Background:
To better understand the 1971 event and aftermath and what IVAW and its allies hope to and might accomplish:
- Investigate the Winter Soldier Investigation – October 2007 article at American Thinker on that first WSI.
- WinterSoldier.com – Scott Swett’s extensive storehouse of historical information on the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation.
- Articles by Steve Gilbert at The American Thinker Archive.
Winter Soldier and the Media
The 1971 WSI had a negligible effect on the Vietnam War and largely escaped the notice of the media when it happened. In the Presidential election of 1968, both candidates, Nixon and Humphrey, campaigned on the withdrawal of American forces. The drawdown of American troops from the peak of over a half million (536,000) in 1968 had begun in early 1969. By 1971 the U.S. troop level had been reduced to 157,000.
Months after the first WSI was held, it was made prominent retroactively by two subsequent and related events.
- On April 5, 1971, anti-war Republican Senator Mark Hatfield moved that the text of the WSI "testimony" be entered into the Congressional Record, even though not one word of that testimony had been given under oath or was accompanied by any sworn affidavits or depostions.
- On April 22, 1971, young and highly decorated Vietnam veteran John Kerry represented VVAW before Senator William Fulbright's Foreign Relations Committee. Citing the WSI testimony, Kerry testified to widespread and routine atrocities being committed by American forces in Vietnam.
Scott Swett and John Boyle Locate the Long Missing CID Summaries of the Investigations into Winter Soldier Allegations:
- “Newly Discovered Army Reports Discredit ‘Winter Soldier’ Claims”
- Winter Soldier Chickens Home to Roost
The Repercussions of the First WSI on the Vietnam Veterans and Influence on America’s Culture and Image
- For dozens of quotes providing a glimpse of the pain caused by the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation and what followed in its wake, read the comments by Vietnam Veterans and their loved ones in Touching Nerves, Hearts and Pianful Memories. More can be found in the signatures to the petition to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
- Carlton Sherwood’s 2004 documentary “Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal”
- Articles by Vietnam Veteran Mackubin T. Owens:
"Slandering an Entire Generation of Warriors"
"A Generational Thing"
"The 'Troubled Vet' Returns"
- "When the Left Cares, and When It Doesn't" at American Thinker (Sept. 2007)
Related Blog Posts:
- Is IVAW Retreating on WSI "Atrocities"? - Feb 5, 2008
- IVAW & VVAW - Jan 8, 2008
- Steve Pitkin as Precedent? - Dec 18, 2007
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