Interesting Facts About the Vietnam War

Would you pay to see John Kerry forced to testify, finally, under oath and lawyerly examination, without an MSM screen or surrogate mouthpieces, about his Vietnam protest role during 1970 and 1971 with Vietnam Veterans Against the War?
Here’s your opportunity.
Starting in October 2004, and continuing to August 2005, Kerry anti-Vietnam buddies George Butler, Kenneth Campbell, and Jon Bjornson filed suits against prestigious journalistic awards winner (Pulitzer and Peabody) and decorated Vietnam veteran Carlton Sherwood, filmmaker of "Stolen Honor" to reveal the deceptions in the 1971 Kerry-Vietnam Veterans Against the War "Winter Soldier" show-trial of U.S. servicemen and America. Sinclair Broadcasting and the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation are also targeted. Butler claims copyright infringement on his title to the VVAW show-trial film, “Winter Soldier.” Campbell, although never named in Sherwood’s film “Stolen Honor” but briefly appearing in a clip, claims defamation. Bjornson, represented by the same attorney as Campbell, piles on to claim libel for his contention Stolen Honor implied he was a “fraud and a liar.”

Sinclair Broadcasting initially agreed to air Stolen Honor across its 62-station TV network toward the end of the 2004 campaign, but under ferocious pressure from Democrats, backed down. As Newsweek reported, “The Democrats…won a round of behind-the-scenes smash-mouth politics.” Kerry Senior Advisor [the continually semi-shaven air wave pit-bull] Chad Clanton was reported at the time threatening Sinclair Broadcasting, “They better hope we don’t win…” (he said on FOX News Dayside). Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, not existing at the time, but now owning rights to Stolen Honor, is led by four POW guests of Hanoi, two of whom were treated by their interrogator hosts to Kerry and VVAW pals’ attacks on U.S. servicemen as war criminals to try and break their will to resist.
In September 2004, Kerry’s longtime press aide, serving as his campaign press aide, David Wade, threatened Kerry’s Vietnam veteran foes, “they’ll pay for it for the rest of their lives.” Also see here for more about the Kerry campaign’s “Legal Terrorism.”
On October 3, 2005, Carlton Sherwood and the POW-led Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, who are tired of suffering for 35-years from the Kerry pals’ attacks on their and America’s honor, service and sacrifices, filed suit against John Kerry and his area campaign manager, Anthony Podesta, for defamation, business disparagement, intentional and/or negligent interference with prospective and existing contractual relations, and civil conspiracy. The entire filing is available at the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation site, and is a must read.

The same David Wade said recently, “This is simply more of the same smears and sleaze against a decorated Vietnam veteran from more of the same serial liars who disgraced themselves in 2004.” While Mr. Wade seems to think POW's are "serial liars," Mr. Wade seems to forget the outright lies and self-serving gross exaggerations about his service that Kerry was caught on due to the Swiftees and POW’s courageous campaign to reveal Kerry’s true record. He called the proof that Kerry attended a 1971 meeting to assasinate U.S. Senators, and never alerted authorities, a "historical footnote" of no import. He, also, seems to forget that Vietnam veterans confronting Kerry’s self-weaved emperors clothes hagiography cost him the margin of defeat in 2004, as I wrote about in “The Revolt of the Vietnam Veterans.”

