Anybody catch the first episode last night? Interesting background on Ho Chi Mihn. I knew some of that back story, but not all of it. The French are total assholes. I can see why the Vietnamese people hated them. Actually, my French Teacher at Mizzou was a Vietnamese guy in a wheelchair who had fought for South Vietnam in the war. He was fluent in French because his father worked for the French in Saigon.
Next chapter is on tonight. One of the American Soldiers they talked to who was a Marine went to my High School (Van Horn) in Independence. [Reply]
Originally Posted by gblowfish:
Anybody catch the first episode last night? Interesting background on Ho Chi Mihn. I knew some of that back story, but not all of it. The French are total assholes. I can see why the Vietnamese people hated them. Actually, my French Teacher at Mizzou was a Vietnamese guy in a wheelchair who had fought for South Vietnam in the war. He was fluent in French because his father worked for the French in Saigon.
Next chapter is on tonight. One of the American Soldiers they talked to who was a Marine went to my High School (Van Horn) in Independence.
Missed it last night. Watching tonight.
Really looking forward to this as I've always been a bit fascinated with that war. And it's by Ken Burns. Is there any way to catch last nights episode somewhere? [Reply]
There is a live video booth set up at MCPL Independence- If you are a Vet and have a story about the war- you can record it here and send it to KCPL. [Reply]
Most interesting part so far...............When Ho Che Ming took Power and declared a independent country in Vietnam. He wrote several Letters to Truman begging for USA support.
Basically saying They only wanted freedom to decide their own affairs, nothing to do with communism. Support us and we will be friends and trade partners. He never heard back. So he wrote another letter. No response. He wrote a total of 4 letters to Truman.
Truman never saw them. The CIA kept the letters and never told Truman of their existence. [Reply]
The Hamlet Program pissed off all the rural population. Farmers had to leave their land behind and go into these "protected hamlets." Also, there was a city-country split in the South Vietnamese people. The city people (Saigon) didn't understand the desires of the country people, and lots of the men out in the country joined up with the Viet Cong. The leadership in South Vietnam was completely corrupt, and they violated freedoms of religion and peaceful protest. The ARVN didn't want to fight for their own country. Just a total and complete cluster F. Kennedy was trying to stop WWIII over Cuba, and Vietnam took a back burner. Only until US Advisors started getting killed did the country start to notice what was going on there. It just snowballed out of control from there. [Reply]
Words and Deeds. My Dad always said words sound pretty and impressive but its the deeds that matter. Documentarians and Historians are never short of the pretty words but seem to be long in stretching and bending the deeds to fit their purpose. Ken Burns is a master at this. [Reply]
KC has a large Vietnamese population if you want the real story of the Vietcong and Ho Chi Mihn the children of these refugees are the source i'd seek. Where I work one of these refugee children is one of our electrical engineers now. He was a little boy when Saigon fell and was lucky to escape as his parents were caretakers of the US embassy grounds. His Parents migrated to South as they were a burden to his Grandparents farm in the North when the VC demanded so much of the rice at a unfair price if they even would pay. At the fall of the South his Grandparents Aunts and Uncles were sent away to concentration caps to be reprogrammed because of his parents working at US embassy. They all died 4 years later of disease so they were told no remains or burial place is given just people who disappeared. Wonder if old Ken documents those people. [Reply]
A friend of mine was one of the Marines on the roof of the US Embassy in 1975 loading people onto helicopters. He was in a Recon company. He was on the next to last chopper off the roof, so he was literally one of the very last soldiers in country to get out. [Reply]
Originally Posted by srvy:
Words and Deeds. My Dad always said words sound pretty and impressive but its the deeds that matter. Documentarians and Historians are never short of the pretty words but seem to be long in stretching and bending the deeds to fit their purpose. Ken Burns is a master at this.
You think Ken is anti-american biased? Or anti-American military?
I'm not challenging you, I'm just curious. [Reply]
My wife mentioned it, and I caught part of it last night since Monday Night Football didn't sound exciting. I found the music scores to be kind of odd, and they didn't seem to match the video, and honestly I thought the flow of the episode was also kind of choppy. But there was some good information and learning, since I knew little about the pre-buildup period of American involvement. [Reply]