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Spitting Mad

By Fred Samia

NOT published by The New York Times (NYT)

As a Marine Vietnam combat veteran, I was pleased to see Matt Richtel address this important matter ("Don't Thank Me for My Service," NYT Sunday Review, February 21, 2015). That familiar expression of gratitude is right up there with "Support Our Troops" for meaninglessness, since they both imply, as Richtel points out, thoughtless endorsement of the policies and politics that put the troops in that situation.

I was not pleased, however, to see Mr. Richtel revive the myth about returning Vietnam veterans being spat on. I realize that he is quoting Mr. Freedman, but by doing so in print, he gives it a legitimacy it does not deserve. The spitting libel was an attempt to discredit and disgrace the anti-war movement (and, by association, anti-war veterans) and to blame it for "losing" in Vietnam, and has itself been discredited in such works as "The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam," 1998, by sociologist (and Vietnam veteran), Jerry Lembcke.

Even before we left Vietnam to return home, we heard such stories, usually promoted by bitter military lifers. In the States, conservative, and some not so conservative, pundits repeated these phony accounts and even Hollywood did its part. In "Rambo, First Blood," for example, Sylvester Stallone's character claims to have been both spat on and called a baby killer, combining the two most common false accusations leveled at anti-war protestors.

This may seem a minor point in the long, sordid history of Vietnam, but veterans have a large enough burden to bear as it is, without adding another layer of cruel deceit. I am also extremely sensitive to this issue because I was both a Vietnam veteran and, after my discharge and return to the States, a participant in many demonstrations against the Vietnam war. Often I wore my combat ribbons, and I neither spat on other veterans nor was spat on by civilian protesters.

It's time to bury this myth once and for all.

Fred Samia is a Marine veteran of the Vietnam war with seven decorations including the Purple Heart.