Panel 19 West, Line 43-64
This post will remain on top of this blog from August 15th until August 18th to commemorate these young men to counteract the intellectually vacant Leftwing media which has been stroking the old hippies.
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The VFW has finally put the article on line so click on this and let them know you read about it here first.
On the Vietnam Wall, Panel 19 West, Line 43-64 are the names of 109 Americans who lost their lives during the four days of the Woodstock Music Festival, August 15-18, 1969. From James D. Anderson to Gary E. Young. Richard Kolb writes the following tribute to those 109 Americans in the August issue of the VFW Magazine;
Newsweek described them as “a youthful, longhaired Army almost as large as the US force in Vietnam”. one of the promoters saw what happened near Bethel, NY as an opportunity to :showcase” the drug culture as a “beautiful phenomenon”.
The newsmagazine wrote of “wounded hippies” sent to impromtu hospital tents. Some of the 400,000 of the nation’s “affluent white young” attended the “electric pot dream”. One sympathetic chronicler recently described them as “a veritable army of hippies and freaks.”
Time gushed with admiration for the tribal gathering, declaring; “It may well rank as one of the significant political and sociological event of the age.” It deplored the three deaths there – “one from an overdose of drugs [heroin], and hundreds of youths freaked out on bad trips caused by low-grade LSD.” yet attendees exhibited a “mystical feeling for themselves as a special group,” according to the magazine’s glowing essay.
The same tribute mentioned the “meaningless war in the jungles of Southeast Asia” and quoted a commentator who said the young need “more opportunities for authentic service”.
Meanwhile, 8,429 miles around the other side of the world, 514,000 mostly young Americans were authentically serving the country that had raised them to place society over self. the caualties they sustained over those four days were genuine, yet none of the elite media outlets were praising their selflessness.
So forty years later, let’s finally look at those 109 Americans who sacrificed their lives in Vietnam Aug. 15, 16, 17, and 18, 1969.
An American Profile
They mirrored the population of the time. A full 92% were white (seven of whom had Spanish surnames) and 8% Black. Some 67% were Protestants and28% Catholic. A disproportionate number – more than one third – were from the South. Over two thirds were single; nearly one third were married. Not surprisingly, the vast majority (92%) were under the age of 30, with 78% between the ages of 18 and 22.
Overwhelmingly, (87%), they were in the Army. Marines and Airmen accounted for 8% and 4% of the deaths respectively with sailors sustaining 1%. Again, not unexpectedly, two-thirds were infantrymen. that same proportion was lower-ranking enlisted men. Enemy action claimed 84% of their lives; non-hostile causes, 16%. The preponderance (56%) had volunteered while 43% had been drafted. One was in the National Guard.
Of the four days, August 18 – the last day of “peace and love” in the Catskills when the 50,000 diehards departed after the final act – was the worst for the men in Vietnam.Thirty-five of them died on that one miserable day. Many perished in the Battle of Hiep Duc fighting with the hard luck Americal Division in the Que Son Mountains. In fact, 37% of all the GIs who lost their lives in this period came from this one unit.
So when you hear talk of the glories of Woodstock – the so-called “defining event of a generation” – keep in mind those 109 GIs who served nobly yet arenever lauded by the illustrious spokemen for the “Sixties Generation”.
I re-typed the entire article from the magazine because VFW didn’t put it on line yet. All of the errors are mine.
I may bump this back up in a few weeks when the anniversary comes around.
UPDATE: Jules Crittenden has a round up of the hippie worshipping.
Category: Military issues, Politics, Society, Support the troops
Thank you.
Thank you for an excellent post. So much valor and sacrifice is forgotten or never taught to our younger generations.
A few of the old hippies from the woodstock era finally did grow up and see the light as can be attested by this article:
http://www.skytroopers.org/now_theyre_feeling_guilty.htm
However, many old hippies are still trying to justify their past as either radical college professors or they’re still smelly activist hippies. And the coward draft dodgers who ran to Canada are still trying to build themselve a memorial.
