Ken Burns' The Vietnam War

[demelza]

Anyone else catch the first episode tonight? It was as good as I thought it would be.

Anyone here have family or friends that served there and did/do they talk about it?

[Captain Catnip]

I didn't catch it tonight, I'm hoping to be able to watch it this week.

My grandfather served in the Vietnam War, but not in Vietnam. He never spoke of it growing up, but when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer he talked a little more to me. We were sitting at the kitchen counter drinking coffee one day and he just started talking. I was probably.... 20 or so? He went all through the middle east and Asia inspecting printing presses making sure there was no slanderous news/propaganda being printed. His descriptions of when he was in Turkey made that somewhere I am determined to visit before I die. It is probably #1 on my list. My mom and uncles didn't even know what he did until a few years ago I mentioned it. He passed in 2009, two months before my wedding.

[pugz]

we are just starting it and plan to binge watch the whole thing this week. We subscribe to the PBS app so we can access all the episodes now on our roku.

[7costanza]

I haven't watched it yet but plan to. My dad served in the Marines during the Vietnam War, but wasn't deployed due to a paperwork technicality. He doesn't talk about it much, but would answer questions if asked. I also have an uncle who was actually sent to Vietnam, and will not talk about it to anyone, ever.

[mcsangel2]

We finished and I was like "Damn, that was complicated. So basically...we were on the wrong side the whole time?" All that shit because Vietnam wanted independence but the communists got to Ho Chi Minh first, plus having to stand by France as a previous ally.

So I was born in 1972 and I grew up hearing Vietnam was a "draw." As history classes never covered this period (always seem to get to Eisenhower and no further), I was well into adulthood before I figured out we were the losers.

[nsl]

I'm also plannng to binge a few episodes at a time at so he point via the BS app.

MIL's husband served in the Marines during Vietnam, and his experiences there pretty much destroyed his mental health for the rest of his life. He suffers from severe PTSD, and was never able to hold down a job after he came home. It's really tragic.

[jeaniebueller]

We watched it too. It so moving to hear the veterans talk about their experiences.

[miniroller]

Liked because of that very cool story Captain Catnip. What a cool memory! ❤️
It's on my list, but I'm also waiting for a few apisodes to binge. (Both my Gpa's were in Korean War, no relatives served in Vietnam)

[hopecounts]

I have it DVR'd to watch today.

My Dad served in Vietnam.
He has PTSD from it and doesn't really talk about it to us much.

We know some stuff from reunions of his unit and the men talking.

[anodyne]

I'll have to DVR. My dad served shortly. His draft number was low so he enlisted. He was stationed in Vietnam for only a few months, and most of the time in Korea.

He was the last guy to talk to the USS Pueblo. He was trying to get them help, but whoever he reported to kept saying "we don't have a ship in those waters."

Many of his friends served. One was a medic, his stories are terrifying, another good friend was run over by a tank and lost both legs. He still had the tank treads in his legs years later.

[rjamz]

Sept 17, 2017 22:28:10 GMT -5 pugz said:

we are just starting it and plan to binge watch the whole thing this week. We subscribe to the PBS app so we can access all the episodes now on our roku.

Same. I love Ken Burns documentaries and learn so much from his war ones specifically. His WW2 one taught me so much about the war in the Pacific and even the war in Europe that I never knew about. When I finished that one I said to myself "man, I hope he does one about Vietnam one day." So I'm really excited to learn about this war that I honestly don't know very much about.

[rjamz]

My dad's draft number was called up, but he had a back injury so bad that it had kept him out of college that year, so he was exempt after he went for the physical.

[nahoku]

I'm DVRing it and looking forward to watching. My dad served in the Army in Vietnam during the early years. He volunteered so he could get US citizenship (he's from the Philippines). He'll answer questions that we ask him but doesn't volunteer a lot. He does have a couple of photo albums from his time there. I'd like to learn more about his time there and what it was like when he got back. He is a proud veteran - stickers on his car, veteran license plate, wears his Vietnam vet hat all the time, etc.

[kkfeb04]

Captain Catnip

Your grandfather??!! Man I'm getting old.

All three of my uncles served. All three were stationed over there and saw actuve duty. They don't talk about it. One was messed up from serving on a sub for months at a time. I knew growing up that we fail our vets after they come home.

[kkfeb04]

Yes, Ken Burns is a treasure for documentaries. I watched last night and learned so much.

[bittybomb]

I haven't watched, but plan to.

My dad served in Vietnam as a Marine. He fought in the Battle of Khe Sahn, and honestly, he was really fucked up from the war. His brother served at the same time in the Army. We have photos of them together when their platoons crossed paths. Neither my father nor uncle have ever spoken about it. My uncle fared better than my dad, who was diagnosed with PTSD and struggled with severe alcoholism his whole life until his passing just over a month ago, but my uncle had some struggles over the course of the years as well.