Obviously, legal battle costs a great deal of money. These Vietnam veterans, who sacrificed for America then and in 2004, deserve and need major financial support.
John O’Neill recently sent an email to past supporters requesting financial support for them: “Like most of you, I believed our mission was over. We could all move on with our lives, return to our families and homes secure in the knowledge we had done the right thing for America, and for our children’s future…. It is no accident that this campaign to coerce and silence some of America’s most heroic figures from the Vietnam War has intensified just as the shrill voices of the extreme Left’s anti-military, blame-America-first propagandists are once again on the rise…. You might ask why the VVLF has been targeted in this legal assault – why attack men who endured years of unspeakable torture and suffering in defense of America? The answer lies in the question. These are among the most credible, living eyewitnesses to the trail of deceit and betrayal. All are highly decorated and each bears the scars and permanent physical disabilities of his long years in captivity…. The POWs' very existence and their willingness to go public threaten the foundation of the Left’s propaganda, a lifetime of lies that accuse the U.S. military of being no better than the “armies of Genghis Khan.” It remains the Left’s most potent weapon as they continue to undermine the efforts of our Armed Forces and provide aid and comfort to America’s enemies…. They deserve our respect, admiration and gratitude, but most of all our support, even as they try to protect and preserve the honor and reputations of an entire generation of American troops vilified by the extreme Left. Won’t you stand up once more to defend our troops and veterans? Please give what you can to help the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation continue the still-unfinished task of setting the record straight about the Vietnam War and Vietnam vets.”
Isn’t it worth your generous donation to finally depose John Kerry?

Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation
Board of Directors
The men and women on our board of directors are highly respected, distinguished individuals who have served their country with courage and distinction -- some as Prisoners of War, and one who served from home while her husband remained in captivity.
Meet Col. George E. "Bud" Day
VVLF's President

Col. George E. "Bud" Day serves as the VVLF's President. Col. Day served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, and is America's most highly decorated living combat veteran. Shot down over North Vietnam on August 26, 1967, he spent more than five years as a Prisoner of War.
Col. Day was the only POW to escape from prison in North Vietnam, only to be recaptured by the North Vietnamese in the South. Col. Day has received nearly 70 military decorations and awards, the most notable being the Medal of Honor. Currently, Col. Day is a practicing attorney in Florida, specializing in profound injury and death litigation cases and military law.
Story of Col. Day's capture in Vietnam
In 1967, two slow-flyer Forward Air Control (FAC) pilots were exiting North Vietnam at about 120 mph, just north of the de-militarized zone that separated North and South Vietnam. A Russian surface-to-air missile (SAM) struck one of the slow flyers and disintegrated it into an orange ball of fire.
Thus were born the Misty Super FACs in the 500-knot F-100. A need for speed. Major George "Bud" Day, perhaps the highest-time jet fighter pilot in Southeast Asia, was chosen to organize and command the Misty fast FACs.
On 26 August 1967, Major Day was checking out a young Air Force Academy graduate (Kip Kippenham) who would be flying in the front seat of the F-100. Walking to the aircraft, they were delivered an intelligence photo of a SAM site near the location of the slow-flyer FAC shootdown.
Approaching the well camoflauged missile site at about 560 mph, Day's F-100 came under extremely heavy ground fire, indicating it was a valid target . . . or what was called a "flak trap." Unable to find the SAM site, they left the area to refuel over Thailand. An hour later they returned to the target from a different direction, allowing Day to spot the radar van and a missile. Again, they took blistering fire, this time destroying the plane's flight controls. Day and Kippenham were forced to eject at very low altitude. Before Day struck the ground in North Vietnam, he saw Kippenham's parachute and the F-100 crashing into the ground.
Day's bailout caused three fractures to his right arm, a knee injury, and eye damage. Immediately captured by rifle-bearing teenagers, Day narrrowly missed being rescued by a Jolly Green heliocopter. Stripped of his clothing, Day was forced into an underground tunnel. An enemy corpsman set his broken arm four days later, but only after Day had been hung by his feet all day. Forty-eight hours later, Day escaped into the jungle on what he calculated to be a two-week trek back to the U.S. Marine Corps base at Con Thien, South Vietnam.
During his ten-plus days of escape and evasion southward, Day ate nothing other than a few berries and a frog, was wounded in the right leg by friendly fire, and evaded 32 groups of Viet Cong soldiers. Shoeless, wounded, exhausted, and thirty pounds lighter, he was ambushed in South Vietnam. The VC called to him to surrender, but he refused and took off running. He was then shot in the left leg and hand and was recaptured.
After re-capture, he was brutally tortured multiple times. After refusing to respond to torturers' questions, he was hung by his arms--which re-broke the previously "treated" broken arm and semi-paralyzed both. He arrived in Hanoi with two wounded legs, one wounded hand, a fractured right arm, feet that were nearly pulp, and still blind in one eye. His arms were barely usable for almost four years.
Col. Day was released on March 14, 1973, after 67 months in Communist captivity.
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Col. Kenneth W. Cordier
VVLF's Vice-President

