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Ken Burn's Vietnam series

36654

36654

New member
I haven't seen the finale episode, but the series is excellent.

It was 1975 and I was reading a Time magazine in 10th grade english class, Poetry, if I recall correctly,and an upper class girl asked what I was reading. I told her I was reading about the fall of Saigon and she said "I don't know what that was about?". I asked if she knew of anyone in the war and she thought an uncle might have served. She may have spoke for a nation.

In any case, if you ever visit the Wall in DC, do it on a sunny, spring evening around 6PM. The mall and surrounding area will be filled with young adults playing community league softball, volleyball and soccer. That's how I understand the Wall.

Since this posting may be found offensive to some, I'll say Peace and I wish you all well.
 
36654 said:
I haven't seen the finale episode, but the series is excellent.

It was 1975 and I was reading a Time magazine in 10th grade english class, Poetry, if I recall correctly,and an upper class girl asked what I was reading. I told her I was reading about the fall of Saigon and she said "I don't know what that was about?". I asked if she knew of anyone in the war and she thought an uncle might have served. She may have spoke for a nation.

In any case, if you ever visit the Wall in DC, do it on a sunny, spring evening around 6PM. The mall and surrounding area will be filled with young adults playing community league softball, volleyball and soccer. That's how I understand the Wall.

Since this posting may be found offensive to some, I'll say Peace and I wish you all well.
Click to expand...

That was my era. USAF 1966-1972. Stateside and Alaska, radar and electronic warfare. Half my radar class went to SE Asia. I was in the half sent to NORAD. I have found the series both fascinating and disquieting. Long before the series, one TV image burned into my psyche is the view of people hanging from the skids of helicopters as the US abandoned the war and its embassy in Saigon. I am eager to see how that is depicted in the series. That and My Lai.
 
Last edited:
Of more importance: HUGH HEFNER IS DEAD

It's a sad day for the young males of that era. Most didn't receive the Christmas presents of a subscription to that fine magazine if you were out where the real war was. It went through to many postal clerk's hands to be able to make it. Then it wasn't forwarded to the hospital ward where one got what was left of themselves forwarded. Yes, for those who in their subtle way make fun, once again, of those who actually did serve with honor, and those who paid the price, that WALL stands for something! It does mean a lot.
The Ken Burn Series, like most V. Vets, isn't watched in this house, as it, and those like it bring back to many friends left there. The film, may it I hope, honor those who paid the price and came home, and those who are on that wall that is taken so lightly both here, and obviously in reality.

God bless these United States
 
36654 said:
I haven't seen the finale episode, but the series is excellent.

It was 1975 and I was reading a Time magazine in 10th grade english class, Poetry, if I recall correctly,and an upper class girl asked what I was reading. I told her I was reading about the fall of Saigon and she said "I don't know what that was about?". I asked if she knew of anyone in the war and she thought an uncle might have served. She may have spoke for a nation.

In any case, if you ever visit the Wall in DC, do it on a sunny, spring evening around 6PM. The mall and surrounding area will be filled with young adults playing community league softball, volleyball and soccer. That's how I understand the Wall.

Since this posting may be found offensive to some, I'll say Peace and I wish you all well.
Click to expand...

I need to watch it. I was a kid in the mid 60's. My first recollection was looking at the map of the world on my bedroom wall (National Geographic) and thinking we were fighting China. Since it was as big as the US, I was scared. My mom told me, "no, Vietname is that little country way down there". I thought we would be in and out of there in a year. After getting married and getting our first house, our neighbor commented that the lady behind him lost her son in 1968. Her only son. I was asking about the old Plymouth Fury she had in her garage and my neighbor commented that it was her son's car. Bought it before he went over and he still remembers the day the Marines showed up to tell her the news. And how she ran from the house screaming. And to think of the thousands of families that went through the same thing.

How absolutely awful........
 
I find it hard to believe that someone in high school in 1975 didn't know about the Vietnam war. The draft only ended in 1973 and it had been on the news every night for as long as I could remember.
 
I've got it on a series recording. Will watch it this winter. The weather, and my back yard, is still too nice now.

I like Burns' work.
 
Draft

I remember '72 senior year H.S. listening to draft number being called on the radio in class. Luck had it, I had a high number so it was a no go for me.
 
DennisDarrow said:
It's a sad day for the young males of that era. Most didn't receive the Christmas presents of a subscription to that fine magazine if you were out where the real war was. It went through to many postal clerk's hands to be able to make it. Then it wasn't forwarded to the hospital ward where one got what was left of themselves forwarded. Yes, for those who in their subtle way make fun, once again, of those who actually did serve with honor, and those who paid the price, that WALL stands for something! It does mean a lot.
The Ken Burn Series, like most V. Vets, isn't watched in this house, as it, and those like it bring back to many friends left there. The film, may it I hope, honor those who paid the price and came home, and those who are on that wall that is taken so lightly both here, and obviously in reality.

