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His Vietnam series sucked and one of the reasons is that Burns made mention of returning soldiers being spit on without presenting any visual evidence that it ever happened.
I had a friend who claimed that he was spit on by a girl at the airport when he returned from active duty in uniform. When I was separated from active duty from the USN in February 1973, we were encouraged to wear civilian clothes home.
I had a friend who claimed that he was spit on by a girl at the airport when he returned from active duty in uniform. When I was separated from active duty from the USN in February 1973, we were encouraged to wear civilian clothes home.
With so many people greeting their returning sons, husbands, etc. you would think there would be a picture or news film showing this spitting. A lot of folks, including the soldiers had 8mm cameras back then. To this day no one has been able to offer proof of any spitting. They were ignored when they returned just as the Korean war vets were.
With so many people greeting their returning sons, husbands, etc. you would think there would be a picture or news film showing this spitting. A lot of folks, including the soldiers had 8mm cameras back then. To this day no one has been able to offer proof of any spitting. They were ignored when they returned just as the Korean war vets were.
I was thinking the exact opposite in that camera coverage was no where near what it is today. And for someone to have their instamatic camera just aiming at some random guy in a uniform to catch some other random guy deciding to spit would have been a stroke or Pulitzer Prize winning luk.
With so many people greeting their returning sons, husbands, etc. you would think there would be a picture or news film showing this spitting. A lot of folks, including the soldiers had 8mm cameras back then. To this day no one has been able to offer proof of any spitting. They were ignored when they returned just as the Korean war vets were.
like i'm going to film my self going through the Oakland airport with a movie camera just to catch that moment that girl spit on me...........
like i'm going to film my self going through the Oakland airport with a movie camera just to catch that moment that girl spit on me...........
More to the point given that back then every frame shot cost you money in film and maybe a flashbulb also people did not take pictures like they do now with battery life and social pressure being the only thing to stop them from recording everything. Nobody was wasting money taking random shots that might catch an incident..
More to the point given that back then every frame shot cost you money in film and maybe a flashbulb also people did not take pictures like they do now with battery life and social pressure being the only thing to stop them from recording everything. Nobody was wasting money taking random shots that might catch an incident..
another point or two. Having actually been spit on myself........I have talked with many vietnam veterans. Many have raised the points that who was going to delay going home to make a police report or file charges?
One example I take as very honestly related........veterans plane was to leave that night for home.......went to a local pub with couple of guys flying same flight.......after leaving the bar outside a couple of long hairs spit on em and were calling them the proverbial "baby killers" Guys proceded to beat the Crap out of em. Probably a lot of instances like that...........you actually think the police were going to arrest some war veterans being spit on?
I was thinking the exact opposite in that camera coverage was no where near what it is today. And for someone to have their instamatic camera just aiming at some random guy in a uniform to catch some other random guy deciding to spit would have been a stroke or Pulitzer Prize winning luk.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmagoo
With so many people greeting their returning sons, husbands, etc. you would think there would be a picture or news film showing this spitting. A lot of folks, including the soldiers had 8mm cameras back then. To this day no one has been able to offer proof of any spitting. They were ignored when they returned just as the Korean war vets were.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taiko
More to the point given that back then every frame shot cost you money in film and maybe a flashbulb also people did not take pictures like they do now with battery life and social pressure being the only thing to stop them from recording everything. Nobody was wasting money taking random shots that might catch an incident..
Certainly, passions ran very deep back then and some airports might be different from others.
So the scenario is that some anonymous girl decided to go to the local airport in hopes of meeting a plane for the sole purpose of spitting on returning soldiers and nobody was taking pictures of their son or husband arriving when this took place -- and there was never some accomplice photographing the episode for her scrapbook? I'm not saying that it didn't happen but it seems unlikely that this was nearly as common as people claim.
I do recall returning soldiers being treated poorly by the airlines. Sure, they were flying standby but I saw a couple of occasions of them being unceremoniously removed from planes for some reason after they were seated and buckled in. I know in one case the plane (a Christmas flight) was overloaded (they actually wrote down and tallied everyone's weight) so the soldiers were removed -- probably missed connections and Christmas dinner. I suppose that was just the corporate routine.
How did this turn into a 'history of spitting' thread?
It's Burns' next documentary..."The Age of Expectoration", which explores the history of spitting. It's a three parter:
1) Early Wet Discharges
2. The Full Spittle
3. Dribble Days
Narrated by former Olympic champion, Mark Spitz.
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