Kenneth W. Cordier is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel. During his service in the Vietnam War, Col. Cordier was shot down on his 176th mission and held captive as a Prisoner of War for more than six years. He was awarded numerous medals for his service in Vietnam.
Col. Cordier resides in Texas, and remains involved with veterans' issues, having served on the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs' POW Advisory Board, and Congressman Pete Sessions' Service Academy Selection Board. He has also held national office with the POW association, NAM POWs, and now with the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association.
Robert A. McMahon
Treasurer of the VVLF

Robert A. McMahon has been a professional investment and financial advisor for over 30 years in Pennsylvania. McMahon served in the U.S. Army First Infantry Division, in Vietnam from Feb. 1968 to Jan. 1969. He has a long history of involvement in veterans' issues, and currently serves as Chairman of the U.S. Veterans Legacy Project and on the Board of the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum.
Mary Jane McManus
Secretary for the VVLF

Mary Jane McManus has been active in veterans' issues for over 30 years. Mrs. McManus' husband, Lt. Col. McManus was shot down only months after their wedding, and was held captive in North Vietnam as a POW for almost six years.
Mrs. McManus has served as the Secretary, Treasurer, and Office Manager of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia where she worked to increase the American public's awareness of the plight and condition of the U.S. POWs.
Cdr. Paul Galanti
Retired Commander in the U.S. Navy

While serving in the Vietnam War, Cdr. Galanti was shot down and held captive by the North Vietnamese for almost seven years, and has earned numerous medals of distinction. Cdr. Galanti currently resides in Virginia where he serves on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' POW Advisory Board and the Virginia Board of Veterans Services.
Wallace Nunn
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Wallace Nunn, of Pennsylvania, is the Manager of the Philadelphia Public Finance office and has enjoyed a 30-year career as a professional investment and financial advisor. In 1967 and 1968, Nunn served as a U.S. Army Helicopter Gunship Door Gunner in the Republic of Vietnam.
Mr. Nunn currently serves on the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, is Chairman of the Board for The Center for the Study of Popular Culture, and is Chairman of the Board for the Medal of Honor Foundation.
The Hon. James Warner
Formerly a U.S. Marine Corps captain

The Hon. James Warner was held captive in Vietnam as a POW for over five years and was awarded numerous honors for his distinguished military service. An attorney by profession, Mr. Warner currently resides in Maryland and practices law for the National Rifle Association.    Donate »    https://www.vvlf.org/donate.php

News Articles
10/06/2005Documentary Maker Sues Sen. Kerry
UPI coverage of the new lawsuit against Sen. John Kerry by former Vietnam POWs and Stolen Honor producer Carlton Sherwood

10/05/2005Filmmaker Sues Kerry, Campaign Aide
Associated Press coverage of the new lawsuit against Sen. John Kerry by former Vietnam POWs and Stolen Honor producer Carlton Sherwood.

9/14/2005Myths of Vietnam / Lessons for Iraq
FrontPageMagazine.com interviews Vietnam veteran R.J. Del Vecchio, co-author of Whitewash/Blackwash: Myths of the Viet Nam War, on the widely held misconceptions about America's war in Vietnam and how they continue to impact U.S. policy today.

9/8/2005A Bad Analogy: The war in Iraq is not another "Vietnam."
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Peter Kann takes a thoughtful look at the similarities and differences between the Vietnam War and the ongoing war in Iraq.

