Dumped, Dropped, Canned
With her book at #2 on Amazon, it probably does not much matter to Ann Coulter that she is now being fired by national publications for her latest screeds. Harridan to Liberals, heroine to Right-wingers, she is not Kerfuffles’ choice for a representative of Conservatism, although conservative she is indeed. Like her or love her, she is entertaining when she displays the distinctive public persona she has so meticulously crafted. Whisking away her long blond hair from her always sleeveless shoulders, she drives Liberals wild, especially those of the female variety. Since the publication of her latest screed, “Godless”, she has taken to wearing a Christian cross to appropriately accentuate her plunging neckline, or is it vice-versa?
However, even Kerfuffles has defended Ann Coulter when “Ann Coulter Was Right!” (from my former blog, “Blatherings”, of Monday, February 07, 2005).
Canadian Broadcasting Company’s Bob McKeown was hosting a TV broadcast “The Fifth Estate,” on January 26th, which devoted one hour to show Canadians how the American media have been high jacked by conservative bullies. Strident conservative pundit and personality, Ann Coulter, was interviewed during which the following exchange occurred:
Coulter: “Canada used to be one of our most loyal friends and vice-versa. I mean Canada sent troops to Vietnam – was Vietnam less containable and more of a threat than Saddam Hussein?”
McKeown interrupts: “Canada didn’t send troops to Vietnam.”
Coulter: “I don’t think that’s right.”
Since that interview, Coulter has been unmercilessly attacked for saying that Canada sent troops to Vietnam. She has been called an epithet-throwing fictionalist, liar, loudmouth ignoramus, outrageous nationalist and described as empty-headed and shameful, and this in just one editorial, by Doug Ireland at Driland! By doing a short Google search, I discovered that Ann Coulter was correct. There is nothing like the truth to send the liberals into the out of control spin zone.
In 1973, the International Commission of Control and Supervision Vietnam (ICCS) was responsible for securing the armistice that lasted two years from 1973 to 1975, known as Operation Gallant. Canada, a member of the commission, contributed 240 Canadian Forces whose role was to monitor the cease-fire in South Vietnam, according to the Paris Peace Conference, and to arrange the release and exchange of more than 32,000 prisoners of war. In addition, ten to forty thousand Canadians, voluntarily served in Vietnam or during the Vietnam era with the American military, of whom 111 Canadians, were lost. One Canadian soldier, Toronto born Peter C. Lemon, won the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The Canadian government believed that because of its membership in ICCS, that Canada had to remain impartial during the Vietnam Conflict. While Canada as a nation was not involved in the fighting, Canadians themselves formed the largest foreign contingent in the U.S. military during the Vietnam era. Although exact numbers are not obtainable, some estimate that between 30,000 and 40,000 served and that 12,000 Canadians actually were in American uniforms in the war zone.
Because it is almost a state secret, most Canadians do not even know that their own Canadian Armed Forces won a Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in Vietnam.
When the Canadian Vietnam veterans returned to their homeland, they were even more unwelcome than here in the United States, where at least returning veterans had access to government resources. Today, there is a memorial, “The North Wall”, at Assumption Park, Windsor, Ontario, overlooking the Detroit River. It honors the 103 Canadians who lost their lives in Vietnam and the seven who went missing in action. It is a fine tribute to those Canadians who served and sacrificed all for their belief in freedom.
Kerfuffles and Flourishes 
I was a civilian technician assigned to an Army
Signal Corp unit in Viet Nam in 1967. I and the other technicians were there to provide backup technical expertise to the Army Specialists who has limited experience with the equipment used for communications between the vast communications network in Viet Nam. The equipment was state-of-the-art and not of the type they were trained on in tech school. It took almost a year to bring them up to speed and then they would be sent home.
About a third of those civilian techs wre Canadians. Their background included working on the DEW line in Canada and Greenland. They were highly qualified for the jobs in Viet Nam. They all volunteered for these jobs.