[…] Thursday, July 30th, 2009 | Uncategorized Jonn over at TaH has sorta beat me to the punch. I was planning to do this post next month and include reference to […]
Of course it was easy for those attending Woodstock to indulge themselves when the war was 9,000 miles away. Jim Webb, former Sec. of the Navy once said of draft-dodgers that “even Thoreau went to prison, not to Canada”.
Thanks.
Oops. I meant Thanks for all the hard work retyping. I cut and pasted an email to friends and family (giving credit). Again, great post!
Thanks for the post, Jonn. Rest in Peace to all of the heroes who served. Rot in hell to all the smelly, dirty hippies and dopers.
Very nice, please do repost on the “anniversary”
I think one of the best lines ever delivered about Woodstock came from John McCain last year. After Shrillery had lauded the event’s anniversary, reporters asked McCain for his recollections of the concert. He replied (paraphrased) “I wouldn’t know, I was tied up at the time.”
Thanks for the post Jonn, Welcome Home to all Nam Vets.
I find this timely in reference to the White House Beer Tavern on the Portico ’09 summit. The actors have changed a bit:
— Woodstock “The Show”: Using an apple corer on society to get his piece of the money pie Professor Gates
— Woodstock attendees: Self confessed drug user and believer in taking all your life from the teat of taxpayers for their most grievous sins of the day, President Barack Hussein Obama II
— Washington elites calling for Vietnam defeat or partition: Sheriff Joe Biden
— Service and belief in what America stands for: Sgt Crowley
Great post. I read the article the day before you posted it originally.
If they ever put up the Woodstock museum that Hillary tried to make us pay for a few years back, there should be a seperate memorial to the young men who died protecting the rights and freedoms of those that attended Woodstock.
1st Cav, when they cast the “memorial” to the draft dodgers, will they cast the yellow streak in, or will that have to be inlaid, or painted? Just curious.
As for the “Museum”, not one thin dime!!!!
I can guarantee you this much: If they cast a memorial to the draft dodgers, I’ll have no problems making a ‘visit” to the site to leave my own “respects”.
Ditto for me Tim.
Well done my friend.
Many perished in the Battle of Hiep Duc fighting with the hard luck Americal Division in the Que Son Mountains. In fact, 37% of all the GIs who lost their lives in this period came from this one unit.
B 4/31 Inf 23 ID AMERICAL
http://www.vietnamphotography.com/series.php?SID=1
Thank you for such an excellent post. I remember hearing about Woodstock while In Country in 69
A veteran – whether active duty, retired, National Guard, or reserve… is someone who, at one point in his/her life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America” for an amount of “up to and including my life”.
That is an Honor, and there are way to many people in this country who no longer understand it. Author Unknown
Damnit! You’re choking me up! I can never repay the sacrifice of these men who gave their all to allow me to grow up and mature. All I can do is pay it forward for the next generation. Already my son has picked up the ball and is running a lot further then I did. When he finishes college at the end of the year he will be commissioned (USMC) & go to pilot school. And I hope to be able to influence at least one of my g’sons into continuing the chain. . . .
B Woodman
SSG (Ret) US Army
Signal Corps
“You can talk about us, but you can’t talk without us.”
Thanks for the great Post, and thanks to all Viet Nam Vets, especially those who didn’t make it HOME, may you rest in Peace. To those who made it HOME, WELCOME HOME and may GOD BLESS you. Next week I’ll be ordering A “I CLUB Hippies” t-shirt from our buddies at Ranger Up. Frak Woodstock ,NY not Woodstock GA. God Bless, Dirty One out!
Well Done William The V.F.W. claim’s 41 U.S. Soldier’s k.i.A. in R.V.N. dureing Woodstock
Many perished in the Battle of Hiep Duc fighting with the hard luck Americal Division in the Que Son Mountains. In fact, 37% of all the GIs who lost their lives in this period came from this one unit.
B 4/31 Inf 23 ID AMERICAL
A lot of the “hard luck” (also firebase Mary Ann) that affected the division was due to poor officer leadership,and a lack of veteran NCO’s which lead to poor training, and poorly maintained equipment. I am not demeaning the soldier, but this battle was screwed from the beggining.
2/505
Excellent.
And I am ashamed to say that my own father couldn’t hang in the Marines and was at Woodstock and freaking Watkins Glen.
