war & myth

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Is this the posting?:

From:	"Jim Caroompas" <caroomp@[omitted]> 
To:	"David Meury" <dmeury@[omitted]>, <millison@[omitted]>, <pynchon-l@[omitted]> 
Subject: Re: VLVL: related book review 
Date:	Mon, 12 Oct 1998 13:40:36 -0700 


"I didn't make it as far as Vietnam, but in 1971 as I was on my way to take
off for Okinawa,  I was spit on by a young woman who was walking behind me,
a woman I had never met, had never spoken to.  I was in my Marine uniform at
the time.  It was no figment of my imagination, no pro-war rewrite of
history.

I was also assigned to the route during the inaugural parade for Nixon's
second (Hey! Don't blame me).  The protest types freely abused us who had to
stand motionless in the cold for hours as we were called "baby-killers" and
whatnot.  (Yeah, I know, "Oh, boo-hoo!")  I always knew the treatment
endured in boot camp would come in handy -- if only as rehearsal for the
treatment to be endured from civilians.

It did not make me hate "hippies," but it did make me sad -- much as does
the recent "spate" of cheap-shot flamers here."


I agree with the response from Caroompas you got at the time:


"Thanks for the perspective, Dave. It's a shame that you were spat upon by a
stranger - that was hardly the spirit of the anti-war movement. Quite the
contrary. But as one of those "protest types," as you put it, I have to say
that the movement had its share of impulsive, spoiled assholes who felt the
need to act out their own infantile gestures. Much as the military at home
contained some rather itchy-fingered personnel - just ask the family of
James Rector, who was shot in the head during by a National Guardsman during
one of the People's Park demonstrations (called out courtesy of then Gov. R.
Reagan), or the four victims at Kent State. Unfortunately, those folks can't
wipe away the spit and get on with their lives.

The point, I guess, is that a lot of good-intentioned people did a lot of
good things back then during an enflamed time - but that tends to get
overshadowed by those who would have us remember the extremities as a way of
defining history for their own ends."

-----Original Message-----
>From: David Meury <dmeury at yahoo.com>
>Sent: Oct 15, 2006 5:39 PM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: re: war & myth
>
>Laura wrote:
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>"Jerry Lembcke researched this and could find no newspaper or FBI reports of organized heckling of veterans by anti-war groups."
>
>I say:
>See my post of 12 October 1998 in the archives with the subject line: "RE: VLVL: related book review."  I'm sorry, but things like this DID HAPPEN.
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