[MR] OT: Uncivil antiwar activists (was Remember this day...

[Roy B. Scherer]

Good People -
         Boy, did I ever get THAT question answered!
         My mailbox is suddenly full of responses from people who either
experienced this, or had it described firsthand by trusted sources.  Most
wrote me privately, off-list, and so I have put their emails in the 
"BCC" field
above, rather than "CC" or "To".
         Thank you, each and all, for sharing those stories.  I'm 
saddened, for
a number of reasons, to hear them -- but at least I've learned something!
         To address a point raised by two writers:  I am a veteran, 
having served
during the Cuban Misslle Crisis just outside of Target #1, Washington.  My
position on the war in Viet Nam was that we should either jump in with both
feet and WIN the thing, or get completely OUT of there.  The sort of 
sorta-maybe
rules our people followed pretty much guaranteed that we would not win.
         To those who suffered this sort of hideous reception when 
they returned,
I can only offer my personal regrets, and say that such reactions 
were NOT those
of the vast majority of anti-war people.  That won't help much, of 
course, any more
than it helps to point out that only a minority of police perjure 
themselves, plant
evidence, and beat innocents.  ONCE is too often, in either case.
         War is hard, and it can tear a nation apart.  One of the few 
things I still
remember from language classes in 1959 is the French word for "veteran".  The
word is "invalide", whether or not the veteran was physically wounded 
in combat.
Sounds right to me.
         Again, thank you to those who wrote.
-- Britton



At 11:51 AM 11/12/2010, Roy B. Scherer wrote:
>At 11:18 AM 11/12/2010, Eric Rankin wrote:
>>I've heard many
>>stories from my brothers and sisters in arms who laid the path for me back in
>>Vietnam of coming home and being spit upon, cursed, and even at 
>>times physically
>>attacked.
>
>         You know, I've heard those stories too.  What I have NOT heard is any
>single person, ever, telling me that this happened to him or her, or 
>that he or
>she did this to any veteran.
>         I became active in the anti-Viet Nam War movement back around 1965,
>about 2 1/2 years after I got my discharge from the Air Force.  I waqs greatly
>influenced by a man who had been a 'copter pilot in Nam, and had first-hand
>experience of the difficulties resulting from fighting a war with 
>one hand tied
>behind our backs.
>         Again, I've often read of veterans being spat upon, but I 
> never heard of
>this from a spitter or from a veteran who was spat upon.
>         I knew (and know) a wide range of people.  I've never known anyone on
>the anti-war side who had personal animosity toward any member of the Services
>who went out and did their duty, laying their lives on the 
>line.  Indeed, many of
>those whom I knew in the movement were themselves veterans.
>         Has anyone else ever witnessed this first-hand?  Failing that, has
>anyone ever heard a FIRST-HAND account of such an incident?  Is it possible
>that this is something that perhaps actualy happened once or twice, and was
>then taken up and reported throughout the country?
>-- Britton
>-- mka Scherer, Roy B.
>-- formerly USAF ADC, 95th FIS
>
>end
>
>                 - - Roy B. Scherer
>[529 High Street, Petersburg, VA 23803-3859;
>   Roy:(804)382-5411; Sally (804) 767-0420]
>============================================================
>         "I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility
>         against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
>                 -- Thomas Jefferson
>                 -- Letter to Dr. Benjamin Rust, Sept. 23, 1800
>============================================================
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end

                 - - Roy B. Scherer
[529 High Street, Petersburg, VA 23803-3859;
   Roy:(804)382-5411; Sally (804) 767-0420]
============================================================
         "I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility
         against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
                 -- Thomas Jefferson
                 -- Letter to Dr. Benjamin Rust, Sept. 23, 1800
============================================================