The
"Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the
Vietnam Veterans Against the WarVietnam Veterans Against the War is a tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War. VVAW describes itself as a national veterans' organization that campaigns for peace, justice, and the rights of all United States military veterans...
from January 31, 1971 – February 2, 1971. It was intended to publicize
war crime.War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war"; including "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave labor camps", "the murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war", the killing of hostages, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns...
s and atrocities by the
United States Armed ForcesThe United States armed forces are the overall unified military forces of the United States.The history of the United States armed forces dates to 1775, even before the Declaration of Independence marked the establishment of the United States...
and their allies in the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
. The VVAW challenged the morality and conduct of the war by showing the direct relationship between military policies and war crimes in Vietnam. The three-day gathering of 109
veteranA war veteran is a person who has or is serving in the armed forces, or a person who has had long service or experience in an occupation or office....
s and 16 civilians took place in
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
,
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. Discharged servicemen from each branch of military service, as well as civilian contractors, medical personnel and academics, all gave testimony about war crimes they had committed or witnessed during the years of 1963–1970.
With the exception of
Pacifica RadioPacifica Radio is the oldest public radio network in the United States. It is a network of over 100 affiliated stations and five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations that is known for its liberal and progressive political orientation. Many other U.S. and...
, the event was not covered extensively outside Detroit. However, several journalists and a film crew recorded the event, and a
documentary filmDocumentary film is a broad category of visual expressions that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and digital productions that can...
called
Winter SoldierWinter Soldier is a 1972 documentary film chronicling the Winter Soldier Investigation which took place in Detroit, Michigan, from January 31 to February 2, 1971. The film documents the accounts of United States soldiers who returned from Vietnam, and participated in this war crimes hearing.The...
was released in 1972. A
complete transcript was later entered into the
Congressional RecordThe Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks...
by Senator
Mark HatfieldMark Odom Hatfield is an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. A native Oregonian, he served in the United States Navy in the Pacific...
, and discussed in the Fulbright Hearings in April and May 1971, convened by Senator
J. William FulbrightJames William Fulbright was a United States Senator representing Arkansas from 1945 to 1975.Fulbright was a Southern Democrat and a staunch multilateralist, supported the creation of the United Nations and opposed the House Un-American Activities Committee...
, chair of the
United States Senate Committee on Foreign RelationsThe United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It is charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. The Foreign Relations Committee is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid programs as...
.
Background
Prompted by numerous investigations into war crimes such as the
Russell TribunalThe Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal or Russell-Sartre Tribunal, was a public body organized by British philosopher Bertrand Russell and hosted by French philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre...
,
National Veterans InquiryThe National Veterans Inquiry was a national-level inquiry into American war crimes in Vietnam. They were held December 1 - December 3, 1970 in Washington, DC.-Origin:...
and
Citizens Commission of InquiryThe Citizens Commission of Inquiry into United States War Crimes in Indochina was formed in 1969 by Tod Ensign and Jeremy Rifkin to document warcrimes in Indochina. The formation of the organization was encouraged by the Bertrand Russell Foundation in New York, and hastened by the disclosure of...
(CCI), the
Vietnam Veterans Against the WarVietnam Veterans Against the War is a tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War. VVAW describes itself as a national veterans' organization that campaigns for peace, justice, and the rights of all United States military veterans...
wanted to have a large scale public hearing. With the courts martial for the
My Lai MassacreThe My Lai Massacre was the mass murder conducted by a unit of the U.S. Army on March 16, 1968 of 347 to 504 unarmed citizens in South Vietnam, all of whom were civilians and a majority of whom were women, children, and elderly people....
making front page news, and the recent disclosure by members of the CIA's
Phoenix ProgramThe Phoenix Program was a military, intelligence, and internal security program designed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and coordinated and executed by Republic of Vietnam's security apparatus and US Special Operations Forces such as the Navy SEALs, United States Army Special...
of its record of alleged human rights violations, the VVAW was determined to expose a broad pattern of war crimes in Vietnam. The Winter Soldier Investigation (WSI) was intended to prove that incidents like My Lai were not isolated and rare occurrences, but were instead the frequent and predictable result of official American war policy.
