PBS Series on VIETNAM starts tonight.... - Page 2

SandPiper · ‎06-04-2017

@Othereeeen Thank you. I didn't know about this series. I will definitely watch, I like Ken Burns productions.

Sometimes the strength within you is not a big fiery flame for all to see. It is just a tiny spark that whispers ever so softly "You Got This - Keep Going"

Othereeeen · ‎03-13-2010

@JustJazzmom wrote:
@Othereeeen wrote:
PBS will start thier 10 part series on "Vietnam" this evening....a Ken Burns production...it has very high reviews....

Just an FYI in case anyone is interested.....I think it starts at 8 or 9PM, depending on where you live...

I will watch...my brother was there, and thankfully he did come home, but not the same...

Vietnam is now a tourist destination.

Sigh.

So are Japan, Germany & Italy.

War was wrong for many reasons which I'm sure will be covered in this 10 part series -- Sunday through Thursday and again the following week.

Yep...Japan, Germany, Italy, Vietnam, ....

Wouldn't it be great if we could "fast-forward" past the "war" part and just build the cars, theme parks, hotels instead?!?!????

I know......sounds 1960s'ish..."What if they gave a war, and nobody came?"

That war was different in that it played out each night in the living room on teevee...at the same time "Andy Griffith" and "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Gilligans Island" were on the network lineups...

How surreal that must've seemed to people at the time.....hundreds of Americans ( and Vietnamese) shown each week, blown to bits and bloody, while Aunt Bee was serving dinner and Andy was scolding Otis in the lockup in Mayberry.......

Witchy Woman · ‎03-15-2010

At a past class reunion, I met a man that I hadn't known well in school. He was always quiet and shy -- ran with the athletic guys, but was never aggressive. Said he had known me, but was afraid to approach.

He told me a story about wanting to get away from his dad and "the farm" so he enlisted right after graduation and learned to fly helicopters in VN.

I was stunned. He said it was wild and he never thought much about dying. Just getting in and out. He loved flying. Young and reckless. Brave beyond his years.

Many boys from my graduating class went and never returned, or returned mentally and/or physically damaged.

Yet, here was this rosy-cheeked man, good humored, whole and healthy that had been there and was glad to have been flying.

It was all very bittersweet.

SilleeMee · ‎05-22-2016

I'm an Army brat...my entire youth. My father served three tours in VN as an infantry soldier. I was a teen back then and it was the worst time of my life. That war ruined my dad and broke my family into pieces. We were never the same after it. I saw enough of that war on the TV news back in those days. No thanks to any more of it for me.

MoJoV · ‎10-01-2010

It seems every generation has its war and this was ours. Lots of classmates lost their lives there...not wealthy or connected enough to get deferments. Remember John Fogerty's song "Fortunate Son"?

Trees are the lungs of the Earth

millieshops · ‎03-09-2010

I'll watch, not because it's Vietnam - because it's a Ken Burns production and I've never seen a thing he's done that isn't well done.

I went to college with men who had been in Korea, sometimes in classes taught by men who served during WWII. Both those wars were also a h*ll for some, but none were really like Vietnam in any number of ways. The man I know best who served time in Vietname didn't even carry a rifle yet almost never tlks about his time there.

For me it's time to think about that and have those who were there and those who've studied them talk about the war, its similarities and its differences as well as where we are today in that part of the world.

I can't think of anyone better than Burns to do all that.

esmerelda · ‎03-10-2010

Super annoyed that PBS played the last episode of Masterpiece: Endeavour last night instead of tonight...and without notice as far as I know. Making way for the Ken Burns special I suppose. It's going to be a busy week for me; doubt I'll have time to watch this week. Hope to catch it later.

*********************
Keepin' it real.

suzyQ3 · ‎03-09-2010

For those on the fence about watching it, I want to mention that in a review it was stated that if you think that you know all there is to know about the VN way, think again...and watch. I found that very intriguing.

~Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

QueenDanceALot · ‎04-18-2013

As I mentioned, my best friend was a "grunt" in Vietnam (drafted) during the Tet Offensive. I didn't meet him until he'd been back for 10 years. But it was apparent that he was forever changed.

At the time of the war, my boyfriend went there as a helicopter pilot (military family). I still have a photo taken of us the night before he left. When he returned, he holed up alone in a hotel room (neither I or his family knew where he was) for a few weeks. It is a long, sad, and very personal story that I won't get into, but he was never the same young man that I knew before he went.

I think Ken Burns' work honors those who served and shine a light on what it really was, and not what many assumed it to be.

I will watch in honor of the two men I know (or knew) so well and who still have my love and respect for what they endured.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

I figure this will be yet another attempt to look at history in light of today's world and how people think now, and heap "blame" on a lot of people who tried to do what they thought was right at the time. If you think about it, the only difference in a hero and a villian is whose side won. . .

People who did their best, with the knowledge and perspectives they had at the time, will be villified probably.

It was a mess, it is past us, and I have NO desire to revisit this. IfI were involved in war planning and execution itis valuable to look back. For me, no, I'm not going to look back especially with what I fear will not be instructive at all.

Just my take. History is seldom put in context these days.