9/1/2005Left Seeks More Media Control
Accuracy in Media's Roger Aronoff describes the efforts of the so-called "Democracy Alliance" to gain greater control over the American media. Aronoff notes last year's attack on Sinclair Broadcasting's attempt to air the POW documentary "Stolen Honor" as an example of the tactics that can be expected from this group.

8/10/2005'Winter Soldier' Vietnam Distortion Rides Again
The 1971 Vietnam Veterans Against the War antiwar documentary "Winter Soldier" will be screened in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Hartford, Minneapolis and other venues. Author B.G. Burkett suggests that most of the atrocity claims in the film are "the product of outright fabrications."

8/1/2005Lost Victory
Military expert Mackubin Thomas Owens reviews the new book Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968-1972, edited by Lewis Sorley. Owens supports Sorley's conclusion that General Creighton Abrams and his team "possessed a policy and strategy that, but for domestic politics, might have led to an American success in Vietnam."

7/9/2005A New Yorker Kind of Guy
Ben Stein dissects "The Spy Who Loved Us," a recent New Yorker article singing the praises of Pham Xuan An, a Time magazine correspondent in Saigon during the Vietnam War who was also a spy working for the North Vietnamese.

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7/8/2005Facing Torture
Carla Alvey recalls the words of the Vietnamese communist Nguyen Khac Vien to the late James Stockdale, during a 1966 interrogation in Hanoi: "Our country has not the capability to defeat you on the battlefield. But war is not decided by weapons so much as by national will. ...We will win this war on the streets of New York."

6/30/2005The real lesson of Vietnam
Noted military historian Victor Davis Hanson points out the disastrous aftermath to America's withdrawal from Vietnam as an example of what happens when we give up on a fight against dictatorial enemies.

6/28/2005The Defeatist Caucus
Brendan Miniter of the Wall Street Journal: "The Vietnam metaphor is apt today because the U.S. is in a war it can win and is winning, if only those inside the Beltway would stop preferring defeat to victory and disgrace to honor."

6/24/2005The Solzhenitsyn of Vietnam
This 2001 article tells the story of Nguyen Chi Thien, the great Vietnamese poet and dissenter against Communism.

6/20/2005Same Lies, Different War
Vietnam veteran Bruce Kesler identifies the common denominator in the response of radicals to the Vietnam War and to the War on Terror: character assassination targeted against the U.S. military.

6/16/2005The truth about today's Vietnam, as told by Le Dang Doanh
On the eve of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's meeting with President Bush on June 21, Sol Sanders takes issue with the rosy State Department view of Vietnam as a nation rapidly progressing in both economics and human rights.

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6/13/2005State Department Religious Freedom Report on Vietnam
U.S. State Department International Religious Freedom Report on Vietnam for 2004.

6/12/2005Message to Hanoi: Human rights matter
Powerful article by Robert Caldwell detailing the ongoing brutality of the Vietnamese communist regime towards Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities.

6/12/2005Vietnam: 'When will they ever learn?'
On June 21, President Bush will meet with Vietnamese Prime Minister Khai. Former POW Mike Benge, who has worked for decades on behalf of the Montagnards and other persecuted minorities, calls for the Administration to set concrete benchmarks and timelines for human rights improvements in Vietnam.

6/10/2005An American Traitor: Guilty As Charged
Henry and Erika Holzer look at some of the lies and evasions in Jane Fonda's recent autobiography.

6/6/2005The journalism of warfare
Writing in The New Criterion, Keith Windschuttle suggests that much anti-American war reporting is effectively an attack on the core principles of Western civilization.

5/26/2005Heroes of the Vietnam Generation
James Webb discusses the sharply different way in which the American public regards veterans of WWII and veterans of the Vietnam War, and counters a few of the classic misconceptions about Vietnam veterans.

5/21/2005The Movement to Silence Conservative Media
Accuracy in Media (AIM) traces the efforts of George Soros-funded organizations to suppress views inconvenient to the Left. including last year's pressure campaign to keep Sinclair Broadcasting from airing the POW documentary Stolen Honor.