Canadians served in many other capacities outside the military.
These Canadians, both Veterans and civilians, deserve our thanks.
Anne Coulter was “not” _right_. The “Canadian government” did _not_ sent troops to Vietnam, as for example, we have to Afghanistan. There is a distinction. Someone – might try to get it “right”.
To their honour, Canadians did cross the border to the United States and enlist within the United States in United States Forces during the Vietnam War.
Anne Coulter was “wrong”. Deal with it.
Anne Coulter was “wrong”.. People tout the ICC Commission as a proof that the Canadian “government” sent troops to serve in Vietnam. This is not the case in any way, shape, sense or form. If you really believe that, I respectfully suggest that you do a little more research into what the true function of the ICC was,
The Canadian government did not sent troops to Vietnam. This continual revisionism is an insult to intelligence and has been going on since that interview on the CBC – in which Anne Coulter was revealed to be, at minimum, a lousy researcher.
The Canadians who served in Vietnam crossed the border and enlisted in the United States. They were not sent – as in Afghanistan today – where the Canadian government “is” sending troops
(linked removed by request of author)
You will not find “anywhere” in any Order of Battle that any Canadian Regiment served in Vietnam. Nowhere. Because it didn’t happen.
To their honour, the Canadians who served in Vietnam, were volunteers and this was a private and personal choice and done at some risk to themselves.
Stop re-writing the history of the Vietnam War and Canada’s role in it because you like Anne Coulter. Do your research, make it correct, or leave it alone.
Thank you,
Anne Faulkner
Associate Member-Air Commando Association #0155
Member-Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood
and a Canadian
[…] Canada Forgets or Rewrites History? The following post was made by Kerfuffles on 11 November 2005. It is repeated here in response to a thoughtful comment (Ann Faulkner) made here regarding Canada’s Involvement in the Vietnam War. […]
Anne Faulkner – Thank you for your thoughtful comment, with which I disagree. Firstly, there is no comparison between wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, so I reject outright any equating of one with the other. In 1973, the International Commission of Control and Supervision Vietnam (ICCS) was responsible for securing the armistice that lasted two years from 1973 to 1975, known as Operation Gallant. Canada, a member of the commission, contributed Canadian Forces whose role was to monitor the cease-fire in South Vietnam, according to the Paris Peace Conference, and to arrange the release and exchange of more than 32,000 prisoners of war. The Canadian government even issued a Service Vietnam medal to 253 members of the Canadian Armed Forces who served in Vietnam. (See “Canada’s Remembrance“) This number does not include the thousands of Canadians who served in Vietnam or during the Vietnam era, nor does this figure include the 104 Canadians killed in that war, nor the seven missing in action; not to mention a winner of the Medal of Honor.
The Canadian government believed that because of its membership in ICCS, that Canada had to remain impartial during the Vietnam Conflict. While Canada as a nation was not involved in the fighting, Canadians themselves formed the largest foreign contingent in the U.S. military during the Vietnam era. Although exact numbers are not obtainable, some estimate that between 30,000 and 40,000 served and that 12,000 Canadians actually were in American uniforms in the war zone.
When the Canadian Vietnam veterans returned to their homeland, they were even more unwelcome than here in the United States. Today’s Canadians have been “re-educated” to believe the fictional propaganda that Canada “took a pass on Vietnam”, as proclaimed by Bob McKeown, a journalist of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. For Canadians to continue to see themselves as the world’s respected nation of “peacekeepers”, they cannot ever acknowledge the sacrifices of their fellow countrymen who fought on the battlefield against the scourge of Communism during the Cold War.
Canada did not “TAKE A PASS ON VIETNAM”! Canada was allied alongside the United States. With the advent of the Internet and Google, Canadians and Hate America Liberals can no longer get away with rewriting Canadian history. For example, have you ever heard of Agent Orange? It was a chemical that was used on the jungles and peoples of Vietnam. From whence came that deadly weapon, is my question to the “peace-loving” and “peace-keeping” Canadians? Do a Google search and you will find the truth.
