Ken Burns series "Vietnam" on PBS

[imokurok]

For those of you who served, thank you.

I intend to watch, although it will be a challenge to find it on our ATT/Direct TV set-up. (Still trying to figure it out, but for $90 savings a month, we'll figure it out.)
I missed the active draft by literally months. Grew up during this time. I'll watch because it's Ken Burns, and his stuff tends to be good. Under no illusions it's going to be pleasant. Feel like I owe it to someone.

 

[Bamaman]

Funny how so many people don't care to being back this war out of the ashes. The Vietnam Vets were treated so bad upon their return too.

My cousin I grew up with was a helicopter pilot Warrant Officer 1970-1971 and he is still fighting the war in some ways. Not only does he have to fight PTSD, he has spent 45 years fighting the VA for help. And so many vets from Vietnam had hard, hard lives going thru divorces, young deaths, drug addiction and suicides.

The war was just so bad formal many--and families are still suffering.

 

[RunningBum]

For those of you who served, thank you.

I intend to watch, although it will be a challenge to find it on our ATT/Direct TV set-up. (Still trying to figure it out, but for $90 savings a month, we'll figure it out.)
I missed the active draft by literally months. Grew up during this time. I'll watch because it's Ken Burns, and his stuff tends to be good. Under no illusions it's going to be pleasant. Feel like I owe it to someone.

It's on PBS, so you can probably catch it over the air on your local station if you have any kind of antenna.

 

[donheff]

I will probably watch it all. I was active in the anti-war movement and had friends who served and some who died. I suspect I will have some of my memories and beliefs supported and some dashed.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Here you go

1: Déjà Vu (1858-1961) | The Vietnam War | Explicit Language Version | PBS

 

[frayne]

Watched the first show with a bit of trepidation but was amazed at how little I actually knew about the history of the country after WWII. I found it interesting that Ho Chi Mihn had worked in the US as a pastry chef in New York and also worked a bit in Boston. Also found it ironic that he used a Jefferson quote about all men being born with certain inalienable rights to pursue life, liberty and happiness when he was trying to take his country back from France. I had always thought the conflict was more of a civil war between the north and south but actually it was a war of independence.

 

[euro]

We will probably get it when it comes out on Netflix. My memories of the Vietnam War were as a kid trying to get somebody, anybody, to tell me why we were fighting it. I knew in a simplistic way, why WWII had to be fought, and I was looking for something similar, i.e. "We were attacked" or "The Vietnamese are trying to take over the world.

Ken Burns did a good Job in the first episode to get at those questions and put them into historical perspective. I'm not sure I like approach where he constantly jumps back and forth in time, but he shows very well that this conflict didn't start in the 60-ies but rather during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. For the US, that is - of course, for the French it started when they decided to invade the place 100 years earlier.

 

[Amethyst]

Yes - I learned these things much later. But it was, and remains, striking and disturbing that adults who were happy to explain most anything, clammed up when it came to discussing Vietnam. I actually believe the teachers in my grade school had been instructed to clamp off any discussion. No doubt for the same reason the ER mods clamp down on anything that looks like it might get political. Edit: We weren't allowed to ask about the riots, either, and I was desperate to know more, because my Dad had to drive in that mess every day to go to work. I think this is really what started me reading the newspaper.

Ken Burns did a good Job in the first episode to get at those questions and put them into historical perspective. I'm not sure I like approach where he constantly jumps back and forth in time, but he shows very well that this conflict didn't start in the 60-ies but rather during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. For the US, that is - of course, for the French it started when they decided to invade the place 100 years earlier.

 

[Sunset]

Here you go

1: Déjà Vu (1858-1961) | The Vietnam War | Explicit Language Version | PBS

Thanks !
I was thinking I'd have to wait years for it to come on Netflix, and never thought it would just be available to watch on the internet.

 

[golfnut]

Watched the first show with a bit of trepidation but was amazed at how little I actually knew about the history of the country after WWII. I found it interesting that Ho Chi Mihn had worked in the US as a pastry chef in New York and also worked a bit in Boston. Also found it ironic that he used a Jefferson quote about all men being born with certain inalienable rights to pursue life, liberty and happiness when he was trying to take his country back from France. I had always thought the conflict was more of a civil war between the north and south but actually it was a war of independence.

I agree. I always thought Ho Chi Mihn was just an evil commy. Of course, back then the US press wanted us to believe that.

I was couple of years too young to serve in VN ( born in 1955). I do remember thanking Nixon for the abolishing the draft and I was not exactly a fan of his.

 

[Walt34]

Funny how so many people don't care to being back this war out of the ashes. The Vietnam Vets were treated so bad upon their return too.

While I never served in the military I did make it a point to write letters to a few guys I knew who went to Vietnam. One in particular, lived across the street when I was growing up, stunned me when he got back by saying that I was the only one who ever wrote him a letter while he was there. Not even his family wrote.

I thought my letters were pretty dull, I was going to school and working at the time, but in hindsight it probably didn't matter what I wrote about. Only that I wrote.

At least where I was returning vets were not treated badly that I remember but no one I knew was active in political stuff anyway.

