Vietnam Veterans Cheer New Attitude Toward Military

Vietnam veterans cheer new attitude toward military
by Mark Locklear

PEMBROKE – Harold Hunt said his tour in Vietnam was bad, but his return to the United States in 1970 was worse.

(Protesters) were squalling and hollering at us and calling us baby killers, the Robeson County native said. It’s pretty tough when you get off the plane in Oakland, Calif., and there was the hippies, the Jesus freaks and war protesters throwing rotten eggs at you. We were still Americans.

The wrenching experience continues to haunt Hunt and thousands of Vietnam veterans like him decades later. But many veterans take solace in the fact that most Americans, even those opposed to the war, revere the soldiers serving in Iraq.

Combat soldiers who came back from Vietnam were a bunch of baby killers. Hunt said of how others characterized them.

The he provided the contrast: The guys who are serving in Iraq are heroes to the United States.

Larry Townsend, a Vietnam vet from Pembroke, said the hero’s welcome home that Iraq veterans are getting is America’s way of getting right with their conscious of how the country treated the Vietnam veterans.  (continued…)

Townsend said it is a far cry from how he was treated. He said he struggled to find a job when he returned from the war.

I thought veterans were looked at in a different light, Townsend said. I was a decorated veteran. But I remember applying for a job and the woman said, Did you smoke marijuana and shoot babies in Vietnam?’

Ret. Master Gunnery Sgt. Furnie Lambert Jr., a career soldier from Maxton, said there were so many demonstrations at airports that the military stopped chartering American planes to bring Vietnam veterans home. Lambert, who served two tours in Vietnam, said some veterans were advised to change into civilian clothes when they got off the plane.

The attack on American soil on Sept. 11, 2001, is a major difference, said Lambert.

The Twin Towers attack hit home, Lambert said. It brought people together as far as wanting to get the enemy. (President) Bush has done a pretty good job on selling the global war on terrorism.

Hunt added the Pearl Harbor attack put a different swing on American’s view during World War 11.

People in the United States put a greater value on the life of our military in Iraq and Pearl Harbor than they did Vietnam. But it was still a war, Hunt said.

Even though many openly oppose the Iraq war, Lambert said there are not as many organized demonstrations and antiwar protests today. He said such protests hurt troop morale.

The time frame that Vietnam War came along was during the big peace movement, flowery children, hippies, Jesus freaks and Jane Fonda, Hunt said.

Lambert said Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, is one of the few anti-war protesters to attract international attention.

Delayed effect

Lambert, Townsend and Hunt – who all assist other veterans through the Lumbee Tribe’s Veterans Affairs Office – say while Iraq vets are lauded, many still must cope with the trauma of war.

You return home and try to fit back into society, Townsend said. But once you’ve been in combat, the world changes. People back here expect veterans to get back in society and go on.

Townsend said the full psychological effect of the Iraq war may not felt for another 15 years.

They will come back from the war, not shot up, he said. Everything is fine. They will go work and raise families. But when they are 40 or 50 years old, they can’t cope anymore. But they can tell you what happened during the war.

Veterans are sometimes the only people who can reach another veteran, Townsend said. That is why they opened the office two years ago.

Combat veterans are a band of brothers, Townsend said. They have a bond and a uniqueness you can’t find anywhere else. There is something about when a person has put it all on the line. Usually they look at things a little bit different. They value life because they have been to the end.