Calumny.

This is coolbert:

Here is a calumny about the Vietnam War that has been repeated over and over.

"calumny - - noun 1 : a misrepresentation intended to blacken another's reputation 2 : the act of uttering false charges or misrepresentations maliciously calculated to damage another's reputation"
A calumny that is repeated much to the discredit of those that slander in the manner with which they do.

What is this calumny?

"One of the most widespread of these myths is that black Americans fought and died in extraordinarily high proportions in the Vietnam War relative to the rest of the population".

Persons who repeat this lie, and it seems that this lie is widely believed in some circles, are deliberately provoking and stirring up resentment where none is warranted. Such luminaries such as Jesse Jackson and Congressman Charles Rangel repeat this lie over and over. And do so for political reasons. Again, much to their great and everlasting discredit. They not only repeat the lie incessantly, they know it is lie when they say it.

What are the statistics regarding the casualties of American black troops in Vietnam?

"During the Vietnam War era (draft era to be precise) blacks of military age made up 13.5 percent of the total population, but only 9.7 percent of the Vietnam era military forces were black.

88.4 percent of the men who actually served in Vietnam were white.

10.6 percent of the men who actually served in Vietnam were black.

86.3 percent of the men who died in Vietnam were white.

12.5 percent of the men who died in Vietnam were black.

86.8 percent of the men who were killed in actual battle were white.

12.1 percent of the men who were killed in actual battle were black.

In sum, while the percentage of blacks of military age was 13.5 percent of the population, they accounted for 12.1 percent of the deaths in Vietnam."

[such was the controversy regarding this subject that the statistics have been gone over and over by a number of experts, and they all reach the same conclusion!!]

I will leave it to the reader to decide if blacks died in disproportionate numbers in Vietnam.

[as I have said before in previous blog entries, in the eyes of some observant white officers, the black infantryman in Vietnam was SUPERIOR to the white infantryman. Achieved a higher level of physical conditioning, maintained it longer, and had better visual acuity, was more readily able to pick out movement from within a background.]

"DO NOT LEAD YOUR LIFE BY LIES" - - A. Solzhenitsyn.

[the photo that accompanies this blog entry is of Milton Olive III, who won the Medal of Honor in Vietnam!!]

coolbert.