My friend, RL Del Vecchio, contacted me after posting my article about the NVA / VC atrocities of the Vietnam War to inform me that none of what I posted was even mentioned in Ken Burns’ documentary about the Vietnam War. Instead, he showed My Lai and other photos of the “napalm girl” (ARVN pilot and not US dropped it in error), the assassination of the plainclothes VC officer on a Saigon street, and American soldiers burning villages. Making it look like we were the bad guys during the war.
Del mentioned that he is part of a group, Vietnam Veterans for Factual History, who is trying to get Mr. Burns to set the record straight and to come clean with the inaccuracies in the film. I was part of a special group of veterans who was invited to a private showing of the one-hour long preview that circulated the country prior to the event beginning on local PBS stations. It was during that preview that my wife continued to mention that the film was biased and leaned more toward the POV of the enemy than from our own soldiers. Her opinion was confirmed after watching the first two episodes. I soon heard from other Vietnam Veterans and how disappointed they were in the documentary; citing the same reasons.
Mr. Burns’ camp continues to evade the VVFH, however, the group did receive a response from PBS which I quote here in part: “…the film generated a tremendous amount of attention, from the public, members of the military community and veterans, nearly all of which praised the film’s respect for our soldiers and its balance. Maybe more poignantly, not a day goes by when I do not hear from veterans of the war about how thankful they are for the film, helping them speak about their experience with family and friends, something they had rarely done before.
“Ken and Lynn went to great lengths to include diverse voices in the film. We did the same in our outreach across the country, meeting with veterans’ groups, Vietnamese-Americans and those who opposed the war, as well as with a wide-range of historians and military experts. The film was extremely well received at the Air Force and Naval Academies, the Army Command and General Staff College, as well as at the Pentagon…”
Do you believe that “nearly all” of the veteran community “praised the film”?
I’ve put together a short video (less than 2 min.) using the Powerpoint presentation Del forwarded to me last week:
Images of compassion
These are assorted pictures of US soldiers and Marines protecting, helping, carrying Vietnamese in the midst of the war.
Why didn’t Ken Burns include photos like this in “The Vietnam War” instead of portraying us differently?
CREDITS
Original PowerPoint presentation/photos:
R J Del Vecchio
Video/audio set up: John Podlaski
Music: Buffalo Springfield (1967) “For what it’s Worth”
Vietnam Veterans for Factual History website:
http://vvfh.org/
For those who have interest, here is the presentation Del made in Georgia to the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Association, to whom he’s indebted for the availability of this video. He hopes people find it useful, and please feel free to disseminate (56 min).
Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association presents R.L. Del Vecchio, “Correcting The Myths of the Vietnam War” – Ex. Sec. of Vietnam Veterans for Factual History – February 6, 2018. NOTE: I have a mistake in my speech. For some reason I said it was Paul Vallely in the Burns show, but it was Thomas Vallely. There is a real Paul Vallely who is a vet and a fine guy.
So, what’s your opinion? Here’s the direct link If you wish to visit the website of VVFH and perhaps join their cause: http://vvfh.org/
Thank you, Mr. Del Vecchio for allowing me to share your information with my readers. Good luck with VVFH’s mission!
If readers are interested in viewing my earlier article about the Communist atrocities of the Vietnam War – click here:: https://cherrieswriter.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/vcnva-terrorist-doctrine/
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CherriesWriter - Vietnam War website 
There was nearly nothing mentioned in Burns’ documentary about the Navy in Vietnam. I was a Blue Water Sailor. Nothing was mentioned about the Brown Water Navy either. We supported the Army and Marines in country. Navy and Marine aviators were killed, captured, and murdered in Vietnam!
I was spit on and called a “Baby Killer “ when I got home after 2 years away from home! I was never in country!,
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I went to college w/4 Nam Vets. Their stories were heartbreaking and I love them very much and think of them often. America’s finest! 👏🇺🇸👏🇺🇸👏🇺🇸
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I guess I’m late in responding, but I wanted to say that I never finished seeing the whole series. I was turned off by what I considered an un-American presentation. The film’s producers attempting to dishonor our dead and our service. What I did view was a slap in our face, and a pat on the back for the Commies.
