#vvaw

[eltonjohndenver]

March to end the War in Vietnam in San Francisco, October 14, 1972. Photo by Paul Richards

Source.

[vietnamwarera]

Can I ask you on your opinion on the event known as the "Winter Soldier Investigation"? I've been scrolling past some of the confessions of former US combat vet's who saw or participated in alleged war crimes and I can definitely see why most media outlets at the time choose to ignore the hearings. The stuff the vets admitted to seeing and doing is absolutely horrid.

By 1971, when the Winter Soldier Investigation occurred, I think the nation was honestly very tired of Vietnam. This was after the exposure of My Lai (though prior to the conviction of William Calley), after the Kent State shootings, after the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and after numerous protests against the war (and for the war - see the Hard Hat Riots).

I think that, no matter how unpleasant it is for us, we owe it to participants in the WSI and the war in general to listen to such testimonies. 

If you’d like to read more about it, and Vietnam Veterans Against the War in general, check out the following:

Winter Soldier Investigation

Home to War : A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement by Gerald Nicosia

The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War by Andrew E. Hunt

Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War by Richard Stacewicz

[seanhowe]

August 20, 1972: Members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) eject an American Nazi Party member from Flamingo Park in Miami, Florida

[justlikeswitchblades-blog]

[antiamericana-blog]

The Vietnamese people have been victorious. They have liberated their country and kicked the ass of the US ruling class. This victory is not only a victory for the Vietnamese but also for the American people as well. We've come to realize that the US system of monopoly capitalism is what caused the war. The ruling class, the handful of rich at the top, which causes wars like Korea and Vietnam is the same class of people are faced with. The drive for greater profit, the first law of imperialism, forces the ruling class to expand their control both at home and absorb- - or die. This law of expand or die, governs all capitalists countries and is the real cause of war. Wherever they can make their greatest profit...that's where they send the working class to fight and die.

from a speech by a member of VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War). May Day, 1975, NYC

[vietnamwarera]

A Vietnam veteran protesting the war.

[warisgross]

vintage Vietnam Veterans Against the War advertisement

We believe that the best way to support our buddies in Vietnam is to ask that they be brought home, now, before anyone else dies in a war that the American people do not understand, did not vote for, and do not want. And we think that's worth fighting for.

[stumptownsoulstir]

I am the living death the memorial day on wheels I am your Yankee Doodle Dandy your John Wayne come home your fourth of July firecracker exploding in the grave

-Ron Kovic