I am aware of Agent Orange/Purple/Black and others being tested “in” Canada by our Forces. I am aware of the recent suit brought by our Forces who were exposed during that time “in” Canada. I support their action.
I refer you to this site hosted by a Canadian Vietnam Veteran that lists all of the items that were made In Canada during the Vietnam War (that Canada was not involved in).
members.tripod.com/~Canadian_Vietnam_Vet/Involvementc.html
I would respectfully to you that I host the website that brought me to your blog by Came From.
The North Wall
(link removed at request of author)
It is regretful that you missed my point with respect to the Memorial page for our troops serving in Afghanistan.
They are “not” the same, as you point out.
Find me the name of any Canadian who is listed on The Wall in Washington, DC who served with the ICC Commission.
Anne Faulkner
Hello again,
To assist you in your research, following are links:
Canadian Peacekeepers Roll of Honor
cpva.ca/roll.html
The Vietnam Casualty Search Database
no-quarter.org/
another CSD.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial – The Wall USA
thewall-usa.com/
You will not find the names of those listed on The Roll of Honor on the Peacekeepers Association URL above on either Vietnam War Casualty Search Database.
You will find the names of those Canadians who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War while serving with United States Forces in the Vietnam War.
thewall-usa.com/
January 27, 1973 was the official end of the Vietnam War. March, 1973 was the date of the last withdrawal of troops (US Forces) which was supervised by the ICC.
As you point out in your response above, The ICCS medal was awarded for 90 days service with the Commission between 28 January 1973 and 31 July 1973. In summary, the ICCS was to supervise the cease-fire, the withdrawal of troops, the dismantlement of military bases, the activity at ports of entry and the return of captured military personnel and foreign civilians. It was to report on the implementation, or violation, of the Peace Agreement and Protocols.
Please note the dates/timeline.
The early period of the ICC covered the French (Dien Bien Phu) military withdrawal. It is a mistatement to reference that to the Vietnam War – as opposed to the History of Wars that have taken place in Vietnam over years.
The fall of Saigon in 1975 was to North Vietnam.
The Canadian government did not send troops to serve in the Vietnam War.
I trust this will be of some assistance to you in correcting the record.
Anne Faulkner
Anne, I have no idea what you mean when you write “It is regretful that you missed my point with respect to the Memorial page for our troops serving in Afghanistan.” As far as I can recollect I have written absolutely nothing about Canada’s role in Afghanistan nor Iraq. My critique of Canada and “some” of the so called “peace-loving” Canadians is in regards to the rewriting of the history of Canada’s involvement in the Vietnam War and of the shunning of the Canadian citizens who returned to Canada as veterans of the Vietnam War.
I have no opinions nor do I see any relevance whatsoever to whatever is happening currently with Canadians in or not in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the Cold War of another century and the long fight against communism in which the Vietnam War was but one battle.
As for Agent Orange, ask yourself, why was Canada testing it. There is much, much more to that story than you and most Canadians seem to know. Do a Google search.
I gave you the information you have just told me to search for on Google. It is not for me to do your research for you.
If you really believe that Anne Coulter was right, and that Canada sent troops to Vietnam as Anne Coulter inferred, write the Canadian Peacekeeping Associations themselves. Ask them. Ask them if they served in the Vietnam War.
Wny was Canadiam government engaged in Pentagon contracts re Agent Orange, and guidance systems – right to socks and whiskey?
For the money.
Anne – I am not asking you to do ‘my’ research for me in regards to Agent Orange. I have already reseached it last year when I wrote these articles. However, I never got around to gathering my research into an essay. Perhaps I will do that. I suggested you search Google for your own erudition on the subject.
Here is a good place for you to start – at your own government-sponsored state media – The CBC. The following words are from them at “As It Happens“, NOT me:
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_and_the_Vietnam_War
Canada and the Vietnam War
Canada’s official position was as a “non-participant” in the Vietnam War, but the war had an important impact on the country and Canada and Canadians had an impact on the conflict itself.