5/20/2005Military-haters in the press
Ed Lasky traces the historic anti-military bias of the U.S. media to the Vietnam era, and notes the lasting affection of American journalists for Pham Xuan An, a South Vietnamese correspondent for Time magazine during the war who was later exposed as a spy for North Vietnam.

5/19/2005Newsweek meets 21st century war
Austin Bay covers the false Newsweek "Koran in the toilet" report and analyzes the media's Vietnam-based reflex to assume the worst about the U.S. military.

5/17/2005Parade will honor those who serve in military
"Not This Time Vets" founded by Donna Jacobs, the mother of a Marine deployed in Iraq, has organized an Armed Forces Day parade expected to include some 700 participants: veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and Desert Storm, a Civil War re-enactment, the UC Davis marching band, a local car club and supporters from as far away as Oregon, Arizona and Nevada.

5/9/2005Newsweek: We Never Said Thanks
Thirty years ago, Vietnam Veterans returned home to a country in turmoil and often to a lonely homecoming. Now Vietnam Veterans are finally getting the recognition that is long overdue.
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Special Features

10/06/2005Vietnam Vets/Former POWs Respond to Slurs From Sen. Kerry's Staff
Former POWs Jim Warner and Ken Cordier, and Mary Jane McManus, wife of former POW Kevin McManus, respond to comments about the new lawsuit against John Kerry made by Kerry staffer David Wade.

10/05/2005Former Vietnam POWs Sue John Kerry
On October 3, 2005, Carlton Sherwood, Red, White and Blue, and the VVLF filed suit in Federal court against Sen. John Kerry and Anthony Podesta for events relating to the suppression of the documentary film Stolen Honor.

9/13/2005VVLF Newsletter for September 13, 2005
Our first newsletter discusses the lawsuits against Stolen Honor producer Carlton Sherwood, efforts to smear American troops as war criminals during the Vietnam era and today, and new articles and information available here at VietnamLegacy.org.

8/22/2005The Fonda Fallacies: Why Jane Fonda Was Wrong, and Why It Matters Today
Prof. Robert Turner provides a detailed analysis of Fonda's claims in her new book, "My Life So Far" about the Vietnam War, and about her own antiwar activities.

7/15/2005John Kerry's pals sue maker of Stolen Honor
Carlton Sherwood, who wrote and produced the documentary Stolen Honor, describes the lawsuit filed against him by Kenneth Campbell, former Vietnam Veterans Against the War crony of John Kerry, and asks the public to support his defense.

6/29/2005For 5 months 'I stayed in the box'
Former POW and Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation board member Jim Warner compares the treatment of terrorist prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to the real torture he experienced in Hanoi.

6/22/2005Durbin: Costly Slander, Cheap Redemption
Scott Swett, executive director of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, reviews the controversy regarding Sen. Richard Durbin's comparison of the treatment of terrorist prisoners to Nazi death camps and Soviet gulags.

6/17/2005Paul Galanti responds to Sen. Durbin
VVLF Board member and former POW Paul Galanti offers some perspective to Sen. Dick Durbin, who recently compared the actions of American troops at Guantanamo Bay to those of "Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime - Pol Pot or others - that had no concern for human beings."

6/14/2005Interview with Mary Jane McManus on The Inquisition
Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation director Mary Jane McManus talks to Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler about her experiences during the Vietnam War, the recent presidential campaign, and the goals of the VVLF.

6/4/2005Interview with Ken Cordier on RNN TV
Ken Cordier, Vice-President of the VVLF and a former POW in Vietnam, appears on RNN TV for the 30th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

6/1/2005Lynn Doyle interviews Mary Jane and Kevin McManus
VVLF Board member Mary Jane McManus and her husband, former POW Kevin McManus appear on "It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle" to debate the role of the media during the Vietnam War.

6/1/2005"News of Delaware County" (PA) interviews Bob McMahon
In-depth interview with Bob McMahon, Treasurer of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation.