[susiebw]

I love Ken Burns. I'm looking forward to this one.

My dad was a Navy SeaBee in Vietnam. He never talks about it at all. He's got a SeaBee sticker on his truck, and he's a proud vet, but he never talks about his service.

[Captain Catnip]

Sept 18, 2017 10:06:29 GMT -5 kkfeb04 said:

Captain Catnip

Your grandfather??!! Man I'm getting old.

All three of my uncles served. All three were stationed over there and saw actuve duty. They don't talk about it. One was messed up from serving on a sub for months at a time. I knew growing up that we fail our vets after they come home.

Lol. My maternal grandfather was only 15 years older than my dad.

Eta: chuckling at feeling old, not the story.

[downtoearth]

I want to watch this, but missed last night. I am going to try to watch tonight and throughout the series. We have/had WWII, Korea, and Gulf wars veterans in our family, but except one uncle, whom I don't really know, I don't have any immediate family members that were drafted or enlisted.

[ringstrue]

Yes but it was hard to see the pics.

[lolobeth802]

My Dad is a Vietnam vet. I think he has PTSD, but he doesn't believe the diagnosis exists. My Dad signed up for the marines at 17 to escape the foster care system. He received a Purple Heart about 5 years ago. We've really never spoken about it, but he texted me a few weeks back to make sure we had it set to our DVR. He's a history buff, as well. We haven't watched yet.
ETA: edited to add a few more details.

[pixy0stix]

I want to watch this.

My coworker's husband was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He was shot down twice, both times behind enemy lines. Her stories of his time there are gnarly. He has severe PTSD.

[whatnext]

I missed it but will have to see if I can catch up. My parents met in HCM City in 1968. We grew up surrounded by other vets and stories of there experiences during and after the war. It's been interesting in my adult years reconciling it all with Vietnamese I have been friends with or met socially.

[hopecounts]

whatnext it's on the PBS app.

[nahoku]

Vietnam vets were asked to submit their stories to pbs. Here is my dad's if anyone is interested. I think I'm most curious to hear more stories of how he was treated by his fellow soldiers and by people back I. America once he returned.

This should link to Cris's story.

www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/vietnam-stories/?stackla=ct_59be9e3f35dde9e7cbf232a0

[picksthemusic]

My grandfather and uncle served in Vietnam (grandpa was a fighter pilot, uncle was on the ground), and my dad was a cook.

I need to watch this.

[whatnext]

Sept 18, 2017 21:14:52 GMT -5 nahoku said:

Vietnam vets were asked to submit their stories to pbs. Here is my dad's if anyone is interested. I think I'm most curious to hear more stories of how he was treated by his fellow soldiers and by people back I. America once he returned.

This should link to Cris's story.

www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/vietnam-stories/?stackla=ct_59be9e3f35dde9e7cbf232a0

Thanks for sharing - his experiences seem very similar to one of my parents friends who was Japanese Australian. My father in particular talks about the lack of acknowledgement and support on return. About old women spitting on him in uniform. My mother who worked for the US army as a civilian often talks about how they felt when the army acknowledged their participation in the 1980s but at the what she feels propaganda sold to the public in Australia and the US on why people join war efforts - my father was poor and uneducated and my mother was a bored country girl who's friends were all getting married. Growing up we knew there stories of the Tet Offensive and why most of them didn't like fireworks, we learnt about the monks burning in the streets and all have been back to Vietnam at multiple stages. I always found how they talked about their experiences to be different to many other children of vets but that most of their closest friends are from that part of their lives.

[mouse]

My dad wasn't really a part of my life, and it was all kind of rooted in his Vietnam experience. I know he was In the navy on a ship, so he wasn't seeing direct combat, but they were taking on prisoners and they'd be taken down for "rough interrogation". Knowing he participated in that haunts him still. He signed up as a patriot to save the world from communism and just after the start of his second tour he became completely disillusioned.

When he got back he was supposed to go to some Ivy back east and had a two-day layover in San Francisco. He stayed in SF for ten years until one of his friends decided to sail around the world. I guess things were fine through Panama but they got in a major fight coming up the east coast and he was dropped off on a boating dock in North Carolina. Where he met my mom. (Typical for my mom, none of this was a red flag.)

[jeaniebueller]

Did anyone watch last night? The part where JFK approved supporting the coup in that memo because he 'assumed' that the rest of his national security team had already okayed it? Esh.

[mcsangel2]

The whole thing was a shitstorm of epic proportions. I never really knew that.