Beginnings
Prime Minister Pearson and President Johnson meeting in Texas, 1965.Canada had eagerly joined the United States in the Korean War, a earlier Cold War conflict and was viewed as the closest ally of the United States. While Canada was committed to the western cause in the Cold War, the country was also committed to multilateralism and the United Nations, especially under Lester B. Pearson from 1963 to 1968. Canada thus found itself in a difficult position caught between its two foreign policy objectives. Canada never agreed with the Truman or Eisenhower Doctrines that communism itself must be opposed, rather its policy was that illegal acts of international aggression must be opposed.
During the first conflict between France and the Indo-China nationalist and communist parties Canada remained uninvolved but provided modest diplomatic and economic support to the French. Canada was however part of the multinational committee that oversaw the 1956 Paris peace accords that divided Vietnam and provided for French withdrawal. Behind the scenes Canadian diplomats tried to discourage both France and the United States from escalating the conflict in a part of the world Canadians had decided was not strategically vital.
Canada thus laid out six criteria that it would need to meet before it joined a war effort or an Asian alliance group like SEATO.
It had to be more than a military alliance, also involve cultural and trade ties.
It had to demonstrably meet the will of the people in the countries involved
Other free Asian states had to support it directly or in principle
France had to refer the conflict to United Nations
Any multilateral action must conform to the UN charter
Any action had to be divorced from all elements of colonialism
These criteria effectively guaranteed Canada would not participate in Vietnam.
At the start of the war Canada, to its relief, could not enter combat as it was appointed to the UN truce commissions and thus had to remain officially neutral in the conflict. The Canadian negotiators were strongly on the side of the Americans, however. Some delegates even engaged in espionage on behalf of the Americans, with the approval of the Canadian government. Canada also sent foreign aid to South Vietnam, that while humanitarian, was directed by the Americans.
Canada played both sides of the fence: On one hand, it actively supported the war by exporting materiel, and trying to play a mediator role to help reach a conclusion that could allow the U.S. to honourably leave the conflict. On the other hand, there was occasional (and mild) public criticism of American war method.
As the war escalated, relations between the two nations deteriorated. The lowest point was in April 2, 1965 when Pearson gave a speech at Temple University in the United States which, in the context of firm support for U.S. policy, called for a pause in the bombing of North Vietnam. Meeting with Pearson the next day, a furious President Lyndon B. Johnson grabbed the much smaller Canadian by his lapels and talked angrily with him for an hour. After this incident, the two men somehow found ways to resolve their differences over the war–in fact, subsequently, they twice met together in Canada.
Draft dodgers
Main article: Draft dodgers
A large number of draft dodgers, young American men facing conscription for the Vietnam War, decided to relocate to Canada rather than serve in the armed forces. Concentrated in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, this group was at first assisted by the Student Union for Peace Action, a campus-based Canadian anti-war group with connections to Students for a Democratic Society in the United States. Canadian immigration policy at the time made it easy for immigrants from all countries to obtain legal status in Canada. By late 1967, dodgers were being assisted primarily by over 20 independent and locally based anti-draft groups, such as the Toronto Anti-Draft Programme. As a counselor for the Programme Mark Satin wrote the Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada in 1968. It sold over 100,000 copies in eight editions.[1]
Following the dodgers, deserters from the American forces also made their way to Canada. There was pressure from the United States and Canada to have them arrested, or at least stopped at the border. In May 1969 the Canadian government ceased its active discrimination against deserters after facing extensive criticism.
