Soldiers Missing in Action from Nam Identified

[Monkeyman]

News Release DOD Dec22,2006
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today the the remains of Two U.S. servicemen , missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are Maj. Frederick J. Ransbottom, of Oklahoma City,Okla.; and Staff Sgt. William E. Skivington Jr. ,of Las Vegas, Nev, Both U.S Army.

Welcome home Brothers RIP

[TahitiNut]

1. Welcome home, brothers.

R.I.P. :cry:

[Monkeyman]

27. I am going to pull this post down soon

Its Xmas not a time for debate but a Time For PEACE

[TahitiNut]

28. Indeed. Peace to you, bro!

:patriot:

[mike_c]

2. will their names go on the wall or are they already there?

RIP

[Monkeyman]

3. They will be posted on the Wall

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

4. Already there. At least the officer is, They were declared dead

but the bodies were not recovered.

http://www.no-quarter.org/gui/detail.php?ID=42339

i don't find the enlisted man listed... typical.

[Monkeyman]

5. Thanks

[babylonsister]

6. I'm happy for them and their families. Yes, RIP. nt

[uppityperson]

7. Good, thank you for posting this. RIP

[brer cat]

8. I hope that it will bring some peace to their families.

I must be devastating not to know for certain.

RIP and thank you for your service.

[windbreeze]

9. Welcome Home

and RIP....Thank you for your sacrifice...
windbreeze

[formercia]

10. Victims of a previous Crusader War.

Wise up folks.

[ronnie624]

11. There is no such country as "Nam".

You should at least show the victims of U.S. aggression some respect, by calling their country by its proper name. I know with certainty, that many Vietnamese people find the term "Nam" racist and offensive.

[Monkeyman]

12. Those of us who where there call it Nam we earned the Right

This is a post of respect not gamer or english lessons ok do not disrespect us again

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LittleClarkie]

14. Okay, then I will

The only "tone" I'm seeing is coming from you.

You are the one with civility issues. This is a thread honoring the dead. Would you disrespect someone at a funeral? Show some class.

[ronnie624]

17. But this isn't a funeral, is it?

This is a discussion board, and I have as much right to post messages as anyone else.

If you choose to use racist language in my presence, you should prepare to be challenged, even if you do attempt to mask the deed by claims of "honoring the dead".

[LoZoccolo]

18. I know some soldiers who fought in Nam.

I was too young (born in 1974) but my uncle and my next door neighbor from when I was growing up as well as my friend's dad was a veteran of Nam.

[LoZoccolo]

19. I saw this; it's on Wikipedia and thus hard to argue with.

In 208 BCE a Qin Dynasty general named Triệu Đà established a state called Nam Việt which encompassed southern China and the Red River Delta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam

[Monkeyman]

20. And you sound like one who spit on us.

You need to ask the forgiveness of all the fallen soldiers in the world. You have no right to judge us. Judge the Government who sent us.

[PsN2Wind]

22. Hey Monkeyman

I missed the festivities in "Nam" myself but had several friends that went there on their senior trip. There are a couple, although they have a bit of age on them now, that I would pay good money to see Ronnie correct them, to their faces, about referring to VietNam as Nam. You have earned the right to refer to that country any way you choose, as have my buddies, Bob, two tours as a door-gunner, Gary, Special Forces in the Highlands, and Willie, River Assault Group.

[seriousstan]

24. How can that be? I have read multiple posts debunking the "spit" myths.

People here have "proved" it never happened.

[Monkeyman]

25. Sorry to inform you it happen to me

Plus the calls to my family saying how does it feel to have your son wounded by the people army. It happen so very little that people forgot how bad it was on us when we returned.

[TahitiNut]

26. I think your post needs a :sarcasm: smilie.

It happened to me. It almost certainly didn't happen as often as claimed - just like in the 80s about twice as many people CLAIMED to be Viet Nam vets as there actually were - but it did.

[ronnie624]

30. For what reason would I apologize

to all "fallen soldiers" in the world? For speaking truth about the destruction of Vietnam by the U.S. military? For calling attention to the deaths of millions of people at the hands of U.S. soldiers? For daring to speak of the almost total annihilation of Vietnam as a cultural entity?

When I think of the Vietnam War, my first thoughts are of the real victims - those people whose country was almost obliterated - not those who carried out the destruction and happened to be killed or injured in the process. If you had not added insult to injury, by referring to their country as "Nam" - a practice I find rather irritating - I would not have posted to this thread.

As for spitting on returning Vietnam veterans, nothing could be further from possibility. Firstly, I was too young to understand anything about the conflict at that time, and I was scrupulously shielded from the images on television. I certainly could not have been lying in wait to ambush veterans with spittle. Secondly, I do not regard spitting on people, to be an appropriate means of expression, therefore would I never engage in such an activity.

I do however, at times, have a habit of saying things that some find offensive...or perhaps I speak truths than many would prefer to avoid, as evidenced by the deletion of one of my posts, above.

I have nothing but compassion for all of the victims of U.S. corporate and ideological imperialism, including U.S. veterans. Few things anger me more than the cutting of funding to the VA, right at the moment when such funding is needed most, and even more so in the coming years, as so called "depleted uranium" begins to manifest itself through chronic illness in millions of veterans (The Republican penchant for voting against funding the VA, is a common theme in my frequent tirades against the GOP). I have known and currently do know Vietnam veterans, and some of them are among the kindest, most generous souls I have ever known. I do not blame them or you, for the Vietnam War. But I will not be fooled or bullied into believing that America is somehow a victim of our own brutal aggression against other countries.

I will also, likely, continue to use terms like "courage" and "mass murder" in contexts that many find objectionable.

I will post no more to this thread.

Good day Monkeyman, and a Merry Christmas to you.


(edited for clarity)

[TahitiNut]

21. It is your MESSAGE that warrants disrespect. It's not personal. (Or wasn't.)

The word 'Nam' means 'land' or 'country' in Vietnamese and there is absolutely NOTHING racist or disrespectful about it. That's just utter and complete hogwash.

The identification of the remains of two of "those who suffered the horrors of U.S. military aggression" is the topic of this thread ... people who you might call 'baby killers' but whose families called 'son' or 'brother' or husband' or 'daddy.' It's too bad your cartoonish zealotry gets in the way of that.

Your post is one of the more despicable and disgusting I've ever seen on DU. You obviously have no concept whatsoever what 'service' means ... and the responsibility that an entire nation MUST share in all its actions. The LEAST worthy of that blame are those who served their nation and its people honorably, whether in Iraq or Viet Nam or Korea or even during WW2 - doing the very best they could in the worst of circumstances.

[ronnie624]

31. Your post offers little more than personal insults

and straw-men, and is therefore basically worthless.

As for your appeal to nationalistic unity in the destruction of other countries, and your attempt to relieve presumably sovereign adults of responsibility for their own actions, I can only wonder at such a bizarre statement coming from a prolific DU poster such as yourself.

"...and the responsibility that an entire nation MUST share in all its actions."

There is no doubt many Germans heard such words during the 1930s and 1940s.

Are you posturing in defense of another poster, or do you really believe such obvious garbage?

[Balbus]

23. Nam

is about as racist as when the Europeans refer to us as the "states." Or as referring to Australia as "down under." Go find something else to show false outrage over.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[ellisonz]

15. An educated guess...

based on rank and the fact that they're remains were recovered immediately, I'd say scout helicopter crash.

[ellisonz]

16. An educated guess...

based on rank and the fact that they're remains were recovered immediately, I'd say scout helicopter crash.

:patriot: