US Media, Hanoi Jane, and No Gun Ri

The American people of the early 50's, and their media, often seemed unaware that they were sending young men to fight and die in Korea. But they never betrayed us.

Questionable Media accuracy, as about No Gun Ri, suggests it may be prudent to evaluate the objectivity of today's media.

To many veterans, specific media elements during Vietnam and Iraq consistently made reports of questionable truthfulness. Some consider media treatment of Vietnam veterans as shameless character assassination.

One media favorite has always been Jane Fonda, a person so loathed by veterans that her image decorates many Veterans' Club urinals even today.

In fact, as with all human activities, Ms. Fonda's actions are subject to differing interpretations. The problem is to find interpretations which suggest objectivity, the principal requirement for intellectual honesty, and the principal duty of a free press.

In the case of Ms. Fonda, that problem seems insurmountable.

With Jane Fonda ... nee movie queen, nee pampered child of privilege, media mega-mogul Ted Turner's former spouse, ever a media darling ... one basic truth should be kept in mind:

Ms. Fonda was dubbed by Viet Nam vets with another name. It shouldn't be forgotten how she earned it.

Jane Fonda gave aid and comfort to our enemy, while ordinary American citizens were fighting and dying. She did great emotional injury and injustice to all Viet Nam veterans, and their families.

Far worse, she did great harm to all American citizens, because she helped polarize us against our government, and against each other.

"Truth", is all too often only subjective opinion, even with the best of intentions. The polarization Ms. Fonda helped encourage has gone far beyond expectation of legitimate differences in interpretation, it has led to general distrust. Distrust of those with differing political and religious convictions, of those with differing skin color, of our elected officials.

One positive by-product, it has helped make us aware of the need to always keep in mind the possible bias of those empowered to decide what can be presented to us as fact and significance, in today's current events.

That is the point of this site.

Healing will only come with truth

As with all times of contradictory philosophies surrounded by violence and death, there is much biased opinion, unverified information, and disinformation about the Viet Nam war.

Typical is the portrayal Ms. Fonda made of the idyllic life under Communism, and her attribution of the war as an effort of colonization by a Republican administration and President Nixon.

The myths of Communist life were exposed with the downfall of the USSR, and the disclosure of the countless murders of political opponents, in all communist countries, not least so in South Vietnam after we betrayed and abandoned them.

The facts were always obvious, if ignored by Ms. Fonda:

• It is historical record that our involvement in the Viet Nam war occurred long after North Viet Nam had fully committed to Communist "colonization" of the South.
• It is historical record that a Republican administration refused to enter Vietnam.
  • President Eisenhower relied on the judgment of our finest advisors (the Ridgeway Report) rather than political expediency, in deciding that the military requirements for such a war exceeded the probable importance to our National interests.
• It is historical record that our entry into the war, and its total mis-management, was initiated and prosecuted by a Democrat administration, and President Johnson.
• The agony of the Vietnam war was finally ended during a Republican administration, under President Nixon.
• South Vietnam was only defeated, with tens of thousands of subsequent deaths in "Re-education Camps," after the Anti Vietnam movement encouraged a feckless Congress to ignore our promises of logistic support to South Vietnam and, ultimately, betray them.

All these facts have consistently been ignored by Ms. Fonda in her continuing derision of the ordinary Americans who make our country the bulwark of Democracy we are.

Indeed, " Ms. Fonda was dubbed by Viet Nam vets with another name."

Indeed, "It shouldn't be forgotten how she earned it."

Sadly, Ms. Fonda has herself been the target of deliberate untruth. As though her actions were not contemptible enough without embellishment, a number of totally false stories about her have been circulated lately, involving POWs.

The terrible loneliness and vulnerability of those who were captured by an inhumane and alien enemy is self-evident to all. Perhaps for that reason the POWs were selected by some sick person or group to try and magnify the evil of her actions.

To keep an objective awareness of Ms. Fonda's actions, and help fairly evaluate our media, you should attempt to verify personally any pertinent accounts, pro or con.

From: Mike McGrath ( mmcgrath@POP.IEX.NET )
Subject: Fonda, Ted Guy, John McCain, false stories...