The population of draft dodgers had an impact on Canadian society. The influx of young, educated, and left-leaning individuals affected Canada’s academic and cultural institutions. These new arrivals tended to balance the “brain drain” that Canada had experienced. While some draft dodgers returned to the United States after they were pardoned by Jimmy Carter in 1977, half stayed in Canada. Deserters were never pardoned and may still face pro forma arrest and release, as the case of Allen Abney demonstrated in March 2006[2]. Estimates of how many Americans settled in Canada to avoid service vary greatly. Canadian immigration statistics show that 20,000 to 30,000 draft eligible males came to Canada as immigrants in the Vietnam era; estimates of the total number of American citizens who moved to Canada due to their opposition to the war range from 50,000 to 125,000 [3]. This group may have helped to shift Canadian politics farther to the left of those in the United States.
Prominent draft dodgers who stayed in Canada permanently, or for a significant amount of time include:
Corky Evans – MLA for Nelson-Creston
Jack Todd – award-winning sports columnist for the Montreal Gazette
Eric Nagler – Children’s entertainer on The Elephant Show.
The founding members of Heart – a popular rock/pop band
Anti-war activism
Anti-War activities were nearly as widespread in Canada as they were in the United States with demonstrations on most Canadian campuses. In English Canada the movement was fuelled by the draft dodgers. Quebec also had a strong and – ironically – violent anti-war movement as well. The separatist FLQ was also stridently anti-American and against the war.
One of the most visible expressions of this was at Expo ’67. President Johnson was visiting for the opening of the American pavilion, which would involve a large American flag being unfurled. The FLQ secretly informed the government that anyone who tried to raise the flag would be shot. The original government plan was to use a Boy Scout to raise it, under the assumption the FLQ would not assassinate a child, but this idea was rejected and an extremely nervous Scout leader wearing a bulletproof vest did so. While he was not shot, it was discovered upon the unfurling of the flag that the canton with the stars had been cut out by a protester.
Canadians in the U.S. military
Concurrent with the draft dodging and defections to Canada, several thousand Canadians joined the U.S. military and fought with the Americans in Vietnam; estimates range from 3,500 to 10,000. Several thousand more Canadians joined and served with the U.S. military but did not fight in Vietnam. One hundred and ten (110) Canadians died in Vietnam and seven remain listed as Missing in Action. Many of these were Canadians who had long lived in the United States, Canadians with US citizenship who were drafted or had previously served in the U.S., and out-of-work soldiers who had been the victims of recent government cutbacks. Still others volunteered because of ideological or moral support of the American war effort.[4] This cross border enlistment was not unusual: in both World War I and World War II tens of thousands of Americans had joined the Canadian forces while their homeland was still neutral. Canadian Peter C. Lemon won the U.S. Medal of Honor for his valour in the conflict.
In Windsor, Ontario, there is a small, privately funded monument to the Canadians killed in the Vietnam War. However, many Canadian veterans returned to a society that was strongly anti-war. Unlike in the United States, there were no veterans organizations or help from the government. Many of them moved permanently to the United States. There has been ongoing controversy among Canadian Vietnam veterans who want their comrades’ deaths to be formally acknowledged by the government, especially in times of remembrance such as Remembrance Day.
Military assistance
Canada’s official diplomatic position was as a non-participant, but the country was not neutral in the conflict: it professed explicit support for the United States. Canada was also a major supplier of equipment and supplies to the American forces. Canada did not send these directly to South Vietnam, but sold them to the United States. Throughout the Vietnam War Canadian manufacturers profited from the conflict. Sold goods included relatively benign items like boots, but also napalm and commercial defoliants the use of which was fiercely opposed by antiwar protesters at the time. Between 1965 and 1973 Canada sold some $2.5 billion worth of matériel to the American forces. Canada also allowed their NATO ally to use Canadian facilities and bases for training exercises and weapons testing.
In 1973, Canada also provided peacekeeping troops to Operation Gallant, the military operation associated with the International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS) Vietnam, along with Hungary, Indonesia, and Poland. Their role was to monitor the cease-fire in South Vietnam as per the Paris Peace Accords.
Post-war
After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975 thousands of refugees, known as boat people, fled Vietnam for both political and economic reasons. Canada agreed to accept many of them in one of the largest single influxes of immigrants in Canadian history. This created a vibrant Vietnamese community based especially in Vancouver and Toronto.