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Richard, that’s how many of us felt…sense of it being so as early as the first installment. / John
On Tue, May 21, 2019 at 11:57 PM CherriesWriter – Vietnam War website wrote:
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Hello Richard,
Sorry that i ask straight out of the blue but could you do me a favor and send me an Email, i think i found your dog tag vietnam… I would like to shoot you a picture and if your serial number fits would get it back to you (its ending on xxxxx259)
Best Regards.
– Ben
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Like Marcus, my conclusion after seeing the whole series and talking to as many Vietnam Vets as would talk with me, each of us had a different and unique experience depending on assignment, location, and when we were there. There was no common experience, except maybe the 16 hour plane ride to get there, but we all share the bond of having been there and that will never be completely told.
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Reblogged this on joekiddone's wordpress blog… and commented:
John “pdoggbiker” Podlaski’s post in reaction to Ken Burns’ Vietnam War “documentary”
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I saw the film after having read many of pdog’s posts, after many conversations with veterans and a vivid memory of the Vietnam conflict. I was not impressed. The film left a bad taste in my mouth, and once again I must agree with pdoggbiker – hope someone sets things straight. It needs to be done. Neither this film nor Ken Burns did.
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Well not everybody’s Nam experience was EXACTLY the same across the country! Not every solider saw heard or said the same things. Not all pilots had exactly the same missions and not all grunts endured the same. Yes a lot of guys had worse than me and a lot had it better! I challenge you to define my worse or my better, or their worse or better. You just cannot do it, were corners cut absolutely! Was some things FUBAR? Absolutely! The only things that were the same was bullets tearing through flesh and bombs exploding and killing us! Did we drop bombs or shells in the wrong place? Sometimes, did everybody know what was going on at the same time NOPE! The scoop changed every five seconds at times. The “sop” was never standard each commander, each Captain, each Gunny had his way and you had to get your shit wired right or you would be in a jam!
Some people seem to think Ken Burns made things up, so exactly how could he accomplish that? He used interviews from guys that were there, that told him how THEY seen it, lived it and remembered it. So to call the film a lie or wrong. You are calling every man, woman that was there a liar. I am sure your experience was very different than mine and the next guy. So please don’t call us liars. If you were a grunt or a solider how do you know how the river rats experienced things or the Air Force Guys? Gunship crews, Tank crews, bombers and fighter pilots! Did you ever experience a MIG or a SAM coming at you? Did you ever fly a C-130 gunship over the trail at night? How about a tunnel rat did you go under ground alone? You can only express your view of what you went through at anyone point in time, not mine!
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I don’t fully agree with you but I won’t debate with you on the people that Burns interviewed were there and told what they saw & experienced. However I must say you did not account for the Hollywood Spin Burns may have and I think surely did put his and Liberal Lynn’s Spin on the stories. Was there Chu Lai, 66-67 USMC.
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I am exceedingly grateful that John Podlaski, better known as pdoggbiker, is willing to take on controversial topics such as the Ken Burns-Lynn Novick documentary on the Vietnam War. In my mind, the definitive history of the war, and the brave men and women who fought it is still to be produced. I wrote a book, “A Different Face of War.” about my experiences in I Corps early in the war. Even at that time (1966-67), I felt the strategy of attrition that had been adopted by the Johnson Administration and COMUSMACV was doomed to failure. Although I was an Army officer serving in what was then known as Marine Country, I wholeheartedly supported the viewpoint of the Commander of the Third Marine Amphibious Force, LTG Lewis Walt, when he angrily retorted at an I Corps staff meeting, “Dammit, if they think we can kill our way out of this war they are wrong.” I, too, believe the Burns-Novick documentary has major flaws. The brave men and women, both ARVN and American, deserve a better legacy.
