Was it true that black american soldiers were not allowed to eat and to sleep alongside with their white colleagues in Vietnam while America was fighting a war in the name of democracy and freedom for the Vietnamese people.
That was the case in many hollywood Vietnam war films I watched over the years , was it true ?
2006-11-06 01:23:42 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Military
Mississippi Burning was true, wasn't it ?
2006-11-06 02:27:21 · update #1
yes
even in ww2 when america came to the uk to fight the germans the black soldiers were not allowed to mix with the white ones
and when they went in to british towns they made the blacks stay in the back out of view
thats america back then
2006-11-08 00:45:07 · answer #1 · answered by needanswers 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Vietnam films i've watched in the past seem to have given me the impression that the black/ white thing was less made less important due to the stresses of combat and having to rely on each other.
2006-11-06 01:42:20 · answer #2 · answered by greg m 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Ok im not a V/ Vet , But iv seen this sort of thing in the British Army many times... in the Falklands ( Port Stanley ).. i had a young Black chap in my Squad.. ... Most of the other guys would take the piss out of him ( Witch was very strange cos this bloke was 6 foot 7 inch tall and built like a brick sh it house ).....
As his Cptn i had to stop this as it was really getting out of hand...
This chap was a great bloke , and a top shot , made SGT in just 6 months ( Via my Help ).... and saved my skin one more then one occaction....Plus that of the chaps that were makeing his life hell..!!!
He is now a SAS Sgt ...!! ( and one Though mother )..... nuff said.
2006-11-06 01:40:11 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Prejudice is something that will always be with us. In combat, I do not think it is very prevalent. This race issue is only prevalent in the Hollywood films. Anyway, I have noticed that many of the people on this site seem to think these movies are reliable means of gaining factual information. They are SADLY MISTAKEN. These films are made, to MAKE MONEY, facts be damned.
2006-11-06 01:59:43 · answer #4 · answered by just the facts 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, the details of your question were by and large not true. I was trained as a journalist and serving in the US Navy during Vietnam, and one of my dearest memories is of a black marine wounded on a ward at Great Lakes Hospital in Illinois (his third time wounded) who wanted to return and protect his fellow marines, but this time there was a chance he would lose his leg. I had smuggled kittens onto the ward and when the bottom fell out of the hatbox I'd filled with fruit as doctors' rounds ended so that fruit was rolling all over, I handed one of the kittens to this seemingly grouchy marine, saying "Quick! Hide this one!" while pushing the other two down in the shopping bag. After the runaway fruit was rounded up, I went to retrieve the kitten, who had curled up on the tough-guy's adam's apple and fell asleep purring. The white guy in the neighboring bed was reaching over to take it, saying "Let me see it, man", to which the tough guy replied, "Get away, man...he likes me. He likes me." This man talked about his Vietnam experience with me, saying the men bonded with each other because they had no faith in the president's reasons for the war, but they did have faith in each other. He spoke of longing to feel safe simply reading a book...that it felt dangerous to relax your guard even for a second since the supposed ally looked the same as the supposed enemy and the Vietnamese were very experienced at sneak attacks. He gave me a book called "Be", and admonished me not to rely on the opinions of others to decide my personality choices. Years later, Chicago held a Vietnam's War Veteran reunion for the very first time, and I was invited by a Special Forces Recon point man marine. The exquisite closeness and intensity of feelings among ALL who attended moves me to tears to this very day. Hope this answers your questions. There was no color involved...only buddies helping buddies. Read some of the things that have been left at the Wall over the years (stored somewhere in Iowa I think, but put in books), and you will see a closeness among our troops that transcends race, time, and all other divisive issues or entities. Hope this helps.
2006-11-06 01:47:27 · answer #5 · answered by Armchair Goddess 2 · 3⤊ 2⤋
There is a story my father told me, and a speech once by Dr. King, sort of goes like:
Black boys and white boys are dying for each other in Southeast Asia. They fight together in the mud, fighting an enemy they can not see, giving each other a helping hand when the other has fallen....but here in America they try to kill each other for a reason that no man dares to say....!
Hope that helps!
2006-11-06 01:28:49 · answer #6 · answered by Fitforlife 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Not true.
We were Americans. No colors All for 1-----1 for all
Don't believe Hollywood
2006-11-06 01:41:34 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well Captain 'Jigsaw' I didn't realise the standards of spelling for officers in the British Army were so high. Perhaps you were an education officer on secondment?.
2006-11-07 05:19:52 · answer #8 · answered by Rob Roy 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You gotta be kidding,,,, I depended as much on black GIs to cover my @$$ as I did white GIs. It would be pretty stupid to create a situation where those guys didn't care if I lived or died, now would it.
There was many a time I shared the same rock with a black man.
2006-11-06 02:35:21 · answer #9 · answered by tom l 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
We lived , ate , fought together .
If you want truth don't look to Hollywood .
2006-11-06 03:26:19 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