and falsehoods we vets have endured. As I posted earlier there were millions of us who served and each of us have our own story. There are far things worse than being spit on people!

"They still are quite prevalent today."Sawyer Johnson Sadly you are correct. Already the current war in Iraq is being called the seconded Nam.Here is an idea ,media types, why don't you stop presenting every thing in an negative tone for once and giving the enemy hope.For example one show on Iraq stated."With one casualty a day morale is at an all time low." Wonder what US Grant,Douglas MacArthur,and all the world war one generals would say to that statistic.Compared to Korea,WWII, WWI and yes even Vietnam the war in Iraq is going quite well. One of the reasons the Army's medical corps (hope I spell that right) is struggling is more people are surviving what used to be an fatal injury. The opportunistic media types prefer to aid and abed the enemy instead of stating these facts.

Godofchaos that is well put. I have always felt the so-called hippies were being financed by some outside sources. The group known as Vietnam Veterans against the War had some well-meaning people on board, but they were heavily populated with people who had never been in the military, I knew several, and they simpy were the type who would best be descibed as the easily manipulated types. They still are quite prevalent today.

"Lembcke says he found no evidence to suggest this ever happened and suggests that vets being called "Baby Killer" may have come in part from the common chant by protesters aimed at President Lyndon Baines Johnson, "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?""Tim King Then we left Nam. The hippies cheered for a job well done. The Communists rolled in and killed thousands of people. Heck if they didn't spit on Vets they already are void of respect in my book. Especially since they prolong the war in the first place by giving the VC hope for a pull out. Their hope was not misplaced.Sadly The Tet offensive was a disaster for the VC they took (90%) casualties and South Vietnam may have been a more free society in the likes of South Korea today. "Especially the way hollywood always had a television show or movie where some psycho was acting out."Sayer Johnson Sadly this is true. Most Vietnam movies I have seen portray America as evil. The reason unlike WWII the movie producers,directors, actors,etc. didn't fight in the war. The result Monday morning quarter backs making are movies.

Glen I'm pretty sure that all the problems veterans had coming home was a matter of timing and location. Your homecoming in mid-America like in someplace like Iowa would be a lot different than other areas like Berkeley California, or many other urban locations. But it was not just the homecoming, it was the relentless process of making false statements about us. Especially the way hollywood always had a television show or movie where some psycho was acting out. This still goes on today. No doubt there are countless stories from millions of experiences and they will be with us till we're gone.

Three trips over and back and never witnessed any spitting. The closest I came to what I believed was a "Hippie" attack was a young girl offering me some fresh fruit in the Salt Lake City, Ut. airport. Of course I was really young then and the Marine uniform probably blinded her. Semper Fi

Ron Samson I was in the service then also, that's one I never heard of. That's a long train ride in black-out conditions. Did you take the three plus week cruise to Nam? Where did you land? I sure remember going over by transport ship, I just could not believe how long and at the same time, how brief that trip was. Remember what your first smells were? They are still vapor-locked in my memory.

What festered this Old Soldiers wounds was that his Government was so afraid of a riot by Ill equipped civvies(civilians) in Sept of 1965 that they transported us from Ft Bliss to the San Francisco Docks in Blacked out trains. No windows no contact with civvies of any kind.Talk about military confinement that was depressing.

I was med-e-vaced from Vietnam to Japan and after a few months, flown to the states. Instead of landing at Travis AFB, which was fogged in, they landed us at Oakland Naval Air Station. We were all on litters and hung up in a bus, two high. Three of the wounded on our flight from Japan (Camp Zama Hospital) died during the trip back to the world. They drove us up to Travis AFB to catch connecting hospital charter flights throughout the states, and during that drive our bus was repeatedly hit with eggs. Our bus had several large red crosses on the outside. I never cried the whole time I was in Vietnam (maybe I did, but I try to forget things like that), but this really got to me, even now I get pretty upset. I was never spit on nor even given a bad time from anyone, I'm a pretty good sized guy, so maybe that's part of it. I remember during my first summer home in 1968 near Portland State in the south park blocks a couple of real young privates in Class A's, probably just out of basic training, were walking in the area when probably a dozen scuzzy wimps surrounded them and started cursing, spitting and pushing on them, yes spitting. These kids had not been to Vietnam, but anyone was fair game to these jerks. The short of it, I, and no else came to their aid, so I tuned a couple of them up. The other cowards walked away. This was not a rare event back in those days. I am more inclined to believe a veteran's story than someone who claims something else. No doubt people embellish, but this was a violent time and much violence was directed at the military, and our guys. By the way, Lyndon Johnson was President, so if he had agents of his doing that, then I guess Nixon kept them on the payroll. I believe the real urban legend is that the government hired agents to specifically pick on returning veterans. John Zutz you are 100% right regarding the American Legion and the VFW giving us the cold shoulder. I will tell you this, most of those people who did that did eventually come around and apologize. Give them another chance John, most have learned the truth about us.