 

[easysurfer]

Watched and did learn. Remembered when younger always wondering what the war was about as I was in grade school when it ended. Didn't know the French that involved. Felt sorry for the guy who got from US who got killed by accident. Wished the documentary had more about the men who had to serve.

 

[travelover]

Funny how so many people don't care to being back this war out of the ashes. The Vietnam Vets were treated so bad upon their return too.

My cousin I grew up with was a helicopter pilot Warrant Officer 1970-1971 and he is still fighting the war in some ways. Not only does he have to fight PTSD, he has spent 45 years fighting the VA for help. And so many vets from Vietnam had hard, hard lives going thru divorces, young deaths, drug addiction and suicides.

The war was just so bad formal many--and families are still suffering.

So true, but hopefully a documentary like this will help us to learn, when the next Vietnam comes a long, to make better choices and to treat the veterans better. PTSD wasn't even adequately treated and diagnosed until very recently - another lost opportunity to learn from Vietnam.

 

[CoolRich59]

my wife and I are struggling to figure out how to save our home made tapes. One of them has us bringing our daughter home in 1983.

Not to hijack the thread, but there is some kind of device that will transfer your VHS tapes to DVD.

My son got us this device. Even better, he sat in our basement and transferred the tapes to DVD for us. (What a great kid! )

 

[braumeister]

I didn't know all the history when I went over there in 71, but I learned it all later. I even taught a couple of courses on it while in the USAF. Knowing the history makes it all even more poignant.

 

[googily]

Watched and did learn. Remembered when younger always wondering what the war was about as I was in grade school when it ended. Didn't know the French that involved. Felt sorry for the guy who got from US who got killed by accident. Wished the documentary had more about the men who had to serve.

You know there's still nine more episodes, right?

 

[bjorn2bwild]

A nice Sam Harris interview with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick on the making of the film -

10 years in the making, most of the war scene footage was silent, the sound tracks had to be constructed from scratch.
Special permissions were given by the Beatles, Crosby Stills and Nash, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Hendrix etc...for the soundtrack.
It was translated into Vietnamese and will be broadcast in Vietnam simultaneously (I think). More

https://www.samharris.org/podcast/item/the-impossible-war

 

[easysurfer]

You know there's still nine more episodes, right?

Did not know. Thought this was one and done. In that case, don't know if I want to see all nine . Might be too depressing to watch.

 

[mf15]

I wish they would also do one on Korea, just so everyone can understand.
The threat is real.
One tidbit you may not be aware of. The gov't also sprayed Agent Orange along the DMZ in Korea,
so there are many more thousands of people who have been exposed. Presumptive exposure time
period,April 1, 1968, and Aug. 31, 1971.
Old Mike
A 1/15 FA-Second Infantry Division-Korea 1971

 

[marko]

Although I really like Ken Burns documentaries, I'm also in the "no need to open old wounds" camp and won't be watching.

+1 I also generally enjoy Ken Burns work, we started watching it last night and, sadly, found it very slow moving and after about 45 minutes turned it off. Maybe it was just the mood I was in.

 

[Rianne]

We recorded the series. There was so much going on in 1968 that reflected the division in this country. Because we're a democracy, there will always be a division, not like North Korea or any dictatorship. Ken Burns is always careful to show both sides, that's why I will watch the entire series. The footage and interviews with the people who lived it will be educational. I was 11 in 1968 and always wanted a complete understanding of that era. I get the message of Dear Hunter and Born on the Fourth of July and so on. There was so much more going on that I missed.

 

[John Galt III]

It's on PBS, so you can probably catch it over the air on your local station if you have any kind of antenna.

Interesting. I have 3 PBS stations here over the air, but none of them was carrying the Vietnam show. Saw it on cable. It is interesting in spots, I think.

 

[FIREmenow]

Should be able to stream it from a variety of places.....from PBS.org:

"How To Watch: The Vietnam War will broadcast on your local PBS station, and will be available for streaming on the web (desktop or mobile) and PBS apps for smartphones, tablets, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV. Choose from four versions, all streaming now."

 

[Sunset]

I wish they would also do one on Korea, just so everyone can understand.
The threat is real.
One tidbit you may not be aware of. The gov't also sprayed Agent Orange along the DMZ in Korea,
so there are many more thousands of people who have been exposed. Presumptive exposure time
period,April 1, 1968, and Aug. 31, 1971.
Old Mike
A 1/15 FA-Second Infantry Division-Korea 1971

I would really like this as well, but I think they have to wait for the war to be over before making a film.

The Korean war is not technically done as no peace treaty is signed.

 

[RunningBum]

+1 I also generally enjoy Ken Burns work, we started watching it last night and, sadly, found it very slow moving and after about 45 minutes turned it off. Maybe it was just the mood I was in.

I feel asleep while watching it last night. Not sure how much of it was due to me being tired vs. the pace of it. I recorded it so I'll finish watching.

And just a comment, not a complaint, but I've noticed it takes more focus to watch this than most shows. There's the captioning of the Vietnamese interviewees and just trying to catch the points, plus I'm more interested in learning this topic than I am to follow most of what I watch on TV.