(1) There is a bogus story floating around about Larry Carrigan, Jane Fonda, torture of POWs, death of POWs, strips of paper, notes given to Jane, etc. I just thought you should know that this is all bull crap propagated by someone for some unknown purpose....probably to bolster some hate against the traitorous witch. I'm not defending her, we all hate her as much as the next person, but you need to get your stories straight. Jerry Driscoll is my Secretary/Treasurer. I just talked to him. Same for A.J. Myers. They had nothing to do with the article attributed to them. They ask that we get their names off that bunch of crap. Tonight I talked with Larry Carrigan. He asked that we get his name off all that crap as well. He never left a room to talk to anyone like that. No torture or beatings to see Fonda. He was living with Bud Day, John McCain and a bunch of hard nosed resistors during the Fonda visit...lots of witnesses if you want to question him (or them). Larry was never near Jane. There were never any POWs killed on account of Jane. (Did anyone ever provide a name of one of these tortured fellows?) That story about the notes has a nice theatric touch, but no such thing ever happened. The only ones who met with Jane willingly, to my knowledge, were CDR Gene Wilber and LCOL Ed Miller. One NAM-POW was forced to go before the Fonda delegation. And I think that was only to sit at a table for a photo opportunity. I doubt he even got a chance to talk to her let alone slip her a note. To my knowledge, the worst that happened to the rest of us was that we had to listen to the camp radio (Radio Hanoi and Hanoi Hannah) with the Fonda propaganda. It pissed us off, but I doubt you can call that "torture." So, if you get a chance to SHUT THIS STORY DOWN to the groups who are forwarding it, PLEASE DO SO. You can cut and paste this paragraph is you want to. Doubters can come to me if they need to. Mike McGrath,
President of NAM-POWs. POW 30 June 67 to 4 march 73. ( mmcgrath@iex.net )

(2) Next, the false stories of John McCain's conduct. Again, there are false stories floating around the net about McCain. He was never missing from our group for six months. He never co-operated with the enemy. We have dozens of us who lived with and around John for his entire time (10-26-67 to 14 March 73). Larry Carrigan, for one, lived with or near both John and Ted Guy. Larry says Ted would never make the statements which are being attributed to him ...and Ted can't set the record straight because he is dead. We have dozens of roommates who will vouch for the loyalty and courage and conduct of John McCain. Here is a more accurate story: John had both arms and at least one leg badly hurt on ejection. He was bayoneted near the groin by a soldier as they were pulling him from the lake. After three days of interrogations and no cooperation, he was near death. They found out his father was Admiral McCain. They stopped the interrogations, gave him medical care, brought in a French reporter (with camera), and let him make a statement to his family that he was alive and would recover and come home. After laying off the rough stuff, and trying to get John to cooperate by the "good guy" treatment for a couple of weeks, they got pissed off that he would not give information or cooperate. So, they threw him in a cell with Bud Day (MOH recipient) and Maj Norris Overly. McCain was in danger of dying from maltreatment. Maj Overly had to nurse both men back to health. From that point on, McCain resisted just as hard as any other POW. He went through the same interrogations and treatment. His roommates can testify to his valor and patriotism. In short, I think that the slanderous reports by faceless people (and some are attributed to Ted Guy...which I doubt are true) are from the bunch who are really pissed off that McCain made a political decision to back Clinton when Clinton decided it was time for "normalization" of diplomatic and trade relations, and it was time to have Ambassadorial level representation. To many, that made John a traitor. To most, it was just a political reality. It opened the door to better cooperation for a host of areas, including a full accounting of the POW/MIA issue (which is still an ongoing issue today. We have 2,060 yet to account for). If you want to get the straight story on McCain's conduct, please contact his roommates. Start with the Honorable Orson Swindle at ( OrsonIII@aol.com ). Thanks for helping shut down these Phony stories. Again, you can copy this paragraph if it will help. Mike McGrath, President of NAM-POWs.

Bottom line: Who are these guys who pretend to know who the POWs are, what we are, how we think and thought, how we conducted ourselves, what we said, what we did, or why we did whatever. There are over 50 books written by or about us which pretty much detail our ordeal. For book list, see our web site at: ( www.eos.net/rrva/nampow/nampows.html ) If that isn't enough, please contact us personally and get the straight story. Over 280 of our e-mail addresses are on the NAM-POW web site. We also list the 300 or so Phony POWs on the Hall of Shame. But please don't attribute anything to us that is not verified. Thanks. Mike For those with a genuine interest to find out about us, I suggest you get a very recently released book, 700 pages of hard hitting researched reality, "Honor Bound," by Frederick Kiley and Stuart Rochester (recently nominated for a Pulitzer for this work). This by far is the most comprehensive work ever done on our ordeal. Do you want to find out the truth about the Cuban Program, the torture, the brutality, etc. Just pick up your phone and call the Naval Institute at: 1-800-233-8764. Read this book first, then we'll talk to you about real POW experiences in Hanoi... not false stories of Hanoi.

© Kortegaard Engineering ©