Vietnam combat soldiers

[Dan Jizzenberry]

To be fair to Terrance, what I did show was that a disproportionate number 
of blacks and lower-class whites saw action in Vietnam. This is pretty much 
consensus in the historical community (I'm a PhD candidate in American 
history, by the way). I provided you with two quotes, one from Michael 
Maclear and one from Arthur Schlesinger Jr. I did not, however, present any 
info w/r/t the class make-up of the soldiers who fought in WWII and their 
post-WWII counterparts. It took me long enough just to hunt down the Maclear 
and Schlesinger quotes--I just didn't have the time to flip through my 
American history texts and pull out a relevant quote on WWII. Moreover, it 
wasn't even the main point of my original post. I was talking about proxy 
wars, after all. My comment on WWII was a peripheral point at best. Having 
said that, anyone familiar with American history would know that my 
arguments are both unoriginal (in that any number of mainstream historians 
have made similar points) and do not warrant the amount of controversy 
they've produced here. They may sound like leftist propaganda, but I assure 
you that these points can be found in any number of texts--be they leftist, 
centrist, or what have you. See my earlier e-mail for a list. Look up John 
Dower and John Blum while you're at it. I just don't have the time to do it 
for you.


From: Doug Millison <millison at online-journalist.com>
To: pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Vietnam combat soldiers
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 17:49:57 -0700

Since it is widely accepted as historical fact that a disproportionate
number of combat soldiers in Vietnam were poor and of color -- Scratchit or 
Dingleberry or one of those anonymous folks cited several historians who 
made that general point while Terrance was dozing I guess  -- it would seem 
appropriate that Terrance  might offer to provide facts to support what 
appears to be (you haven't made a very clear point, in the final analysis) a 
revisionist assertion.  Put up or shut up, as they say.

It's interesting to recall that the two U.S. Vietnam War combat veterans
who appear in Pynchon's work -- I'm thinking of the guys in Vineland who
escort Brock Vond down to the river where the Native Americans will remove 
his bones -- are black and chicano, respectively.  That would be the Pynchon 
novel that castigates the policies of the Reagan-Bush
Administration, if you recall.


rj -- for somebody who claims to be Australian, you sure seem to have a lot 
invested in the Bush Administration.  I figure if President Bush can
exploit the 9-11 tragedy for political capital before the bodies were cold, 
it's OK for me to call him on his bs.  I didnt have a chance to grieve the 
loss of loved ones in NYC before he was ramming his plans for cowboy revenge 
through Congress.  I'll let you write him the love letters and join in the 
chorus of praise for his "statesmanship" along with the corporate media.

-Doug








Doug Millison - Writer/Editor/Web Editorial Consultant
millison at online-journalist.com
www.Online-Journalist.com


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