As in the United States, the Vietnam War was an important cultural turning point in Canada, perhaps even more so than in the United States. Coupled with Canada’s centenary in 1967 and the success of Expo ’67, Canada became far more independent and nationalistic. The public, if not their representatives in parliament, became more willing to oppose the United States and move in a different direction socially and politically.
In 1981, a government report revealed that Agent Orange, the controversial defoliant, had been tested at CFB Gagetown, in New Brunswick. In June of 1966, the chemical was sprayed over nearly 600 acres of forest inside the base. There are differing opinions regarding the level of toxicity of the site, but as of 2006, the Canadian government says it is planning to compensate some of those who were exposed.
Anne
p.s. NB was was not the only province AO/B/P was tested in.
As you deleted from my above post, the Canadian Government did not send troops to serve in the Vietnam War, as shown above.
As I stated, I find it very sad and an insult to both our own Canadian Forces as well as United States Forces that individuals with supporting Anne Coulter than honoring and respecting the service and lineage of our troops – who are now, again, standing In Harm’s Way for us so that we might live in freedom and liberty.
It is interesting to me that you would delete this and alter the point I was trying to make. This, in itself, speaks to the content of character I was alluding to and does not command respect.
Yous should be asbamed of yourself – particularly with respect to your _knowledge_ of Canadians who served in Vietnam.
Canadian Peacekeepers Associations have no affiliation with Canadian Vietnam Veterans with respect to service in Vietnam or the addition of the names of Canadian Peacekeepers to The North Wall by the Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial Association, in Windsor, Ontario.
Anne
Anne Faulkner – You are being extremely unfair to me, as I have been most generous to include ALL of your postings here at my site. Yes, your last three postings were not really individual posts, but were duplicates (https://kerfuffle.wordpress.com/2006/07/17/ann-coulter-was-right/#comment-220), verbatim copies of Wikipedia material, and therefore I deleted all but the most recent one, which was posted only a few seconds later than the previous two. I innocently assumed that you had inadvertently clicked the “post” button too many times. Why would I allow THREE identical copies of Wikipedia here? Apparently, I was wrong, and your duplicate posts were not a mistake nor oversight on your part, but a deliberate attempt to set me up and criticise me for deleting them.
So be it. Your copying of so much material from Wikipedia under your own name, Anne Faulkner, not once, but three times, borders on plagiarism. “Kerfuffles” is MY blog and I am the final arbiter of what gets published here and I have already been much too generous to your rantings. In addition, I have made genuine efforts to visit pages you have referenced at your website, but many of your pages crash my browser, so I respectfully suggest to you, Anne Faulkner, that your webmaster do some basic work on the html or xhtml, instead of spending time spamming here.
As for your constant statements that Canada had NO involvement in the Vietnam War, take a look at one of your very own web pages which displays front and center a Canadian flag flying from a Vietnam battlefield or encampment: Canadian Government Involvement in Vietnam.
Maam,
The webpage you quote as mine in your last paragraph above, is not “my” webpage and, if you will note, has a different domain. The Canadian Involvement in Vietnam webpage is hosted by a Canadian Vietnam Veteran. I simply helped him with the layout and design of that one page. Hence my name is listed on the bottom, along with another individual. It is not “my” website. I am not a Canadian Vietnam Veteran and do not claim that service.
As for the duplicate posts, those were not my intention and I apologize for that.
For your reference, the definition of “plagiarism” is:
pla‧gia‧rism /ˈpleɪdʒəˌrɪzəm, -dʒiəˌrɪz-/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[pley-juh-riz-uhm, -jee-uh-riz-] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.
2. something used and represented in this manner.
Wikepedia is open source, I have posted the URL to the original article. I see nowhere that I have claimed authorship or represented ownership in any way, shape, sense or form. I have not reworded it, I have done nothing but post the link and the article (which is longer with references and links, btw, if you are interested).
