The
Veteran’s Voice has been doing a series on famous military leaders in our
country’s history in the past few months.
Let’s go in a totally new direction for June’s feature.
Let’s touch on a controversial figure to veterans for over 30 years,
Jane Fonda or as some say, “Veterans are not Fonda Jane”.
Jane
Fonda – Victim or Traitor?
If
you were born after 1960 you probably don’t understand the controversy about
Jane Fonda and why some Vietnam Veterans feel so strongly about her, unless
you have done some research about her role in the Vietnam conflict.
Some people think veterans should forgive her.
They feel Jane was just a misunderstood, young impressionable anti-war
celebrity that made some mistakes in judgment. After all, she did apologies to
the Vietnam Veterans back in the late 80’s in a TV interview didn’t she?
She has also apologized in the past year since her new book, “My
Life, so Far” was published, hasn’t she?
There were lots of war protesters and other anti-war celebrities that
spoke out against the war and the veterans have forgiven them, so what’s the
big deal about Jane Fonda?
Well let’s start out by considering
the “young and impressionable” part.
Jane Fonda was born on December 21, 1937. She was 34 years
old when she made her infamous trip to North Vietnam in 1972 and was in her
30's when she participated in anti-war demonstrations and rallies. While
American Soldiers were fighting and dying in the Vietnam War, she was using
her money and influence at colleges and universities to gather support to
advocate communism and encourage rebellion and anarchy against the United
States Government.
On
November 21, 1970 she told a University of Michigan audience of some two
thousand students, "If you understood what communism was, you would hope,
you would pray on your knees, that we would some day become communist."
At Duke University in North Carolina she repeated what she had said in
Michigan, adding, "I, a socialist, think that we should strive toward a
socialist society, all the way to communism.”
Jane Fonda also helped in the
organization of a production group called the F.T.A. (we all know what this
acronym means). This group helped to set up coffee houses near military
bases where they would perform anti-war derogatory-type sketches for the
visiting soldiers. The coffeehouse sketches were intended to
counterpoint the U.S.O. shows, such as Bob Hope and other U.S.O. sponsored
performers whose performances increased morale and gave positive support
to American soldiers. Some of the F.T.A. coffee house employees
would mingle with the soldiers to help them to "relax and unwind",
while encouraging the soldiers to desert. Some soldiers alleged
that they were promised jobs and money by the F.T.A. if they deserted. Jane
Fonda personally sought out returning American soldiers from Vietnam to
solicit them to publicly speak out against American atrocities against
Vietnamese women and children during her broadcasts. North Vietnamese
officials based in Canada allegedly coordinated her broadcasts.
In 1972 Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden and
others traveled to North Vietnam to give their support to the North
Vietnamese's Government. When she returned to the United States, she
advised the news media that all of the American Prisoners of War were being
well treated and were not being tortured.
As the American POWs returned home in
1973, they spoke out about the inhumane treatment and torture they had
suffered as prisoners of war. Their stories directly contradicted Jane
Fonda's earlier statements of 1972. Some of the American POWs such
as Senator John McCain, a former Presidential candidate, stated that he was
tortured by his guards for refusing to meet with Jane Fonda and her group.
Jane Fonda, in her response to these new allegations, referred to the
returning POWs as being "hypocrites and liars."
If
you are not familiar with the now infamous speeches made by Jane Fonda in
North Vietnam in support of their government with her socialist rhetoric about
the US being Imperialists and accusing our soldiers of atrocities and war
crimes, these are well documented. She also refers to the enlightening poetry of Ho Chi Minh and
suggested that our president should
read it and learn from it. She
sat in a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun seat and pretended to
“shoot-down” American planes.
The Wall Street Journal (August 3,
1995) published an interview with Bui Tin who served on the General Staff of
the North Vietnam Army and received the unconditional surrender of South
Vietnam on April 30, 1975. During the interview Mr. Tin was asked
if the American antiwar movement was important to Hanoi's victory. Mr.
Tin responded "It was essential to our strategy” referring to the
war being fought on two fronts; the Vietnam battlefield and back home in
America through the antiwar movement on college campuses and in the city
streets. "We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese
dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in
the war, and that she would struggle along with us."
(Continued on Page 3)
From
the Commander
Well
I had to go out and buy new shirts, the ladies auxiliary made my chest swell
so much the way they coordinated Remembrance Day.
Thanks to all that helped, without
you it would not have went so well. I
would like to thank The Redneck Rockers for donating their time
& talents, you were awesome, and to the Rockin' "L's your
performance was great as always.
