I know some of our classmates died in Vietnam. A lot served and returned with terrible memories. Class of ‘62 had even more sent there, and they died there. I send this every time I get it. I don't know if she can forgive herself but I can't forgive a traitor.
Jane Fonda…pitiful…
She now has been chosen to play Nancy Reagan in her life story. I am sending this one out because so many do not know this truth.
And also because she was on television three times this week talking about her new book. And how good she feels in her 70s. She still does not know what she did wrong. Her book just may not make the bestseller list if more people knew…
Barbara Walters said:
“Thank you all. Many died in Vietnam for our freedoms. I did not like Jane Fonda then and I don't like her now.
“She can lead her present life the way she wants, and perhaps she can forget the past. But we do not have to stand by without comment and see her ‘honored’ as a ‘Woman of the Century.’”
I remember this well.
For those who served and/or died. . .
Never forgive a traitor. She really was a traitor.
And now President Obama wants to honor her.
In memory of Lt. C. Thomsen Wieland who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton (an infamous North Vietnam prison).
This is for all the kids born in the 1970s and after who do not remember and did not have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear.
Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the “100 Women of the Century.”
Barbara Walters writes:
“Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during the Vietnam War.”
This is from an F-4E pilot, Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat:
“In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison, the Hanoi Hilton. Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American 'Peace Activist' the 'lenient and humane treatment' he'd received.
“He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward onto the camp Commandant 's feet, which sent that officer berserk.”
As late as 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision, which permanently ended his flying career), a result of the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton.
No One Knew
From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent six years in the Hanoi Hilton. During the first three, his family only knew he was 'missing in action.’ His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a 'peace delegation' visit.
However, they had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security number on it, in the palm of his hand. When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: 'Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?' and 'Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?' Believing this had to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.
She took them all without missing a beat. At the end of the line, once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper.
Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Col. Carrigan was almost No. 4, but he survived. To this day, he is the only reason we know of her actions that day.
My Experiences
I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam. I was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and I was held prisoner for over five years.
I spent 27 months in solitary confinement, one year in a cage in Cambodia and one year in a black box in Hanoi . My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Banme Thuot , South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only 90 pounds. My normal weight is 170.
We were Jane Fonda's “war criminals.”
When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received… and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as “humane and lenient.”
Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched, with a large steel weight placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.
I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.
These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of “100 Years of Great Women.” Lest we forget, 100 Years of Great Women never should include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.
There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them.
Ronald D. Sampson, CMSgt,
U.S. Air Force, F 716 Maintenance Squadron,
Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343