I remember that my NCOIC mentioned his disdain for those hippies (I was playing CSN on the radio) because he was at war…WOW!!
A reader linked this in the comments of a post I did this morning. You have put things so perfectly in perspective. Thank you.
And I agree with Dave Thul, but that’s nothing new.
Cross posted at True North, although I did fix some of John’s typos.
http://looktruenorth.com/culture/media/9307-30-years-ago-today.html
As I noted on my blog; everyone at Woodstock wasn’t a hippie.
The spin doctors may have turned it into some sort of seminal event, but it was first and last simply a concert.
Jonn: While I do respect your opinion I gotta ask; would an Iraqi combat vet be similarly painted for going to a NASCAR race? Should we condemn the sailor in the famous VE Day photo for kissing the girl while the war raged in the Pacific?
How many of those at Woodstock were just there for the music, and how many were there as some sort of protest? I sure don’t know… but neither to you, or Richard Kolb.
Any parallels are hardly exact, but those of us who were simply trying to get on with our lives, maybe get laid, and hear some of the biggest music acts in the country don’t need THIS sort of judgment after the fact.
Aside: This is the essence of my note to the VFW.
Be sure to send it to nancy, harry and the obambozo.
If the shoe fits wear it.
If not, don’t sweat it.
Just sayin’
Dave Thul #11 Said:
If they ever put up the Woodstock museum that Hillary tried to make us pay for a few years back, there should be a seperate memorial to the young men who died protecting the rights and freedoms of those that attended Woodstock.
I would think it only fitting that if such a separate memorial were built, it would be surrounding the Hippies in a “front line defensive perimeter”, guarding them as we did then and do now. 109 brave souls died maintaining the freedom for those to protest.
Thanks Jonn
nuf sed
@ponsdorf,
Perspective: I just sent a “care package” to my friend’s son in Afghanistan. My friend recounts to me his calls and letters. I am afraid for him and it breaks my heart. That said, what I do day in and day out is also important and relevant, but NOT more relevant than what our soldier is doing. Making Woodstock out to be some cultural icon, a societal turning point, or event that truly mattered to the world is an abomination in light of all the other REAL life-changing events that happened that year.
Lisa said: Making Woodstock out to be some cultural icon, a societal turning point, or event that truly mattered to the world is an abomination in light of all the other REAL life-changing events that happened that year.
Exactly my point, and better said at that.
I hear you Lisa, my nephew is in the stan and he reports it is a rough go. This is his second tour there and he had two in Iraq. I don’t know what the game plan is in stan, in Iraq I was assured by my Senator (Roberts, Kansas) that W. wanted nothing less than victory.
If Woodstock was emblamatic of anything, it was that it was the gathering of people of a generation that believed in “me” before “we.” A generation big on “rights” and unwilling to accept the responsabilities that go there with. A generation that was “against the war” and still believes, despite the mounds of evidence, that they “stopped the war” earlier than it would have otherwise. They refuse to see that what they did was embolden the enemy and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
What we have in the Whitehouse is the by-product of that. We have a group of people who thinks that they are so smart that the weight of their wisdom makes it so and if people would just listen, they would be persuaded. They believe that there is no “evil” only ignorance. They believe that the reason people hate us is because we don’t listen to them rather than because they hate the liberty that is the cornerstone of this country. This group cannot seem to see that the reason many Americans are not persuaded by their “wisdom” is that they are wrong and not quite as smart as they think they are.
God rest the soul of those who loved liberty more than life. God help the rest of us who are currently governed by those to whom that is a foreign concept.
Excellent post,
I was just having a similar conversation with my father this weekend about the lack of respect our soldiers get, especially those that served in times of war both then and now. I will be sharing this post on my site.
Thanx John!
If draft dodgers have a reunion, what would they have to talk about?
Why would they need a memorial either? Most of the nasty, dirty, pachouli oil smelling dope freaks probably don’t remember much of the 1960’s and 70’s anyway, so what would they be memorializing?
From the greatest generation came the least valuable generation.
Went yesterday to the traveling wall with my motorcycle group. It was setup in Shoreline WA. Lots of people there making their respects.
