Howard University Television, a PBS station in Washington
DC, aired the documentary “Into Harm’s Way”, by Jordan Kronick, the day after
Memorial Day 2013. This 2011 film (85
minutes) gives first person accounts from officers who graduated from the West
Point (United States Military Academy) in 1967 (846 men) and then served in combat in Vietnam
within one year. At least thirty of them were lost in combat by the end of 1968, during the maximum buildup under General Westmoreland.
The film attracted my attention because I underwent Army
Basic Combat Training in the first part of 1968. It is conceivable that I could have had
members of this class as cade when I was at Fort Jackson, SC. I did not recognize anyone, however.
The film starts with a harrowing tale of an officer living
in New York who gets a call to report for duty within one hour. At the meeting, someone committed
suicide. Nevertheless, they flew immediately
on a commercial flight with stewardesses to Oakland and then to Vietnam. They said that from the air it looked like a
paradise, until they say the bombed areas from the air. Nevertheless, when they landed at Da Nang,
there was no evidence of combat up close.
‘
A number of officers give riveting accounts of combat, which
are sometimes illustrated by rotoscopic animation. One officer described
commanding a chopper and tracking a cyclist.
One officer got involved in a protest and was forced out of
the Army but given am Honorable Discharge to keep the matter quiet.
One man showed the stump from his amputation at mid
thigh, and demonstrated putting on a prosthesis. But he said that in 1969, people with severe
war injuries were looked down upon by society as damaged goods.
One officer said his wife divorced him
because she could not deal with being intimate with him given his wounds.
In fact, the willingness of people to keep relationships in
the face of adversity, especially that imposed by war or terror, sounds today
like a moral foundation for sustainability. Another film that dealt with this
sensitivity was “Body of War” (review April 7, 2008). Another such film is “Fighting for Life”
(March 29, 2008).
The official site for the film from the Documentary Group is
here. A major Vimeo video is offered.
It seems to me that the Vietnam era draft, with the moral
conundrum created by student deferments and “sheltered MOS” like the I had
(“01E20”) would make a good subject for documentary or POV film.
Pictures: July, 2011, my own visit to West Point
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