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Thanks Jim!
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I had to force myself to watch the entire series just to reinforce my belief that they will never fess up. You do realize that these people who profess these fallacies are the very same ones who spat on us when we came home, don’t you? This is them still screwing us in an effort to make themselves feel exonerated. Piss on them, and Mr. Burns too. We know what happened.
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Thank you John. Well done. I’d say a far cry the majority thought the film accurately portrayed the war. I know of no one who was there who thought Burns did a good job.
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Ken Burns film is more than a disappointment to most of the combat Veterans I know. He gives the impression that the real heros are the ones who burned their draft cards and fled to Canada. He must have talked to Jimmy Carter who pardoned the bastards and let them return to the United States with no charges. How proud they must be to know some mothers son had to go in their place. “Film sucks, so does Ken Burns.”
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Having attended one of the sessions where O’Brien and Novick spoke and MC Don Shelby, I found the whole matter to be about the art of a film maker. A lot of money invested , Sure donated)and a lot of money out and as well as name prominence added to the list of series by Burns. Having been in combat, it (the film) wasn’t so much about the US soldier as it was about the total history of the war. Nothing was said about why “we shouldn’t have been there in the first place.” Colonial power France trying to maintain control, US foreign policy sucks the energy out of the American People financially, as well as physically when we send people off to die and do not let others solve their problems. We have attempted to save too many dictator, (so called democracies). and it comes back to bit us.
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Ken Burns produced an excellent film. It was our politicians who are at fault, for it was they who lied and pushed us into the jungles and rice fields of Vietnam. It was our generation who went and our parents generation who were silent. Thus 4,000,000 deaths.
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It’s BULLSHIT, just trying to sell books.
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Mr. McMath: What is your major malfunction? You’ve made similar comments after other posts…if you think it’s all bullshit, why do you continue to read my posts and comment? We could all do without your snipes.
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McMath has been booted off at least one other page I know of for his rants
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I think I have him blocked on this website…time will tell if I did it correctly or not. Thanks for the heads-up Rick!
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WELL SAID, JOHN, AIN’T WORTH NOTHING
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Thanks, pdog, for posting the del Vecchio speech. This gets the ball rolling. We have the rest of our lives to figure this stuff out, to re-evaluate the Vietnam War. Burns opened a door; now it’s time for you guys who were there to to step up to the plate and make known what Burns has missed, overlooked, or misrepresented. It’s about time we Americans get, as Paul Harvey use to say, the “rest of the story.” Vecchio’s cynical point– about the “justice” imposed by NVA after the war–is a strong point. We know it wasn’t justice at all; rather, it was communist-enforced oppression and imposed slavery, which is what we had been trying to prevent all along.
Just a few days ago, I met a young man, a Vietnamese twenty-something, whose father finally got to come to USA after spending 15 years in Vietnam prison because he was an ARVN soldier.
I have two daughters who have visited Vietnam in recent years. They report that–it is true–the Viets love Americans now. I am sure that is true because of what Vecchio said–the giving and caring that you guys were able to muster in those adverse circumstances–that giving and caring truly does represent what “who we were” to them.
Don’t forget, we’ve still got a lot of time to talk about this stuff. Don’t neglect your opportunities to make known to us stateside students the “rest of the story.”
The USA will heal and become better as your guys remind us of what we were wanting and trying to do over there, “over there,” because it has been proven to the world, since 1989, that communism is no walk in the park.
Keep up the good work. The truth shall make us free.
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The Viets today do not like Americans b/c of anything Americans did in the American War: they like us b/c they are intrigued by our culture. 90% of Viets alive now were born after the American War was over. It just isn’t discussed much by Vietnamese> Their country finally was unified, the Communist government screwed up a lot and has been liberalizing since the end of the USSR. A charming people in a beautiful country as was true in 1966-68.