Organizers
The groundwork for what would become the Winter Soldier Investigation was laid by
Jeremy RifkinJeremy Rifkin , founder and president of the and creator of the , is an American economist, writer, public speaker and activist who seeks to shape public policy in the United States and globally....
,
Tod EnsignTod Ensign, an American veteran's rights lawyer, is the Director of Citizen Soldier, a non-profit GI and veterans rights advocacy group based in New York City...
, Michael Uhl and
Bob JohnsonBob Johnson may refer to:*Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television*Bob Johnson *Bob Johnson *Dr. Bob Johnson aka Robert J. Johnson, U.S...
of the
(CCI)The Citizens Commission of Inquiry into United States War Crimes in Indochina was formed in 1969 by Tod Ensign and Jeremy Rifkin to document warcrimes in Indochina. The formation of the organization was encouraged by the Bertrand Russell Foundation in New York, and hastened by the disclosure of...
. In search of first-hand information on war crimes, they contacted the
Vietnam Veterans Against the WarVietnam Veterans Against the War is a tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War. VVAW describes itself as a national veterans' organization that campaigns for peace, justice, and the rights of all United States military veterans...
and gained the support of VVAW co-founder Jan Crumb. During the summer of 1970, the CCI were approached by
Al HubbardAlfred H. Hubbard is a U.S. Air Force veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam wars, anti-war and civil rights activist, former executive secretary of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and poet....
who had become a full-time organizer with VVAW. Hubbard suggested that CCI combine their efforts with
Jane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, excluding a 15 year hiatus, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several...
, Rev. Dick Fernandez of Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam (CALCAV),
Mark LaneMark Lane is a U.S attorney and author of many books, including the bestseller, Rush to Judgment. This book was one of two major books published in the immediate wake of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that questioned the conclusions of the Warren Commission...
and
Donald DuncanDonald F. Duncan, Sr. was an American entrepreneur and inventor and founder of the Duncan Toys Company.Donald Duncan is most commonly associated with the Yo-Yo, the commercial success they enjoyed during the 20th century in the United States and the world being largely the result of his marketing...
(who had previously testified at the
Russell TribunalThe Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal or Russell-Sartre Tribunal, was a public body organized by British philosopher Bertrand Russell and hosted by French philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre...
in
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
). An initial steering committee was formed, consisting of Duncan, Ensign, Fonda, Lane, Hubbard, Rifkin, and Fernandez, and continued to organize the WSI through September, 1970.
Among the growing collective of organizers, differences of opinion and direction arose concerning the planned public event. VVAW leaders felt it should be an all-veteran event, to maintain its credibility. Less than three months into planning for the Winter Soldier Investigation, most of the Vietnam veteran organizers and Jeremy Rifkin had become adamant that WSI disassociate itself from Mark Lane. CCI staffers criticized Lane as being arrogant and sensationalistic, and said the book he was writing had "shoddy reporting in it." The CCI leaders refused to work with Lane further and gave the VVAW leaders a "Lane or us" ultimatum. VVAW didn't want to lose the monetary support of Lane and Fonda, so the CCI split from the project. The following month, after caustic reviews of Lane's book by authors and a Vietnam expert, VVAW would also distance itself from Lane just one month before the event. Lane had recently published a book,
Conversations with Americans, in which Lane relied on unverified interviews with thirty three servicemen, four of which were later exposed as unreliable by
Neil SheehanCornelius Mahoney "Neil" Sheehan is an American journalist.As a reporter for The New York Times in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg. His series in the Times revealed a secret U.S. Department of Defense history of the Vietnam War and resulted in government...
in a New York Times book review. Leaders of VVAW feared involvement with Lane would tarnish the credibility of the WSI. A new steering committee was created without Lane, but he was allowed to continue with fundraising events and was available for legal counsel. The new six-member steering committee for WSI was composed of three national office leaders (Al Hubbard, Craig Scott Moore, and Mike Oliver) and three members of the growing list of chapters (Art Flesch, Tim Butz, and William F. Crandell). Organizers hoped Lane would keep a low profile during the event, and he did, as he spent his time flying around the country defending his book. Ultimately, the WSI was an event produced by veterans only, without the need of "so-called experts" such as Lane and Fonda.
