Australia Defence Association

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. The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat. In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho LoPrison, 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. In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton. From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the "Hanoi Hilton". . . The first three of which 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. They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. 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 and 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. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day. I was a civilian economic development adviser in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 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 about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs.) 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" should never 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. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer, and she needs to know that we will never forget. See less

I think on a personal level, the most interesting and also depressing aspect of very detailed study of WW2 administration of defence and industry in Britain, is seeing how exceptionally competent almost all of Britains administrators were. You almost get cognitive dissonance just reading half the files, trying to work out how its even the same country we live in now which once produced these kinds of reports. There is no doubt there has been a progressive, and disastrous collapse in the all round general collective intellectual capability of the civil service and defence administration in Britain over the last few decades. Its possible to argue this is inevitable after the system was optimised by the white heat of war, and the dead wood was scattered to the four winds by virtue of necessity, but it doesnt change the fact that its almost impossible to reconcile the standards which were once taken for granted as a matter of national survival, with those we see today. You can see it at every level, and even in my small town, talking to retired councillors, they cant believe the desperately poor standard of those currently doing the jobs they did 30 years ago. How do you keep the best of your systems intact passing from wartime to peacetime ? Has anyone solved this question ? Perhaps, as far as I can see from a brief search (this is not my specific area of historical study) Singapore is one example of the most valiant attempt, with some measure of sucess. This has been discussed in "Meritocracy and the Singapore Political System." Asian Journal of Political Science. (link in comments), which describes the strict measures taken post independance in Singapore to introduce performance based merit in the Civil Service, and intensely rigid anti corruption laws. Letter below from 21st November 1935, Defence Requirements Sub-Comittee of the Committee of Imperial Defence - the CID, (Chamberlain presiding) A year before, on the 8th October 1934, Chamberlain had been lambasted by Lord Hankey, for expanding the RAF by ten squadrons over and above that even recommended by the Defence Requirements committee. Chamberlain suceeded in his push to expand the RAF at home as rapidly as possible. These meetings were however, all secret, and were not declassified until the 1970`s. The push for re-armament was not fully revealed to Germany, because the CID had agreed in 1934, that it would need five years to prepare for war with Germany, and that every diplomatic measure possible was to be taken until that date (1939) to avoid the outbreak of war with Germany. It was then, after Chamberlains withdrawl from politics and death, taken as the established narrative that Britain had NOT begun large scale and direct preparations to defeat Germany before the beginning of Churchills tenure. Only after the Committee of Imperial Defence files were declassified, covering what was really happening in British war planning in the 1930`s, that the truth became apparent. The established story of British stupidly and appeasement of totalitarianism before Churchill was Prime Minister, were utter nonsense - but, had been important to maintain the illusion of until 1939.

May 25th 1982: The Battle of San Carlos is over. After five days, Argentina gives up trying to stop the British landings, which now form a 60 square mile beach head. The battle has cost the UK a destroyer, 2 frigates, a container ship & 49 dead, against 23 Argentine planes down.