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Burns’ was received so well – exactly because of all the liberal media. Call it ‘objective, unbiased, balanced’ and it seems as if there is no agenda in it. So, you get the best promotion possible. Whereas Burns himself admits to be left-leaning – and let’s not forget – it were the Dems messing up (in) that war to begin with…
Other ‘goodwill’ to mention:
– Marines’ CAP Program
– Medical treatment of civilians (and enemy soldiers) in basecamps
– Operation Babylift
Ah well – history is written by the victors – the communists in this case – plenty of ‘useful idiots’ in the West to assist.
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Jay you are a bit right leaning when you say “– it were the Dems messing up (in) that war to begin with…” and seem to forget that President Nixon, stopped bombing, pulled the US after promising to support the South with arms, and then did not do so.
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@Loyd – I’m most definitely ‘right-leaning’ – especially when it comes to all the white-washing in the media for decades now over any liberal/democrat ‘controversies’ (to use an euphemism).
Nixon gets vilified how he supposedly prolonged the war – only to get elected, but very few mention Johnson started the bloody war only to get re-elected…
He should have been tried for treason, perjury and a slew of other crimes/misdemeanors (and so should Bush Jr., btw).
Nixon didn’t throw South-Vietnam under the bus: Congres/Senate did, as they refused to continue (military) aid. Guess who controlled those?
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WHAT ABOUT THE WOMEN, “BOOTIES ON THE GROUND”, NOT NURSES, IN VIETNAM? YEP, WE WERE THERE BUT YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE KNOWN IT, LOL, KUI. IT PISSED ME OFF TO REALIZE THAT NOT ONE WORD WAS MENTIONED ABOUT US WOMEN, OTHER THAN THE NURSES, LONG BINH, VIETNAM, 1968-1969.
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Pat,
Why not do a guest-post here? I’m interested, as you do have a point.
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Pat, I’d welcome your POV and be honored to host your guest post on this website. You can contact me via john.podlaski@gmail.com to discuss further.
On Thu, Feb 15, 2018 at 6:46 PM, Cherries – A Vietnam War Novel wrote:
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Pat,
I agree with Jay. You should do a guest post about American women in the Vietnam War. I suspect that few know the role played by women, other than those who served as nurses and physicians.
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Patricia “Thank you” for your service. Women today continue to fight to be allowed to serve during war in a combat MOS. Is it any wonder that you., along with other ladies, weren’t mentioned in the documentary? Those of us at home didn’t know you were there. Yes, we heard about the Red Cross and nurses, but not about our military women in combat serving in a war zone. It was tabu and not even shown on the raw, but highly edited, TV news. I agree, with those who suggested you respond with your story in a post. I’m so proud of you; stand up and speak out so that others will hear your story directly from you. Take care and stay safe.
With Humble Admiration,
Frances Foster Johnson
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I’ve watched the entire documentary and I didn’t see much in the way of making the U.S. solely out to be the ‘bad guy’. It discusses the atrocities of the Viet Cong and PAVN in Hue, it interviews former Viet Minh fighters who turn against the Communists after they witness brutality against civilians.
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We Americans had no business, going to Viet Nam.
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While I was there. I never witnessed anything, like you show. But, I believe it. I did witness a General Court Marshal.
in Ft. Ord. They said the man had killed his Co & 2 other Officers, in Viet Nam. His trial was in 1972 at Fort Ord, CA. I carried the Reporters from ABC CBS & NBC News daily to the court House. His Attorney was, F. Lee Bailey. At the end of the trial, he was set- free.
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My input on the subject
Keith Nightingale
On Thu, Feb 15, 2018 at 2:58 PM, Cherries – A Vietnam War Novel wrote:
> pdoggbiker posted: “My friend, RL Del Vecchio, contacted me after posting > my article about the NVA / VC atrocities of the Vietnam War to inform me > that none of what I posted was even mentioned in Ken Burns’ documentary > about the Vietnam War. Instead, he showed My Lai and oth” >
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