After the organizers of the national hearings separated into two groups, they each developed their own events. The CCI advanced its plans for a December event in Washington, DC, while the WSI's new organizers continued with the original plan to hold its hearings in
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
. The Washington, DC, event would be called The
National Veterans InquiryThe National Veterans Inquiry was a national-level inquiry into American war crimes in Vietnam. They were held December 1 - December 3, 1970 in Washington, DC.-Origin:...
. The
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
event would be called the Winter Soldier Investigation. Seven of the 142 total participants would provide testimony at both events.
The support of antiwar celebrities was considered crucial to generate both money and publicity. A series of benefit productions,
"Acting in Concert for Peace," were created and featured performances by
Jane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou and, excluding a 15 year hiatus, has appeared in films ever since. She has won two Academy Awards and received several...
,
Dick GregoryDick Gregory is an American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, and entrepreneur....
,
Donald SutherlandDonald McNicol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian character actor with a film career spanning over 50 years. He is currently working in the American television series, Dirty Sexy Money. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, in...
, and
Barbara DaneBarbara Dane is an American folk, blues, and jazz singer.Esteemed jazz critic Leonard Feather praised Dane, who was one of Joan Baez' favorite performers. Mary Travers sounded very similar to the influential Dane, whom Albert Grossman initially considered for the female slot in the trio that...
. Two concerts by
CrosbyDavid Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds; Crosby, Stills & Nash, which is sometimes augmented with Neil Young; and CPR. Crosby is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work in the Byrds and...
and
NashGraham William Nash is a British singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer.- Music career...
, as well as folk singer
Phil OchsPhilip David Ochs was a U.S. protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
, also raised funds.
The WSI also relied on considerable support from the Detroit community. Dean Robb and Ernie Goodman solicited donations from their fellow local attorneys, and several clergymen arranged housing for the witnesses. In the words of the Director of Missions for the
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
Metropolitan Council of Churches, Dr. John B Forsyth, "It is important that the public realize that American atrocities in Vietnam are an every day occurrence." The Secretary-Treasurer for the
United Auto WorkersThe International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico...
, Emil Mazey and
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
Secretary of State Richard Austin also helped raise funds for the event.
http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Texts/Narrative/Crandell_Winter.html
Purpose
The purpose of the Winter Soldier Investigation was to show that American policies in Vietnam had led to war crimes. In the words of one participant veteran, Donald Dzagulones,
"We gathered not to sensationalize our service but to decry the travesty that was Lt. William CalleyWilliam Laws Calley is a convicted American war criminal. He was the U.S. Army officer found guilty of ordering the My Lai Massacre on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War.-Early life:...
's trial for the My Lai MassacreThe My Lai Massacre was the mass murder conducted by a unit of the U.S. Army on March 16, 1968 of 347 to 504 unarmed citizens in South Vietnam, all of whom were civilians and a majority of whom were women, children, and elderly people....
. The U.S. had established the principle of culpabilityCommand responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes....
with the Nuremberg trialsThe Nuremberg trials were a series of trials, or tribunals, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after its defeat in World War II....
of the Nazis. Following those principles, we held that if Calley were responsible, so were his superiors up the chain of command — even to the president. The causes of My Lai and the brutality of the Vietnam War were rooted in the policies of our government as executed by our military commanders."
The name "Winter Soldier Investigation" was proposed by
Mark LaneMark Lane is a U.S attorney and author of many books, including the bestseller, Rush to Judgment. This book was one of two major books published in the immediate wake of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that questioned the conclusions of the Warren Commission...
, and was derived from
Thomas PaineThomas Paine was an author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Born in England, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution...
's first Crisis paper, written in December 1776. When future Senator
John KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, and is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee....
