Vietnam Veterans Throw Medals Back (1971)

Fri Apr 23, 1971

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On this day in 1971, more than 800 veterans collectively tossed their medals, ribbons, discharge papers, and other war mementos on the steps of the U.S. Capitol as part of a multi-day demonstration against the Vietnam War. The protest, titled “Operation Dewey Canyon III” was organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), one of the most influential anti-war organizations in the U.S. at that time.

The event began on April 19th with a march led by Gold Star Mothers (mothers of soldiers killed in war), more than 1,100 veterans marched across the Lincoln Memorial Bridge to the Arlington Cemetery gate. On April 22nd, John Kerry, as VVAW spokesman, testified against the war for two hours in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The event ended on April 23rd, 1971, with more than 800 veterans throwing their combat ribbons, helmets, and uniforms on the Capitol steps, along with toy weapons.

  • Kitty Jynx@lemmy.world
    1·
    5 months ago

    Or they are 18 year old kids trying to get out of a bad situation and gain a chance at class mobility who were raised in a culture that whitewashed and glorified war. The ones I knew who joined for patriotic reasons were few and far between and those guys enlisted just after 9/11. Unfortunately public schools don’t tend to teach much about the US’s role in destabilizing much of the global south and the middle east. Because of that the propaganda being put out during the start of the Global War on Terror was taken as read by most of my fellow recruits and a lot of them literally thought that Al Qaeda was trying to take over the world. This was also before the modern internet so just being exposed to anything but the news channel propaganda, unless you were already plugged into leftest circles, was very improbable for the high school demographic that military recruiters target.