We have a lot coming up the next
couple months. June 7th is the
Election of Officers for the 2005-2006 year.
June 18th we'll have the Veterans from Mount Vernon to celebrate
Fathers Day with us. Come visit
if you can. July 1st is the Golf
tournament; if you have not signed up, do so soon. (Entry forms in this
edition), sign up as one or a team; send check to the post, % Post Adjutant
(Golf).
July
1st, 2nd, & 3rd the Submariners will show their support and dedicate the
sub on the 3rd with fire works that night.
So try to work some of the dates and events into your schedule. Have a safe and happy 4th of July.
Phil Richardson
Adjutant’s
Report
I
would like to say thanks to all the members for helping the Post in reaching
the State goal of 100% paid membership for the year of 2005.
Membership is what make an American Legion Post grow.
J.C. Ponder
Ladies
Auxiliary
The
first part of May was very full of meetings about the plans for Remembrance
Day. The events all came together
and we had a great event on May 21st.
Poppy Day at Dillon’s on the 28th of May was a great
event. We are very proud of
Connie Compton who has been in the news a lot lately about the new clinic in
Nixa (“Go Girl”). We are very
happy she is part of our team. We
would like to thank Burman Walker for all his help in planning for Remembrance
Day, especially since he has been so busy studying for his school.
We would like to give a big “thank you” to Gene for putting
together a computer for us to use in the Ladies Auxiliary office, it works
great. I also hope that our
commander gets to feeling better. Well,
Bill Evans finally is getting better. We hope he feels well enough to come by the post and start
picking on all of us again. We miss you.
It was good to have Katrina back at the post and involved in our
meetings, we’ve missed her. Say
a prayer for Bobby’s dad (our bartender) who is in the hospital.
Gene had more surgery, but is doing fine and is helping out a lot
around the post. We have now
started having hot snacks; as well as sandwiches, on our Post food menu and
they are not bad. Well that’s
about it for May, I’ll have a lot to tell you next month.
So until next time, “say something nice today and every day!”
Beverly Miller VP
Auxiliary
President
I
would like to thank everyone who came out and helped to make our 24th birthday
celebration the success that it was. Everyone worked so very hard to
make it work. I hope that everyone had a great time even though we were
all very tired at the end of the evening.
There are three special people
that I would like to give special thanks to for the great work that they did
for us. Tom Booth prepared all of the hamburgers and hot dogs and they
were excellent. Greg Carr helped us all get set up for the event and is
always there to give the auxiliary a helping hand when needed. Connell
Cob made a fantastic auctioneer for our silent auction and then auctioned off
the cakes that were left from the cakewalk and made our evening much more fun.
Great job, guys. Thank you so very much.
It is time to start preparing for the
25th birthday for next year, so come on, step up to the plate and help us plan
it and make it the best. It is everyone's post and the more people who
get involved the better it will be.
Luanne Spradling, President
Chaplain’s
Report
I
hope everyone stopped long enough to call your Mother or take her something
nice for Mother’s Day last month. This month brings Father’s Day – hope you will take time
to do the same for your Father. We
only have one Mom & Dad, appreciate them while they are with us.
Everyone seems to be improving in the
health department. We have three
individuals who had to have “re-do’s” on their operations – Gene
Beattie on his knee, Bill Evans on his leg and Ruth Carroll on her shoulder. Maybe this time it will be done right! Luanne is back to kicking you know, glad to see that
happening. If you didn’t know
what Mr. Evans had done, he had hair removed and spider veins removed.
Now he has beautiful, silky smooth legs.
Please remember our men and women in
our military in your thoughts and prayers, this is very important to me.
Anytime
you want to call me and tell me about a sickness or death in the family please
don’t hesitate to call me at 881-6246.
Bob Carroll
From the
Web
Over
the Memorial Day weekend, my wife and I took a day trip down to Roaring River
State Park and had a great time. On
the way down we saw several posts, like Post 118 in Cassville (they have an
M60 A3 tank) and my wife suggested it would be nice if all post members took
pictures of American Legion Posts and they were posted on the web site.
It seems like a great idea to me, so please send pictures of posts that
you see in your vacation or business
The
Veterans Voice
Page
3
travels over the summer and I’ll
post them on the web site. Just
email the pictures with information about the post such as location, size and
any other interesting information to webmaster@post639.com and I’ll
publish it to our web site. If
you can’t email them, just leave pictures and information at the bar or mail
to the post. From the web keep
clicking.
Bill Roark
Editorial
Briefs:
Guest Cards
Information about our post is printed
on cards that will be available to give out for one (1) visit.