, then a decorated Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve (Inactive), later spoke before a Senate Committee, he explained,
"We who have come here to Washington have come here because we feel we have to be winter soldiers now. We could come back to this country; we could be quiet; we could hold our silence; we could not tell what went on in Vietnam, but we feel because of what threatens this country, the fact that the crimes threaten it, not reds, and not redcoats but the crimes which we are committing that threaten it, that we have to speak out.
Planning
The collecting of testimony from veterans had begun under the auspice of the Citizens Commission of Inquiry the previous year, and it took almost two months of on-site planning in
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
to organize the conference. Detroit was proposed by Fonda because of its central location in the American heartland, and the "blue-collar" social status of most of the residents. The steering committee set up a collective in a house on the industrial east side of Detroit with the help of Catholic antiwar activists; and five clergymen of different denominations, including the director of missions for the Detroit Metropolitan Council of Churches, offered housing for the witnesses.
The program consisted primarily of testimony, with 109 Vietnam veterans to appear on panels arranged by unit so they could corroborate each other's reports. Grouping these veterans by unit would also help to establish that events and practices to which they testified were unit-wide policy, and not just random and rare occurrences. Several civilian experts who had been to Vietnam were also to speak during this event. Arrangements had been made to include the testimony of several expatriated Vietnamese students residing in Canada, but they were denied visas to the United States by the Canadian government.
Organizers also investigated the legal implications of veterans publicly admitting to criminal acts which they had witnessed or participated in. With legal advice from the
Center for Constitutional RightsThe Center for Constitutional Rights is a non-profit legal advocacy organization based in New York City, New York, U.S., co-founded in 1966 by self-described "radical lawyer" William Kunstler...
, the organizers were assured that the armed forces could not charge or try veterans for crimes committed while they were on active duty. The veterans giving testimony were also instructed not to reveal the specific names of others involved in war crimes. The goal of these hearings was not to indict individual soldiers, but instead to expose the frequency of criminal behavior and its relationship to U.S. war policy.
Credibility of the veterans and their testimony
Since the first day of the WSI event and for more than thirty years since, individuals and organizations have sought to discredit or at least minimize the painful revelations brought forth at that event. Critics have claimed that participants were frauds; that they were told to not cooperate with later investigators; that their testimonies were inaccurate or just plain fabricated. To date, no records of fraudulent participants or fraudulent testimony have been produced.
Verifying the participants
The organizers of the Winter Soldier Investigation took several steps to guarantee the validity of the participants. Each veteran's authenticity was checked before the hearings by the investigation event organizers, and subsequently by reporters and Pentagon officials. In addition, they also gave specific details about their units and the locations where the events had occurred. Those who wanted to testify were carefully screened by the officers of VVAW, and care was taken to verify the service records and testimony of the veterans. After the severe criticism of the accuracy of Mark Lane's book about atrocities a month before the event, the organizers of the Winter Soldier Investigation made the credibility of the participants a top priority. As noted by one VVAW leader, "The lesson is that we'd better do our work right. We'd better talk to these vets and weed out the bullshitters so that we can't get set up, because we're going to come under attack. We're going to do this right." All veterans participating in Winter Soldier were required to bring their discharge papers (DD-214's) and IDs.
The identifying military affiliation of each veteran testifying, including in almost all cases, the dates of service, appears on the roster for each panel that was included with the testimony in the Congressional Record.
http://lists.village.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Winter_Soldier/WS_entry.html
Verifying the testimony
The organizers had two primary concerns when considering the testimony they would use. They wanted testimony that wouldn't allow the scapegoating of individuals when they were attempting to show what was being done in Vietnam was due to policy, not decisions by individual GIs. They also wanted the testimony to be accurate, and double and sometimes triple confirmed by others in the same units. Specific sets of questions were drafted by experienced combat vets to help verify that participants were not fabricating their stories or faking their knowledge, and that only the strongest testimony was used.
According to Army reports compiled by the Criminal Investigation Command (
CIDThe United States Army Criminal Investigation Command is a federal law enforcement agency that investigates serious crimes and violations of civilian and military law within the United States Army. Since 2003 it reports to the Provost Marshal General.Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, it...
