Colleen Raezler : Woodstock Wasn't the Only Thing Happening 40 Years Ago
While some in the media have been dusting off their love beads, bell-bottoms and broomstick skirts in an effort to wax nostalgic about Woodstock, the VFW has reminded its members that the world did not stop for those four days in August 1969.
In fact, for 109 American soldiers, the world ended that weekend.
VFW Magazine honored those soldiers in the August 2009 cover story, “While Woodstock Rocked, GIs Died.”
Much has been made over the “half a million strong” that flocked to a dairy farm in rural New York to celebrate music and peace. Richard K. Kolb instead compared the coverage Newsweek and Time gave to the festival while shortchanging American efforts in Vietnam.
“Newsweek described them as ‘a youthful, long-haired army, almost as large as the U.S. force in Vietnam,” wrote Kolb. Time claimed Woodstock “may well rank as one of the significant political and sociological events of the age.” The same article referred to the Vietnam as the “meaningless war in the jungles of Southeast Asia” and cited sociologist Amitai Etzoni, who stated that “the young need opportunities for authentic service.”
As for those that gave the ultimate sacrifice in the name of “authentic service” Kolb reported, “The casualties they sustained over those four days were genuine, yet none of the elite media outlets were praising their selflessness.
But unlike Woodstock’s audience, labeled by Newsweek as “the nation’s affluent white young,” Kolb wrote that the soldiers killed that weekend “mirrored the population of the time.”
Kolb offered statistics to prove his case:
"A full 92 percent were white (seven of whom had Spanish surnames) and 8 percent black. Some 67 percent were Protestants; 28 percent Catholic. A disproportionate number – more than one-third – hailed from the South. More than two-thirds were single; nearly one-third married. Not surprisingly, the vast majority (91 percent) were under the age of 30, with 78 percent between the ages of 18 and 22."
Kolb also poignantly noted, “Of the four days, Aug. 18 – the last day of “peace and love” in the Catskills when the 50,000 diehards departed after the final act – was the worst for the men in Vietnam. Thirty-five of them died on that one miserable day.”...
Read entire article at Culture and Media Institute
In fact, for 109 American soldiers, the world ended that weekend.
VFW Magazine honored those soldiers in the August 2009 cover story, “While Woodstock Rocked, GIs Died.”
Much has been made over the “half a million strong” that flocked to a dairy farm in rural New York to celebrate music and peace. Richard K. Kolb instead compared the coverage Newsweek and Time gave to the festival while shortchanging American efforts in Vietnam.
“Newsweek described them as ‘a youthful, long-haired army, almost as large as the U.S. force in Vietnam,” wrote Kolb. Time claimed Woodstock “may well rank as one of the significant political and sociological events of the age.” The same article referred to the Vietnam as the “meaningless war in the jungles of Southeast Asia” and cited sociologist Amitai Etzoni, who stated that “the young need opportunities for authentic service.”
As for those that gave the ultimate sacrifice in the name of “authentic service” Kolb reported, “The casualties they sustained over those four days were genuine, yet none of the elite media outlets were praising their selflessness.
But unlike Woodstock’s audience, labeled by Newsweek as “the nation’s affluent white young,” Kolb wrote that the soldiers killed that weekend “mirrored the population of the time.”
Kolb offered statistics to prove his case:
"A full 92 percent were white (seven of whom had Spanish surnames) and 8 percent black. Some 67 percent were Protestants; 28 percent Catholic. A disproportionate number – more than one-third – hailed from the South. More than two-thirds were single; nearly one-third married. Not surprisingly, the vast majority (91 percent) were under the age of 30, with 78 percent between the ages of 18 and 22."
Kolb also poignantly noted, “Of the four days, Aug. 18 – the last day of “peace and love” in the Catskills when the 50,000 diehards departed after the final act – was the worst for the men in Vietnam. Thirty-five of them died on that one miserable day.”...