I was kind of an "alternative" military veteran in that I was in the USAF, and served a "combat support" function rather than real combat. But I came to Florida State University on the GI Bill and joined the anti-war movement, VVAW, Vets for Peace, etc. I looked pretty much like a "real" returning vet, wearing fatigues, etc. There were super 8 film cameras and the cops even had video cameras. Almost everyone had a 35 mm camera. Our protests were fairly well (video) documented as were other protests around the country. There were photos of cops beating protesters, cops giving the finger to photographers, cops grabbing their crotches, etc. Seems to me if protesters were spitting on vets in a significant way then there would be pictures. No protester ever spit on me. I never saw a protester spit on a returning vet. But I have heard a few of the more conservative returning vets "claim" they were spit on by protesters. Probably they simply made up the story.

Mr. King; I read with interest your article on the web today. My son is currently deployed with the 3/2 Marines in Rawah, Iraq. I am 50 years old, so I was just in my early teens during the end of Vietnam. I cannot remember witnessing any outright harassment of veterans but was aware of the anti-war feelings aimed at them. I don't remember ever voicing any crap myself at a veteran but if I did, I pray that God will forgive me, and if I did, that that man may one day forgive me to. I have up until recently gotten nothing but good words and encouragement from folks when they find out my son is a Marine. But now and again, when I wear my son the Marine sweat shirt, I get dirty looks. I never say anything, but feel some small bit of empathy for the parents of our past veterans Anyway, sorry to ramble, thought your article brings up a good issue and thank you for that. Also, thank you for your service.

I read where there was a lot of violence directed at military armories, and blowing up buildings that housed groups like the ROTC. There seems to be a lot of violence directed towards military recruiters in Berkely and other places. I guess there will always be different stories going around. Millions serveved so I imagine there are millions of stories. All seems sad to me.

When I was wearing my Army uniform coming and going to Vietnam, I was never spit on. But I won’t deny it happened there were millions of US veterans of the Vietnam war and almost everything happened with those kind of numbers. Also, I was raised in Jacksonville, Florida, a Navy town. Some of my high school classmates used to roll sailors for fun and profit. I’m certain they spit once in a while, if words couldn’t provoke. They weren’t against the war. They were just thugs. I will say I never heard of any veteran ever charged with murder, manslaughter, battery or even assault after being spit on. If someone had spit on me forty years ago, I might have tried to kill them, but I would probably have stopped by the forth or fifth kick. My rages back then were intense, but short. Meds have mellowed me out some and I’m not going back to jail, so I’ll give you a non-escalating response to aggression. But you strike one of the disabled vets or kids I’m with, I’ll stop you with your pain.

If anyone spit on me when I came home,I`d still be in jail for what I did in return.

First, an active part of protesting is to set up senarios and then film the reactions to gain media material. Anyone who would spit on a person would not ever publicize their act. Second, there was a reason why from Vietnam until after 9-11, soldiers were required to either travel in Class A uniform, or to not wear any uniform. Maybe you should do a freedom of information act request to find if there is evidence... or if your conjecture is on target.

I was a grunt with the 101st Airborne Division in Phan Thiet, RNV in 1968-1969. I never experienced or witnessed any one spitting on us when we returned. I also never heard from any other returning vet that they had experienced this either. Further, from my own perspective and what I believe would have been the perspective of the people I served with, none of us would have taken that kind of abuse without a proportionate and likely more aggressive response that I think would have made such an event a much larger altercation likely to attract media and police coverage. While we never received a "homecoming from a grateful nation" accorded to veterans of previous wars, and too many of us experienced discrimination because of our service, this was a more subtle "condemnation" that we had to endure. While this spitting may have happened, I doubt it was a wide-spread phenomenon, if for no other reason than I don't see combat-hardened vets taking that kind of crap from anyone.

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