God bless these United States
Click to expand...

HERE-HERE! 69-71 US All the Way
 
EUGENE said:
I remember '72 senior year H.S. listening to draft number being called on the radio in class. Luck had it, I had a high number so it was a no go for me.
Click to expand...

As I recall, there were relatively few actually inducted in '72, and they were all 19-20 year olds. The last draftees were inducted that December, and the draft officially ended in January '73, though the drawings continued. I never bothered to find out what my number was until tonight. At [url]https://www.sss.gov/About/History-And-Records/lotter1[/URL] you can look up your lottery number by birth date, and see when your particular lottery was held. In my case, a 1954 birth year meant that my drawing was held in March, 1973 for potential induction in 1974, if the war had continued. If I'm reading the tables right, no one in the February, 1972 drawing would have been called up before the draft ended - though they could not have known that at the time of the drawing.
 
DennisDarrow said:
It's a sad day for the young males of that era. Most didn't receive the Christmas presents of a subscription to that fine magazine if you were out where the real war was. It went through to many postal clerk's hands to be able to make it. Then it wasn't forwarded to the hospital ward where one got what was left of themselves forwarded. Yes, for those who in their subtle way make fun, once again, of those who actually did serve with honor, and those who paid the price, that WALL stands for something! It does mean a lot.
The Ken Burn Series, like most V. Vets, isn't watched in this house, as it, and those like it bring back to many friends left there. The film, may it I hope, honor those who paid the price and came home, and those who are on that wall that is taken so lightly both here, and obviously in reality.

God bless these United States
Click to expand...

We are all welcome to our opinions. I know how I feel when looking at my older brother's name on panel 26W of the wall and remember how my family struggled with the loss.
 
I couldn't make myself watch it. About one sentence from Peter Coyote and it was over to a baseball game.

Politics then make today's divisions look like child's play and don't care to relive. Only good comments I ever heard were from Colin Powell ... be in it to win it or don't be in it.

My draft lottery number - 1 - of no consequence as pinned ankle from little league baseball collision made me 1Y. A very good experience for me later to work in Military Liaison for my former employer.

If your dad or mom were in it, get their stories if you can.
 
My number was high enough that I wasn't drafted. I saw way too much of that war on the nightly news while it was happening. I won't be watching any more of it.
 
I'm watching the series from the perspective of one who lived through that era while a college student.
It has brought back all the memories good and bad; the draft hanging over my head ( no lottery then ), the inept Johnson administration, unedited news from the front.
I was drafted following graduation and did a six year tour in the US Navy submarine service.
Thanks Ken Burns for the excellent series.
 
Rinty said:
I like Burns' work.
Click to expand...

So do I, and I enjoyed the first half of this series.

However, it became progressively harder to watch. I would not say Ken Burns editorialized the script, but the usual thought provoking statements were missing and replaced with interviews.
 
I pulled number 360 in the last year of the draft. I remember the nightly news with the daily body count being a regular feature. What little of the series I have watched I found to be a heavy view that tried to be an unvarnished telling of history. I don't know if it is possible to avoid putting a spin on the telling. It is a story that needs to be told.
 
Lived on Hill 55 outside DaNang...no doubt met numerous father's of those now making shirts for us sold at Kohl's and the like, "Made in Vietnam". I am pleased the French were more successful helping us during our revolution, but then it was not so much a civil war.
 
EUGENE said:
I remember '72 senior year H.S. listening to draft number being called on the radio in class. Luck had it, I had a high number so it was a no go for me.
Click to expand...

My freshman year roommate got number 1 in the first lottery. I think that was December of 1969. It's the only lottery prize he has ever won. It certainly motivated him to better grades. Another friend pulled something like 355. He took a year off from school and hitchhiked through Europe for a year.

I got something in the mid 130's. Some years those number got you drafted, sometimes not. During the summer I worked in a machine shop with a number of guys who weren't fortunate enough to have had a student deferment. None of those veterans who had been in Viet Nam recommended the experience.
 
Anyname said:
My freshman year roommate got number 1 in the first lottery. I think that was December of 1969. It's the only lottery prize he has ever won. It certainly motivated him to better grades. Another friend pulled something like 355. He took a year off from school and hitchhiked through Europe for a year.

I got something in the mid 130's. Some years those number got you drafted, sometimes not. During the summer I worked in a machine shop with a number of guys who weren't fortunate enough to have had a student deferment. None of those veterans who had been in Viet Nam recommended the experience.
Click to expand...

Predating the lottery system was the old draft, the following from the Library of Congress provides an interesting description. After the lottery system was enacted, I'm not sure how deferments were handled for college students, apprentices and "critical" jobs.

https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal68-1282246
 
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