5/27/2005The Schiffer Report interviews Ken Cordier and Scott Swett
Paul Schiffer interviews Col. Ken Cordier and Scott Swett of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation about the organization's goals and plans on RighTalk.com.

5/24/2005KYW-TV interviews VVLF Treasurer Bob McMahon.
Thirty years ago, Saigon fell to the invading army of North Vietnam. KYW-TV, CBS Channel 3 in Philadephia, interviews Robert McMahon, a veteran of the Vietnam war and Treasurer of Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation.

5/15/2005A letter the Boston Globe wouldn't print
On April 30, the Boston Globe ran an article "debunking" accounts that returning Vietnam troops were spit on by antiwar protestors. But the Globe didn't bother to tell their readers a few important facts about the author...

5/11/2005Michael Smerconish asks Bob McMahon about Jane Fonda
Philadelphia's Michael Smerconish talks with two Vietnam veterans, Dave Christian and VVLF Board member Robert McMahon, about Jane Fonda's activities during the Vietnam War.

5/3/2005Vietnam: The Fog of War or the Smoke of Propaganda?
Carlton Sherwood, creator of the documentary Stolen Honor and a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, describes the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation, and the ongoing effort to set the record straight about the Vietnam War.
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Donations

The Vietnam War... You know someone who served -- maybe it was your husband, your father, your grandfather, your uncle, your neighbor... or maybe it was you. Now you can help us preserve the legacy of the courageous men and women who fought for our country in Vietnam. It's time to give our Vietnam Vets the support and honor they deserve, and to educate those who have been deceived about the war. We want to provide a place where people can gain access to the truth, to the history and to the men and women who were there, fighting, sacrificing and just trying to stay alive.
This is no small task. We need your support. If you can make a monetary donation, please click on the button. It's a small price to pay for the years of bravery and sacrifice these servicemen and women have given.
Help us tell their story and continue the work of setting the record straight.
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Mission Statement

A group of Vietnam Veterans, concerned and frustrated with the lack of public understanding of the Vietnam War and the negative image of those who served there, has embarked on a new mission - to tell the American people the truth about what really happened in Vietnam. Our goal is to continue the work of countering more than three decades of misinformation and propaganda, and to set the record straight.
The men and women who served in Vietnam are proud of their service, and deserve acknowledgement for what they accomplished and what they endured. There is a critical need to educate the public and the media. That is why we have created the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation -- to tell the real stories about the history of the Vietnam War
The VVLF will serve as a national repository of related materials, information and records of the Vietnam War. We will make this information available and encourage people to learn more about the real history of the war and its impact on those who fought it. This material may include accounts from Vietnam Vets, sworn testimony, oral histories, and personal memorabilia. Specific packages of information will be made available to interested teachers, students and educational institutions.
The VVLF will create independent films and documentaries regarding the events and history of the Vietnam War. Exhibits and visual materials will be made available to museums, libraries and other public places.
The VVLF will also act as a source of accurate information for journalists, authors and researchers, and will work to counter and expose false information presented about the Vietnam War in the media.
The VVLF is a charitable and educational non-profit organization that will operate solely on contributions, gifts and grants.    Donate »    https://www.vvlf.org/donate.php

This is the time to set the record straight, how much is 7 years in a POW camp worth? How much is the truth worth? How much is it worth to you to finally depose Kerry and his lies, out of OUR history? Any donation will be appreciated $5 $10, $15, $20, $100, $1000? Please help these brave men and ourselves to set the record straight once and for all!

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Help Hear The Truth About America's Honorable Vietnam Veterans

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Support the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation

Setting the record straight

Your donation will help us tell the truth about the honorable service of America's troops in Vietnam.

Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation is fully tax-deductible as a charitable contribution for Federal income tax purposes.

Donations may also be mailed to:
Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation
P.O. Box 95000-1655
Philadelphia, PA 19195-1655

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