[…] no más, que durante esos tres diás, mientras muchos bebes se gestaron [e incluso se parieron], 109 soldados norteamericanos morían en Vietnam. Imagino que es fácil celebrar cuando la tragedia está a kilómetros de distancia. Quien quiera […]
While I do not wholly agree with Susan, I do want to say that there is a sentiment among some activists that never tires of the comparisons between Vietnam and the war we are currently undertaking. While there are a myriad of reasons I think the biggest one isn’t even about he wars at all it is this overwhelming disconnectedness that prevals amongst our youth. This sense that they don’t belong to anything bigger than themselves but still they try so hard to cling to their individualism and wave it like their own personal flag, their beacon. Being part of a throng of protesters, attaching themselves to some cause, gives them a sense of urgency and importance. I see most of them as desperately lonely and told too often by those around them (PARENTS) that they are so “special” and so they retain a disproportionate sense of self worth that they don’t even believe. Most of the protesters I have seen in recent years don’t know much about what they are protesting when queried. So it appears to me it is more about the protest, than the cause. We have seen this before in Mr Chiroux. He seems to be more about the rhetoric than what he is actually saying. Like penning a high school essay. Getting caught up in the language. The throngs of people opposed to America’s involvement in Vietnam was a historical event and serves to highlight (as a blight on our history) the subsequent failure to care for and respect the soldiers (and their experiences no matter what) who luckily did come home. It is significant, even Woodstock is significant in it’s representation of how so many can come together then but not in the aftermath. I think it is often easy to confuse the soldier with the war. And those who stand by the soldiers find it a hard line too. Many feel that by condemning the Vietnam War they are emphatically negating the service those men and women who fought it performed. I for one cannot see this “victory” Susan spoke of but to… Read more »
Man oh man! The bitterness, hate, prejudice and bigotry! The few, the proud, oh nevermind….So this is what our soldiers are all about. I’ll bet several of the vaunted 109 didn’t want to be anywhere near Viet Nam, but they had the misfortune of being drafted. Some of the 109 may even have been happy that there were young people, somewhere, that were able to experience a peaceful festival like Woodstock. And excuse me, I didn’t know that when soldiers enlisted, at least the type of soldiers that seem post comments here, they expected perpetual, eternal worship and adulation from the rest of us. Silly me – I thought the reward was in the satisfaction of a job well done, but I see I was wrong – eternal hero worship was the expected reward. You know, my dad fought in the Pacific (Leyte Gulf, Sarwa, Iwo Jima, etc., etc.), and his ship, the USS Boston, was deployed without returning to US soil for the longest time of any ship up to that date. When he came back did he want parades in his honor? Did he expect everyone to lick his boots and cow-tow to him because of his service? No, his satisfaction came from living in and experiencing the vibrant, vital country that he helped protect – that and nothing more. So I’ll say to all you vets, thank you very much for serving. I mean it from the bottom of my heart. But now it’s time for some of you to get on with the rest of your lives.
Jonn,
Thanks much for posting this reminder. Our generation were not all degenerate hippies. Some of us may not have rushed to volunteer, I know I enlisted only reluctantly in order to not be a draftee, but then I tried to be a real RA. I became grateful for the occasion only later. But grateful I became.
And Joe, go sodomize yourself with a a copy of “The Whole Earth Catalog”. Maybe there is a reason for my bitterness, something like dead and abandoned friends. I’m not prejudiced, I’m post-judiced. I’ve seem the rotten fruits of what we tried to prevent. We did not expect anyone to lick our boots, we only hoped that we would be allowed some honest pride in the challenges we faced and surmounted. All too soon, we were willing to settle for “just being left alone”, and not treated like pariahs, for forty years. That is why some of us are bitter, and why I have no patience with a candy-ass-bitch such as yourself. Your father would also be ashamed of your punk ass too. The “thanks from the bottom of your heart” are as shallow and phony as your hear; it is obvious to me you’re just lip-synching. Go slither back into another mosh pit and take another hit on your bong. We don’t nee no turd in our punch bowl here.
Just for the record, the unit referred to above as the one where 37% casualties were from, was the 4/31 196th Light Infantry Brigade. I know, I was a member of Co B 4/31, 196th during the battle for Hiep Duc in August, 1969.