AS you yourself have posted similar quotations from official websites, are you guilty of plagiarism? I think not. No more than I.
I posted it here because it was apparent (possibly incorrectly?, based on your responses to me, that you had not followed any of the links I sent you and I did want you to have an overview of the that history in your concern for the Canadian Vietnam Veteran community with which, in the past, I have had association for a number of years off and on.
Canadian Peacekeepers have no association with respect to service in Vietnam with Canadian Vietnam Veterans.
Anne Coulter was wrong. This is the crux of the difference in inferrence and it is important.
Personally, I do not understand why she herself has not addressed this confusion that she created herself. She is not the only one. And there is a distinct difference between those Canadians who served with United States Forces during the Vietnam War and our Canadian Peacekeepers who were sent to, as you point out, Operation Gallant (for eg.). That was to supervise the “ceasefire” _after_ the end of the war was declared. This is very different, as I am sure you can see, than serving “in the Vietnam War”.
It is simply not the same thing at “all” and does a disservice to both – our Canadians Forces AND Canadian Vietnam Veterans who served “in” the Vietnam War.
These things “matter”.
Anne
Once again, Anne, you have double posted, and once again, I have had to choose one of your posts to delete.
Regarding the McKeown/Coulter exchange at the heart of my posts, at first glance, a fair-minded person would say that both McKeown and Coulter were correct. Ann Coulter said “Canada sent troops to Vietnam,” which was certainly true in 1973, although she was probably thinking of the tens of thousands of Canadians who everyone knows were in service with American forces during the Vietnam era. Bob McKeown said “Canada didn’t send troops to Vietnam.” and if he was meaning the government of Canada, he would have been correct also.
Neither McKeown nor Coulter specified “the Canadian government.” However — Coulter never backed away from her original statement, although she may not have known the circumstances of the Canadian troops being in Vietnam. But McKeown embellished his statement, saying that “Canada … took a pass on Vietnam,” a statement that cannot be accepted by any fair-minded person. A polite person could say that Bob McKeown was ignorant of Canadian history. A more realistic person would say that Bob McKeown, spokesman of the Canadian government’s CBC, was misleading the Canadian people by rewriting history.
As for Ann Coulter, she is not a Canadian and she has never claimed to be a student of Canadian history. She was stating what she believed to be true, and it was. As for Bob McKeown, and other Canadians such as yourself who have condemned Ms. Coulter, you should be more aware of what your country was about during the Vietnam era.
“Canada Took A Pass On Vietnam” — give me a break!
Ahh, I was wondering if you were a Canadian after all of the above. You are not, so now I understand your adamancy about Coulter. Please do not take that comment as an anti-American comment. I love the USA and all I know who served.
However, I must say that, one would think that as a foreign national, you would not presume to dictate our history to us.
This is not a conversation about the truth. This is become what is known as a stitch ‘n b****.
We’re done.
Anne
Anne, I am progeny of Canada, but that is not why “as a foreign national” I speak truth to Canadians of their Vietnam era history. I speak the truth, for if I do not, who will?
I speak truth for it is my birthright and my duty. My freedom to speak was the inheritance from my American patriot ancestors who purchased that freedom for me with their blood, sweat, treasure and toil.
Anne Faulkner – you of all people should know that were it not for “foreign nationals”, there would be no North Wall in Canada. It was not until 1995, that a Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial was placed on Canadian soil and it was the work of three “foreign nationals” from Michigan. The memorial is now known as “The North Wall” and it displays all the names of the Canadians who died in Southeast Asia.
If those “foreign nationals” from Michigan had not reminded you Canadians of your own history and your own fallen warriors, which Canadian would have?
There names were Ed Johnson, Rick Gidner (?sp) .. re: the Michigan vets (The Michigan Association of Concerned Veterans) – and I can’t off the top of my head remember all their names but I do remember and know that they morgaged their houses in order to make The North Wall Memorial possible in Remembrance of those Canadians who were KIA/MIA while serving with United States Forces during the Vietnam War.