) and later reported by the
Village Voice following declassification, the Army found the allegations made by 46 veterans at the hearings to merit further inquiry. As of March 1972, the CID reported successfully locating 36 of the people who had testified, 31 of whom submitted to interviews.
One WSI participant, Jamie Henry, had reported the massacre he described at the hearings to the Army, which investigated and subsequently confirmed his story. However, the details of the investigation were not made public until 2006, when the Los Angeles Times published the declassified information.
Attempts to discredit the WSI
Months before the WSI event, the organizers anticipated heavy scrutiny and attacks on their credibility, and they prepared for it. Although military documentation was provided, some media organizations such as the
Detroit News tried to discredit the hearings on the very first day of testimony by questioning the authenticity of the 109 testifying veterans. Discharge papers were examined; military records were checked against
the PentagonThe United States Department of Defense is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military...
records; after all their digging, not one fraudulent veteran was found. The Detroit Free Press reported daily of participants that had been confirmed by
the PentagonThe Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself....
as veterans.
As noted in VVAW records, each veteran's authenticity and testimony were also checked shortly after the hearings by Nixon's "
plumbersThe White House Plumbers, sometimes simply called the Plumbers, were a covert White House Special Investigations Unit established July 24, 1971 during the presidency of Richard Nixon. Its task was to stop the leaking of classified information to the news media...
."
Charles ColsonCharles "Chuck" Wendell Colson was the Special Counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973....
was assigned the task. In a confidential "Plan to Counteract Viet Nam Veterans Against the War," Colson wrote, "The men that participated in the pseudo-atrocity hearings in Detroit will be checked to ascertain if they are genuine combat veterans." At one point, the Nixon team suggested in a memo about VVAW, "Several of their regional coordinators are former Kennedy supporters." VVAW was also targeted by the
FBIThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency. The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
for observation as a possible dissident organization.
The Nixon administration also attempted to rally pro-war veterans to counter VVAW. "What happened to the president's request that we take steps to mobilize veterans?" demanded White House Chief of Staff H.R. Halderman to Colson just a few weeks after the WSI. "The President should know that we are continuing the effort to discredit VVAW," Colson assured Halderman. Nixon aides formed the
Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, according to Colson, as a "counterfoil" to Kerry and the VVAW, and they did everything they could to boost the group. John O'Neill, representing this group, made public appearances denouncing the antiwar veterans and promoting Nixon's Vietnamization policy. According to White House memos, Colson worked behind the scenes to get a Kerry-O'Neill debate on nationwide television. "Let's destroy this young demagogue before he becomes another Ralph Nader," he wrote, referring to Kerry.
Seven years after the hearings, writer
Guenter LewyGuenter Lewy is an author and political scientist who is a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts. His works span several topics, but he is most often associated with his 1978 book on the Vietnam War, America in Vietnam, and several controversial works that deal with the...
claimed in his book,
America in Vietnam, that allegations against Marines were investigated by the
Naval Investigative ServiceThe Naval Criminal Investigative Service is the United States Department of the Navy's primary security, counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, and law enforcement agency and successor to the former Naval Investigative Service .Roughly half of the 2,400 NCIS employees are civilian special agents...
. Lewy wrote that the report stated that some veterans contacted by the NIS said they did not attend the WSI hearing in Detroit or had never been to Detroit, and many refused to be interviewed. However, government officials have no record of the report, and no other historian has seen it. Lewy later said that he could not recall if he had actually seen the alleged report or simply been told of its contents. An excerpt from Guenter Lewy's book,
America in Vietnam, is in
Wikiquote.
More than 30 years after the Winter Soldier Investigation, during the 2004 presidential campaign in which former VVAW spokesman John Kerry was a candidate, the WSI was again in the news. Steve Pitkin, a participant at the investigation in 1971, now made statements in an
affidavitAn affidavit is a formal sworn statement of fact, signed by the author, who is called the affiant or deponent, and witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public or commissioner of oaths. The name is Medieval Latin for he has declared upon...
claiming that he was not originally planning to testify at the WSI. He now claims he was pressured by Kerry and others into testifying about rape, brutality, atrocities and racism. Pitkin repeated these claims at an anti-Kerry political rally just weeks before the presidential election. On film footage of the WSI panel, Pitkin criticized the press for its coverage of the war, and detailed what he considered poor training for combat in Vietnam, and low morale he claimed to have witnessed while there. Although he introduced himself by saying, "I'll testify about the beating of civilians and enemy personnel, destruction of villages, indiscriminate use of artillery, the general racism and the attitude of the American GI toward the Vietnamese," his actual testimony contained no such statements.
