The Vietnam War , last episodes last night

[Tokyo Blue]

I went to Vietnam a couple of years ago and went to the war museum in Ho Chi Minh. Fascinating yet harrowing stuff, and I wanted to go on a tour of the network of tunnels that Viet Cong soldiers made and used to make guerrilla attacks on US and South Vietnamese soldiers, but didn't have time.

But while I was there, I saw first hand about how tough the Vietnamese are and why it's not unbelievable that they won. In the big backpackers district, a group of American tourists tried leaving a restaurant without paying the full amount and the staff had a right go at them. The staff consisted of a young lad in his early 20s, a woman in about her 40s and another woman who looked about 60 (probably family owned) and they each had a big bottle of beer in hand ready to smash the yanks with if it got ugly.

In the end, the middle-aged woman grabbed one of the yanks' chain and broke it, and he started wailing before even other tourists told them to feck off. "WTF? You, like, broke my $3000 dollar chain, man"... bellends.

Oh, and I also played 5-a-side against some Vietnamese guys when I lived in Korea. They were tough, left feet in but solid honest players who worked and battled hard. And the keeper saved a volley of mine which I still can't understand how he saved it...

[elytillidie]

I don't watch much telly, but have watched the entire Vietnam War series, brilliant stuff, Nixon makes Thatcher look like Mother Theresa. Different war, but a brilliant song...


"Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)"

A butcher, yes that was my trade
But the King's shilling is now my fee
A butcher I may as well have stayed
For the slaughter that I see

And the preacher in his pulpit
Sermoned "Go and fight, do what is right"
But he don't have to hear these guns
And I bet he sleeps at night

And I...
And I can't stop shaking
My hands won't stop shaking
My arms won't stop shaking
My mind won't stop shaking
I want to go home
Please let me go home
Go home

And I have seen a friend of mine
Hang on the wire like some rag toy
Then in the heat the flies come down
And cover up the boy

And the flies come down in Gommecourt,
Thiepval, Mametz Wood, and French Verdun
If the preacher, he could see those flies
Wouldn't preach for the sound of guns

And I...
And I can't stop shaking
My hands won't stop shaking
My arms won't stop shaking
My mind won't stop shaking
I want to go home
Please let me go home
Go home

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

I went to Vietnam a couple of years ago and went to the war museum in Ho Chi Minh. Fascinating yet harrowing stuff, and I wanted to go on a tour of the network of tunnels that Viet Cong soldiers made and used to make guerrilla attacks on US and South Vietnamese soldiers, but didn't have time.

But while I was there, I saw first hand about how tough the Vietnamese are and why it's not unbelievable that they won. In the big backpackers district, a group of American tourists tried leaving a restaurant without paying the full amount and the staff had a right go at them. The staff consisted of a young lad in his early 20s, a woman in about her 40s and another woman who looked about 60 (probably family owned) and they each had a big bottle of beer in hand ready to smash the yanks with if it got ugly.

In the end, the middle-aged woman grabbed one of the yanks' chain and broke it, and he started wailing before even other tourists told them to feck off. "WTF? You, like, broke my $3000 dollar chain, man"... bellends.

Oh, and I also played 5-a-side against some Vietnamese guys when I lived in Korea. They were tough, left feet in but solid honest players who worked and battled hard. And the keeper saved a volley of mine which I still can't understand how he saved it...

Hard , proud people

[MacAdder]

Just caught up on the series.
Agree with the comments here and other threads.

The tape recordings of conversations, particularly LBJ and Nixon, highlighting the "game"

American congress refusing Gerald Ford's proposal for aid to the South Vietnamese.

Nostalgia in a funny kind of way. I found muself remembering of what I was doing at the time, what class I was in, helped by the songs. Hard to believe all that shit was happening whilst FA cups being won and world cup tournaments held.

The stories from the 'stars' when they visited the wall. Very moving.

Such a good watch.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

I went to Vietnam a couple of years ago and went to the war museum in Ho Chi Minh. Fascinating yet harrowing stuff, and I wanted to go on a tour of the network of tunnels that Viet Cong soldiers made and used to make guerrilla attacks on US and South Vietnamese soldiers, but didn't have time.

But while I was there, I saw first hand about how tough the Vietnamese are and why it's not unbelievable that they won. In the big backpackers district, a group of American tourists tried leaving a restaurant without paying the full amount and the staff had a right go at them. The staff consisted of a young lad in his early 20s, a woman in about her 40s and another woman who looked about 60 (probably family owned) and they each had a big bottle of beer in hand ready to smash the yanks with if it got ugly.

In the end, the middle-aged woman grabbed one of the yanks' chain and broke it, and he started wailing before even other tourists told them to feck off. "WTF? You, like, broke my $3000 dollar chain, man"... bellends.

Oh, and I also played 5-a-side against some Vietnamese guys when I lived in Korea. They were tough, left feet in but solid honest players who worked and battled hard. And the keeper saved a volley of mine which I still can't understand how he saved it...

I will visit the museum in January after travelling through Thailand and Cambodia. The Genocide Museum in Sarajevo I visited last year was very small and probably operating on a very small budget but it was very sobering indeed. However, don't expect a prominent entrance to the place. it's via a door on a side street and you have to ring the bell.

Isn't it ironic that we humans have an amazing capacity to use science in a good way but still squabbling amongst ourselves on a global basis whilst the environment that we depend on is being critically defiled?

[light up the darkness]

and when the was ended the USA did not pay one single dollar of the 2 billion dollars it had promised in reparations and forced Vietnam into an economic isolation that pales alongside what they also did to Cuba.

If it wasnt for the fact that the VN dislike the Chinese so much the actions after the war of the USA would have been enough to push them straight into Mao's iron rice bowl of economic hegemony in the 'Indo-Pacific' region