The North Wall Memorial link that you have in your post above
(link removed at request of poster)
is a page I host on (link removed at request of poster). You are using I webpage I designed right after the North Wall in Windsor was vandalized.
Further to this blog, I, yesterday, added a note to the Homepage – the URL you are quoting – with respect to the service of Canadian Forces/Peacekeepers as relates to service In the Vietnam War as I was asked to do last year. I had not done it, but rather ensured that it was listed with a US Flag on the Simply Southeast Asia homepage, rather than a Canadian flag.
Apparently, it has become necessary. Sadly.
Anne
p.s.: You mgith also be interested to visit the “Vietnam Veterans ‘Empty Chairs’ Memorial, and see the names of the Canadians who served with US Forces in Vietnam, as submitted by a Canadian Veteran who was very and committed to the cause.
(link removed at request of poster)
As for these “foreign nationals” from Michigan, I have met them, and it was an honor to do so.
None of the above alters the fact that Canadian Forces did not service “in” the Vietnam War.
Anne
webmistress:
Simply Southeast Asia
(link removed at request of poster)
Relevant Links to this Blog
The North Wall, Canadian Vietnam Veterans Memorial
(link removed at request of poster)
Vietnam Veterans Empty Chairs Memorial
(link removed at request of poster)
by the way,
I am Canadian, UEL stock with history in service from family back to the Civil War as physicians/nurses.
(link removed at request of poster)
Still doesn’t mean that Canadian Forces served “in” the Vietnam War.
It’s funny, I’m sure you’ll agree. Honestly you are using webapges I designed and host – and have for years now – to validate telling me that I don’t know what I’m talking about.
That’s what I meant about your research. You are preaching to the choir.
Anne
by the way,
I am Canadian too.
(link removed at request of poster)
Still doesn’t mean that Canadian Forces served “in” the Vietnam War.
It’s funny, I’m sure you’ll agree. Honestly you are using webapges I designed and host – and have for years now – to validate telling me that I don’t know what I’m talking about.
That’s what I meant about your research. If you like, I can leave you a personal note on the The North Wall website that you are quoting above in your post. ????? like..
Hi Neddy! Do you understand me now????
leave it up for 24 h.
I do want to say that I respect your feelings for the Canadian Vietnam Veteran community _at large_. I share them.
Anne
I have one comment about the testing of “Agent Orange and Agent Purple and Agent White” at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, NewBrunswick.
It was at the invite of the Canadian Government that the US military came to CFB Gagetown and they(US) tested their herbicides in June 1966 and June 1967.
They enlisted the help of Canadian Soldiers as markers.
They were “covered from head to toe in these agents” as the planes dumped their poisons.
The Canadian Government was already spraying CFB Gagetown with 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and Tordon 101 with picloram from 1956 until 1984.
Agent Orange was made in Elmira, Ontario for use by the US military in Vietnam.
There have been Canadian Soldiers that have received disablitily pensions for their exposure to Agent Orange while in Vietnam.
A Canadian,
born to a Canadian Soldier
while he was posted to
CFB Gagetown for the years
of ALL spraying.
Both US agents and Cdn. agents.
Thank You
Nancy Belfry
Canada was involved in the Vietnam War even before America was. Here is a link to the CBC’s documentary about it.
But I suppose /b/ tards don’t care about facts…
http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/vietnam_war/topics/1413/
War is peace. Death is life. Long live death.
Being “involved” behind the scenes with helping other countries in the Vietnam War is utterly different from directly fighting on the ground in battle with troops, which is what Ann Coulter obviously meant by “sent troops to Vietnam”. Anyone who saw the interview would know that. ‘Canada’ as a nation state (what else would both Coulter and Mckowen have meant by the word ‘Canada’?)did not send troops (i.e. combatants) to Vietnam. Period. End of story.