PBS's Vietnam War: I don't known if any one has see Part 1 &2. I have no problem with Part 1. Part 2 is the Kennedy's Years. One thing I found that was left out was American troops in...

Quinn 4

I don't known if any one has see Part 1 &2. I have no problem with Part 1. Part 2 is the Kennedy's Years. One thing I found that was left out was American troops in Laos. Reason I pointing this out is I had a older brother who was in Laos during the Kennedy's years. He was station at Fort Lewis at the time. I found out about him in Laos 25 years after the fact. He was not in the Green Barts or anything like that. He would not talk about it over the years. Agency Orange put him in the ground.
Does anyone have information on American Troops in Laos at that time or was anyone in Laos at that time.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Quinn 4 wrote:

I don't known if any one has see Part 1 &2. I ... (show quote)

This is something I'll definitely pass up. I remember watching more than enough of it while the war was raging. Fortunately, my brother returned in one piece. I had friends killed and crippled there.

RLSeipleSr Loc: North of Boston

jerryc41 wrote:

This is something I'll definitely pass up ...

Got to agree with Jerry ... I watched Part 1 and I will definately pass on the rest of the shows ... ! I did find the information on the French somewhat interesting but, this long after the fact how much of it can we trust.

Bob S

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I don't feel like devoting 18 hours to watching it.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

I've seen parts 1 and 2 - going to watch them all. At 81 I remember all of the conflict which I'm not going to comment on except to say I am interested in how the documentary presents those years.

Bye the way, I left the Navy in 1964 after 10 years - my last duty station was as a recruiter in my home town and I saw what normal family life was like - we had been married 6 years and had a 2 year old.

toma1940 Loc: Silicon Valley, CA

American troops were in Laos and Cambodia covertly (illegally) during much of the conflick especially under Nixon. Ken Burns might cover it later in the series.

Quinn 4

Toma 1940, I known about the Nixon's years with Laos & Cambodia, I want information about what happen during the Kennedy's years. It look like I not going to find what I am looking for. The cover up is still going after all these years. Part II show Kennedy as a good guy, it the people around him who were the bad guys. Which is BS!

ecblackiii Loc: Maryland

Quinn 4 wrote:

Toma 1940, I known about the Nixon's years with Laos & Cambodia, I want information about what happen during the Kennedy's years. It look like I not going to find what I am looking for. The cover up is still going after all these years. Part II show Kennedy as a good guy, it the people around him who were the bad guys. Which is BS!

Read "Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam." [H. R. McMaster] It is an acclaimed, well researched and well documented book. It discloses the inside story of the politics behind decisions made by Kennedy and Johnson, using now declassified official records and memoirs of the senior officials reporting to them.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

BboH wrote:

I've seen parts 1 and 2 - going to watch them all. At 81 I remember all of the conflict which I'm not going to comment on except to say I am interested in how the documentary presents those years.

Bye the way, I left the Navy in 1964 after 10 years - my last duty station was as a recruiter in my home town and I saw what normal family life was like - we had been married 6 years and had a 2 year old.

Correction - Don't know where my head was - we had 4 girls by then

skylinefirepest Loc: Southern Pines, N.C.

I guess that all of us near that age had friends who fought, were wounded or killed, or messed up mentally after that war. I was in the Air Force during some of those years and it was somewhat known to us in the military that some of our guys were fighting in places that the whole country didn't know about. The grunts also knew that some officers considered them expendable and that some officers were simply getting their war chit cashed for promotion. We also realized, unfortunately after the fact, that when our guys were going out on missions that the "friendly VN's" that were working for us were telling the VC what units were going where.

Popeye Loc: LifIno

I'll pass on the series. I've been there, done that. Already know the government lied like a rug.

htbrown Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

Came back in one piece, physically at least, unlike so many friends. Reliving those years via Ken Burns is painful but I find it useful. He's tried to take a historian's view, which is no easy task for events that were so controversial and are still in living memory.

krl48 Loc: NY, PA now SC

htbrown wrote:

Came back in one piece, physically at least, unlike so many friends. Reliving those years via Ken Burns is painful but I find it useful. He's tried to take a historian's view, which is no easy task for events that were so controversial and are still in living memory.

My view as well, htbrown. Like you, I've been watching, and will continue to do so.

krl48 Loc: NY, PA now SC

Quinn 4 wrote:

I don't known if any one has see Part 1 &2. I ... (show quote)

There was a brief reference to the presence of American troops operating secretly in Laos during the early years in one of the first 3 episodes. I worked with former Air Force pilot who operated out of Vientiane. He said he wasn't CIA or Air America, but flew in civilian clothes about half the time.

Leo Perez

I was a volunteer at VA Clinic here in town and remember this older Vet would come in for treatment. I asked him one time where he serviced and told he was in Viet Nam and Laos. He was having a hard time getting compensation for his for his condition cause he was shot in Laos and of course the gov't would not admit that we were also involved or sending troops there. He got treated but not for his so call injury. That's nothing new for the gov't, I was station in a small camp south in Okiniwa where we had all nuke weapons under ground. When Japan took over the Inland in 73 we removed all of them from there. After a few years I heard a congressman say that we never had weapons (nukes) in Okiniwa. I just smiled and shook my head.