If you come in contact with someone who could be a prospective member,
give him or her this guest pass, which is good for one visit to our post. The
card will then be given to the bartender on duty and will be returned to the
member who sponsored them. It's
up to you to help and this is just one-way to increase our membership.
Bring a friend and show them around our post. See Gene Beattie or Bob
Justice for the cards.
Wilson’s Creek National
Battlefield
If you missed the celebrations at the
park in May, you still have a chance to catch the events that are planned for
June. On Saturday June 4th
from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM there will be a music jamboree at the Ray House.
Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Foundation and Bank one host it.
Local small groups and individuals playing traditional Ozarks, folk,
bluegrass and Civil War music will be featured on the Ray House lawn
throughout the day. Refreshments
from the 1860’s (popcorn and lemonade) will be served to visitors.
Stop by for a drink of lemonade and enjoy local musicians under the
trees. Later in the day, starting
at 6:00 PM the Army Band from Fort Leonard Wood will be performing in front of
the Visitor Center lawn. The 399th
Army Band has traveled throughout the state of Missouri and into Arkansas,
Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee and Florida in support of military ceremonies, civil
affairs, recruiting and community relations.
All the concerts are free and open to
the public, but there is a $3.00 per person or $5.00 per carload entry fee to
enter the park, which is necessary to get to the Ray House, which is on the
“tour road”. You will need to
bring your own blanket, folding chairs, picnic basket and enjoy this fine
concert. Come out and bring a
friend or your whole family for this wonderful event.
Wilson Creek Battlefield Park is located SW of Springfield at the
intersection of Highway ZZ and Farm Road 182.
For more information call (417) 732-2662, extension 227.
Thank You
Thank you so much for helping me
reach my goal to be a Student Ambassador.
If you would like me to volunteer to help pick up trash call Tom.
Tyler Gray
USS Lapon Dedication
The USS Lapon (SSN 61) sail
dedication will be held at Post 639 the first weekend in July.
Here is the schedule of events that pertain to that dedication:
July 1, 2005 – 8:00AM - Golf
Tournament at Island Green Golf Club. See
separate article in this edition for details.
7:00 PM – Port of Call – Social gathering at Post 639.
July 2, 2005 – American Legion Post
639 will be open to Lapon visitors from 11:00 AM until Midnight.
July 3, 2005 – 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM
– Social time with the “Redneck Rockers” band playing.
There will be a picnic and other events.
3:00 PM – Dedication of the Lapon Sail Memorial with band and
entertainment after the dedication.
We hope to see all submariners and
former USS Lapon seamen at the dedication.
Rick Stephens
To All Members of Post 639
I want to thank you for your concern,
calls, balloons, and prayers. I’ll
be back to agitate everyone as soon as I can.
Bill Evans
(Since Bill has been gone Crown
Royal sales are down 72%)
Golf
Tournament
Post 639 in conjunction with the USS
Lapon dedication is sponsoring a Veterans Holiday Invitational
Tournament on Friday, July 1, 2005 at 8:00 AM.
VHIT will be a 4-person scramble and will have awards for 2 or
more flights depending on number of players, so it doesn’t matter what your
team score might be, since the award for the last flight will be the same as
the first flight. Island Green
Golf Club in Republic, MO is hosting the event and has included all green and
cart fees, unlimited use of driving range and facilities – chipping, bunker
and putting green, plus a sandwich, 2 sides, desert & beverage.
The $60.00 entry fee covers all this, plus prizes and a gift bag full
of surprises. You may register as
a 4, 3, 2 person team, or as an individual.
We will make every effort to accommodate your requests.
VHIT is open to all Post 639, Auxiliary, Sons of the Legion, all
Lapon & USSVI members and guests over 18 years old, male or female.
The Event will be held rain or shine!
More details are on the back of June’s Calendar along with a
registration form or you can sign up at Post 639. As of the end of May we only have 12 committed players.
We must place a deposit on the event no later than June 17, 2005, so
please register before then so we can make this is great event with some
really great prizes. We already
have 5 committed hole-sponsors, which will allow us to provide adult beverages
on the course for those that would like a “cold one”.
(Fonda from Page 1)
The military defeat of North Vietnam
after the Tet Offensive of 1968 became a political victory for North Vietnam
because of anti-war demonstrations and the sensationalism of the news media.
The North Vietnamese interpreted the U.S. reaction to these events as the
weakening of America's resolve to win the war. The North
Vietnamese believed that victory could be theirs, if they stayed their course.
(Continued next month, with
disclaimer of content)
Together
Then,
Together Now!!!