Upon hearing of these statements by Pitkin, another participant named
Scott CamilScott Camil is a noted political activist. He first gained prominence as an opponent of the Vietnam War, as a witness in the Winter Soldier Investigation and a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War....
filed his own affidavit refuting Pitkin's statements. Pitkin has subsequently admitted his recollections were flawed, and has re-issued a second affidavit now reflecting a different date of discharge from the Army, different people traveling with him to the Winter Soldier event, and different circumstances under which he joined the VVAW.
Fritz Efaw, a Chapter Representative of VVAW, stated: "The claims that the WSI hearings contained falsified testimony from men who were not veterans is an old one, and it's definitely false. The testimony was startling even at the time it took place: startling to the general public, startling to the military and the Nixon administration, and startling to those who participated because each of them knew a piece of the story, but the hearings brought a great many of them together for the first time and provided a venue in which they could be heard for the first time. It's hardly surprising that those on the other side would set out almost immediately to discredit them."
The U.S. participation in the Vietnam conflict was the source of much deeply divided sentiment among Americans. The Winter Soldier Investigation produced a conglomerate of testimony resulting in the implication and indictment of American leadership in criminal conduct, and thereby further drove a wedge between proponents and opponents of the war.
Winter Soldier panels
See Opening statement excerpt in wikiquote
The three days of testimony was presented by unit:
- Sunday, January 31st, there were speakers from the 1st Marine Division, 3rd Marine Division, and 1st Air Cavalry Division
- Monday, February 1st, from the 101st Airborne Division and 5th Special Forces
- Tuesday, February 2nd, from the 25th Infantry Division, 1st Infantry Division, 4th Infantry Division, 9th Infantry Division
The 9th Infantry Division was created as the 9th Division during World War I, but never deployed overseas. Later, the division was an important unit of the United States Army in World War II and the Vietnam War...
, and Lieutenant Calley's Americal Division
Other veterans testified to the treatment they received when held captive as POWs by the NLF. In contrast to accounts of mistreatment described by prisoners of the
NVANVA is a three-letter acronym for:*National People's Army, or Nationale Volksarmee, the army of former East Germany*Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, a Flemish political party also known as New-Flemish Alliance*NVA...
in the north, the former prisoners speaking at the WSI said they were never physically abused, except for some rough handling during their capture. The NLF provided enough food and medical attention to sustain them, and in the particular case of Sgt. George E. Smith, he claims "I usually had more food than I could eat," although he would often grow ill from intolerance. Smith admitted fearing for his life when he heard Hanoi Radio broadcasts saying NLF soldiers were being executed in Saigon, and the NLF was promising to execute Americans in retaliation. Shortly afterward, two American prisoners held in the same camp with Smith are believed to have been executed in reprisal. At a press conference when Smith was released after two years as a POW, he made statements in support of the NLF and against US involvement in Vietnam, and immediately faced court-martial charges for violation of Article 104 of the
Uniform Code of Military JusticeThe Uniform Code of Military Justice , is the foundation of military law in the United States. The UCMJ applies to all members of the Uniformed services of the United States: the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps,...
(aiding the enemy). The charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence, and five years later at the WSI, Smith says he still stands by his statements.
http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/s/s169.htmhttp://www.taskforceomegainc.org/m157.htmlhttp://www3.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Winter_Soldier/WS_23_POW.html
In addition to the testimony panels, the veterans also held open discussions on related subjects such as "What We Are Doing to Vietnam," "What We Are Doing to Ourselves," violations of international law, Prisoners of War, racism in the military, and also press censorship. Dr. Bert Pfeiffer of the University of Montana presented the first public testimony about the potential toxicity and health effects of the chemical
Agent OrangeAgent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War...
