PBS series on Vietnam a biased, mixed up portrayal

Today the Dispatch-Argus printed a critique of the PBS series Vietnam.  It is by Special Forces Vietnam combat veteran (then) Army Captain Bill Albracht. He challenges the  portrayal of veterans of that war.  His comments as provided the D-A are set forth below. The D-A has not archived the article as a distinct item as yet, however, the e-edition rendition of the entire print version may be available here.   Links to a couple of items  providing bios of Bill Albracht are also included.

THE VIETNAM WAR – THE PBS SERIES AS SEEN BY A VN VETERAN

When I heard about the Ken Burns-Lynn Novik PBS series on the Vietnam War that was coming out, I had immediate trepidation as to how it would be handled. After watching the entire series, I see that I was right in my feelings.

With the exception of the last episode which dealt with our fallen brothers and The Wall, the rest of the series was another slap in the face of all the men who served with honor when our country called.

I feel compelled to quote Jim Webb, Marine VN combat vet, author, former Secretary of the Navy and Senator from Virginia;

“The sizeable portion of the Vietnam age group who declined to support the counter-culture agenda, and especially the men and women who opted to serve in the military during the Vietnam War, are quite different from their peers who for decades have claimed to speak for them. In fact, they are much like the World war II generation itself. For them Woodstock was a sideshow, college protesters were spoiled brats who would have benefited from having to work a few jobs in order to pay their tuition, and Vietnam represented not an intellectual exercise in draft avoidance or protest marches but a battlefield that was brutal as those their fathers faced in World War II”.

Burns and Novik had the unmitigated gall to hold up VN vets who came home and protested the war (which was their right they most certainly earned) as being the spokesperson for all VN vets. To further insult us, they held up a draft evader who fled to Canada. This was shown in the light as a righteous alternative to serving your country.

Where were the interviews of the gallant chopper pilots that came in through shot & shell to pick-up our wounded, drop of ammo or provide close air support? Where were the rank & file infantrymen who through fire and steel beat the enemy at every turn in every battle of consequence? Where were the guys that provided our pay, our food, our transportation, our POL, our logistics and our supplies? They had impact on every 11 Bush that carried an M-16. All served and the vast majority served with honor and were proud, yes PROUD of their service to our country.

But that is not what America saw. They saw victims. Victims of a corrupt America. And those victims should be pitied and forgiven for their service because…well…they were merely pawns in a war that America had no business being involved in.

The North Vietnamese carried out an invasion into the sovereign country of South Vietnamese. It was NOT a civil war; it was a war to stop the South being taken over by Communism. There was no mention how Communism, left unchecked, would then spread to Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines and then – on to Australia. That was the plan, but the price they paid in VN was so costly that it derailed the entire process and we did that. Yes, we did it at terrible price, but we did it.

So to Burns and Novik, nice try in providing the perfect “I told you so” to all those that scorned us and took steps to ensure they would never serve. But the fact of this matter is that when America called, we answered and did so with honor.

Bill Albracht – Vietnam Veteran

We also note objections to the deficiencies and bias in the PBS series’ portrayal of the first president of the Republic of Vietnam  Ngo Dinh Diem, (he was succeeded by              Nguyễn Cao Kỳ and Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, among others,  after the US green-lighted a coup and assassination).  Those criticisms are summarized in this article appearing at The Federalist, calling attention to a biography of Diem

This Man Could Have Kept Vietnam From Communists, But The Kennedy Administration Okayed His Assassination

Geoffrey Shaw’s account is a page-turning, sorrowful account of how the United States betrayed a man of remarkable character and political genius

Those who served in Vietnam fought the good fight. The cold warriors, on watch, training constantly, dying in that and in special units, deserve accolades as well.  The communist movement has killed at least a hundred million people in their effort to subjugate (spread the revolution) to vast areas of the globe. Agrarian reformers my ass, the leadership was/ are invariably evil megalomaniacal thugs, that includes Stalin, Mao, Ho and the horses they road in on and their conniving replacements.  We are still faced with that ideology, a siren song drenched in blood, revolution at the barrel of a gun, or through the  undermining of institutions that should protect freedoms, — whatever works.  But be assured, once the ideology is in place, the enforcement procedures are comparable. In addition we now have to contend with just as tyrannical a movement — a megalomaniacal Islamic jihad led by those who not only encourage terrorism and suicide in furtherance of subjugation to it, but may be willing to pursue apocalyptic visions.

Communism’s Bloody Century – WSJ
www.wsj.com/articles/the-communist-century-150972626…
In the 100 years since Lenin’s coup in Russia, the ideology devoted to abolishing markets and private property has left a long, murderous trail of destruction, … Again and again, the effort to eliminate markets and private property has …. Communism was hardly alone over the past century in committing …

Article regarding Bill Albracht’s combat experience in Vietnam

Push is on to land Albracht a Medal of Honor 

Book: Abandoned in Hell: The Fight For Vietnam’s Firebase Kate

Video:  Escape from Firebase Kate  (intro)

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