I have put together a compendium of the most virulent myths to come out of the Vietnam War. Some of these myths, because they have been repeated so many times, and have been showcased in some deplorable books and movies about the war, have taken on the status of "fact" in the minds of an alarming number of people. While some of these myths can be exposed as apocryphal tales by examining the statistics compiled during and after the war by independent sources, others are impossible to disprove (You can not "prove" a negative hypothesis: e.g., I can not "prove" there are no alien spacecraft flying around). All that can be done is examine the evidence and determine if there is any susbstance to the allegations. Statistical data was obtained from analysis of the Combat Area Casualty File of 11/93 (CACF1193), and The Adjutant General's Center (TAGCEN) file of 1981. Additional sources for factual data are listed below in thebibliography.
Ray Smith
1st Battalion 69th Armor
Blacks Served In
Disproportionate Numbers They Did Not
Most Men Who Served Were
Drafted Most Men Who Served (75%) Were Volunteers
Draft Dodgers Protested
Against The War They Protested Over The Fact They Had To Serve
Drug Use Was Rampant In
Vietnam Drug Use is Rampant In Berkeley, and Hollywood
Fraggings Were Common In
Vietnam In fact they were rare
Prisoners Were Hurled From
Helicopters From the archives of the Beverly Hills National
Guard
American Atrocities Were
Widespread In fact, only two can be documented
Body Counts Were Falsified
If anything, we wildly underestimated NVA dead
The Communists Still Hold POWs
There is no credible evidence to support this belief After Tet, Ronald H. Spector, New York: Random House, 1993
A Soldier Reports, Westmorland, William C., New York: Doubleday, 1976
Code Name Bright Light, Veith, George J., New York: The Free Press, 1998
Inside The VC And The NVA, Lanning, Michael, New York: Random House, 1992
Son Thang: An American War Crime, Solis, Gary D., Annapolis, MD: Naval
Institute Press, 1997
Stolen Valor, Burkett, B.G. & Whitley, Glenna, Dallas: Verity Press, 1998
The Rise And Fall Of An American Army, Stanton, Shelby L., Novato, CA:
Presidio Press, 1985
The Vietnam War, Nalty, Bernard C., New York: Smithmark Publishers, 1996
Vietnam: A History, Karnow, Stanley, New York: Viking, 1983
Vietnam At War: The History 1946-1975, Davidson, Phillip, New York: Oxford
Univ Press, 1988
Sources