Coming Home: How Our Veterans were Treated and Why
By Keith Crego
There is little to no doubt that American veterans from the Vietnam War were treated differently opposed to other veterans from past wars. In an article written by Dante A. Ciampaglia for History.com, Ciampaglia details different reasonings for why Vietnam veterans were treated differently. The quote, “The collective emotion of the country was divided,” says Jerry Lembke, a Vietnam veteran, sociologist and author of The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam. “For the family whose son is just coming back, you aren’t going to have a public welcoming home ceremony when someone’s son just down the road was just sent off to Vietnam.”, summed up as to why veterans received little notice when they arrived home, hence why Ciampaglia included it.
An excerpt from, Coming Home To Less Than A Hero's Welcome, written by author and Vietnam veteran Karl Marlantes sums up Karl’s experience returning from Vietnam. Karl experienced something that was all too common, saying, “But the war held no hurt or humiliation like what happened as we drove through a crowd of protesters shouting obscenities at us, flipping us the bird, and pounding on my brother's 1960 Valiant with their fists and protest signs. I can still see the hate-filled face of a protester snarling at me through the passenger-side window. I can still feel my utter bewilderment and pain.” Reactions like this from American civilians were very common. Many people were conflicted about the war and believed that Vietnam veterans were merely bad people who were ruthlessly killing people.
There are multiple reasons for American’s protesting the Vietnam War. Some of these reasonings include devastation at the violence occurring, the war not being an American problem, and the lack of clear objectives for joining the war effort. Citizens acted out their frustration towards Vietnam veterans returning home, doing so through name calling, black balling, and hurling objects. Chris Gregoriou, a former Marine Corps Aviator, recalled hearing from a potential employer, “I’m sorry, we’re not hiring any baby killers or war mongers today.” Gregoriou said that the encounter is something that he will never forget. Citizens in America needed someone to blame and take out their frustration on, and the easiest target happened to be Vietnam veterans. Although many protests were exemplified towards the United States government, it seemed to be easier to allow full frustration to take over and be executed towards our veterans coming home.