FYI, matt, in all seriousness, there has NEVER been any support or truth to the idea that any soldiers were EVER spit on.

this is a mythology that was built up amongst the ranks of pro-war veteran groups in the mid 70s or thereabouts….for more about this, you need a nation subscription, but the link is here.

here’s a snippet, via tom hayden…

“The popular delusions about Fonda are a window into many other dangerous hallucinations that pass for historical memory in this country. Among the most difficult to contest are claims that antiwar activists persistently spit on returning Vietnam veterans. So universal is the consensus on “spitting” that I once gave up trying to refute it, although I had never heard of a single episode in a decade of antiwar experiences. Then came the startling historical research of a Vietnam veteran named Jerry Lembcke, who demonstrated in The Spitting Image (1998) that not a single case of such abuse had ever been convincingly documented. In fact, Lembcke’s search of the local press throughout the Vietnam decade revealed no reports of spitting at all. It was a mythical projection by those who felt “spat-upon,” Lembcke concluded, and meant politically to discredit future antiwar activism.

The Rambo movies not only popularized the spitting image but also the equally incredible claim that hundreds of American soldiers missing in action were being held by the Vietnamese Communists for unspecified purposes. John Kerry’s most noted achievement in the Senate was gaining bipartisan support, including that of all the Senate’s Vietnam veterans, for a report declaring the MIA legend unfounded, which led to normalized relations. Yet millions of Americans remain captives of this legend.”

And anyway, this is about me wearing pink and acting a fool for a day.

fair enough, although when you stated above re: the national embarrassment “this” has caused, and “this” was a fabrication, then you have to dig deeper and futher assess whether embarrassment was even warranted. did the embarrassment come out of shame re: tales of spitting, or shame out of people yelling at soldiers? they’re distinct actions, with one involving the loss of dignity and the other more an antagonistic rendition of “why didn’t you run to canada or declare yourself a conscientious objector or pay more attention to the specifics of this war?”

certainly, the latter hectoring doesnt warrant national embarrassment, as the dignity of not having spittle run down one’s face hasn’t been lost.

so…your point is still valid and unchanged in the post above, i just wanted to make clear that there is a distinction in reifying fictitious anecdotes and assessing things on their own merit. otherwise we fall into the trap of the people you dismiss above, those who fall back on timeworn cliches of supporting troops and whatnot.

basically, i just wanted to say you “got sonned”!