----- Original Message ----- From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
> I probably will later. But decade after decade of the same lies
> endlessly repeated about the anti-war movement of the '60s wears one
> down. It seems that even large numbers of leftists today take their
> image of the anti-war struggle of the '60s from Time, Spiro Agnew & Bob
> Greene. This popular image of the '60s is _exactly_ the same sort of
> bullshit that I understand is already being spread about Rachel Corrie.
>
> If U.S. troops massacre a whole village in Vietnam, that is an
> aberration.
>
> If one anti-war protester makes a fool of him/herself someplace, that is
> _The Movement_.
>
> And note that Freedlund did imply that "the movement" (not just a few
> strays) so treated returning veterans. It is incidentally quite probable
> that the whole thing is an urban legend -- that it didn't happen even
> one single time.
>
> Carrol
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The same piece was posted on pen-l and another poster asked pretty much the same question as Carrol. Here's what I wrote. for those following the thread:
===================
When I was eleven-twelve in '72-'73, living in San Diego at the US Naval Hospital at the edge of Balboa Park, my dad was in charge of receiving large numbers of Vets and making sure that they had a sympathetic welcome mat and decent, full spectrum medical care, not just at our base but at MCRD and Alameda NAS. I never saw, nor heard my dad - a Viet Vet himself - report any incident of disrespect from the multiple events he helped arrange. Nor had he heard of any such events from fellow medical personnel dealing with the same issues across the country. Only anecdotal to be sure, but, given the Cold War, it may be an urban myth promulgated by Goldwaterites, John Birchers etc. etc.
Ian