. A special panel of psychiatrists was convened, many of whom had served in Vietnam, to discuss the impact of the war on American society. Midway through the hearings, the organizers insisted that no one make statements on behalf of the Vietnam veterans except for vets. It was presumed by reporters that this was to separate the participation of veterans from that of people like Mark Lane.
Testimony from veterans
Testimony given during the three day event covered both broad policy concerns, such as the use of chemical agents, indiscriminate bombing, and
free-fire zoneA free-fire zone in U.S. military parlance is a fire control measure, used for coordination between adjacent combat units. The definition used in the Vietnam war by US troops may be found in field manual FM 6-20:- Free fire zones in the Vietnam conflict :...
s as well as more specific and unusual war crime incidents, including rape, torture and desecration of the dead. The testifying veterans were usually grouped by branch of military service, and geographic location of service. Before launching into their detailed testimony, each gave a brief statement of personal information including rank, division, unit, length of service and a summary of what their testimony would cover. While only 109 veterans gave testimony, over 700 veterans attended the hearing. Excerpts from the testimony transcripts:
- Stephen Craig: "...My testimony covers the maltreatment of prisoners, the suspects actually, and a convoy running down an old woman with no reason at all..."
- Rusty Sachs: "...my testimony concerns the leveling of villages for no valid reason, throwing Viet Cong suspects from the aircraft after binding them and gagging them with copper wire..."
- Scott Camil
Scott Camil is a noted political activist. He first gained prominence as an opponent of the Vietnam War, as a witness in the Winter Soldier Investigation and a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War....
: "...My testimony involves burning of villages with civilians in them, the cutting off of ears, cutting off of heads, torturing of prisoners, calling in of artillery on villages for games, corpsmen killing wounded prisoners..."
- Kenneth Campbell: "...My testimony will consist of eyewitnessing and participating in the calling in of artillery on undefended villages, mutilation of bodies, killing of civilians, mistreatment of civilians..."
- Fred Nienke: "...My testimony includes killing of non-combatants, destruction of Vietnamese property and livestock, use of chemical agents and the use of torture in interpreting prisoners..."
After giving their brief initial statements, a moderator had each of them elaborate upon their testimony, and then the press and observers were given time to ask questions of the veterans.
Laos operation revealed
The previously secret two-week U.S. penetration into Laos in February, 1969, which was part of
Operation Dewey CanyonOperation Dewey Canyon was the last major offensive by the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. It took place from January 22 through March 18, 1969 and involved a sweep of the North Vietnamese Army -dominated A Shau Valley by the 9th Marine Regiment reinforced by elements of the 3rd...
(primarily taking place in
South VietnamSouth Vietnam refers to a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the State of Vietnam and later as the “Republic of Vietnam” . Its capital was Saigon...
at the time), became a controversial subject at this event since
the PentagonThe Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself....
had only days before denied that any American troops had crossed the Laotian border and carried out military operations. Five veterans from the Third Marine regiment who had returned from the war were present at the WSI and refuted the claims of the Pentagon. They described their secret operations in Laos and also revealed that they were given meticulous orders to hide the fact that they were American including, but not limited to, the removal of identification from uniforms and switching to Russian arms that were typically used by the NVA. They were also ordered to deny all knowledge of involvement of American troops in Laos. A Marine Corps spokesman persisted in issuing a statement at the WSI saying, "no platoons or any large number of Marines ever crossed the border." This quickly prompted investigations by American media such as the
Detroit Free PressThe Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
,
St. Louis Post-DispatchThe St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri as far south as...
and the
Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993. Its chief print rival is the Boston Herald....
which were successful in turning up testimonies from other veterans that they had crossed into Laos throughout a 16 month period extending through all of 1971, well past the enactment of the
Cooper-Church AmendmentThe Cooper-Church Amendment was introduced in the United States Senate during the Vietnam War. The proposal of the amendment was the first time that Congress had restricted the deployment of troops during a war against the wishes of the president....
forbidding such actions (Cooper-Church came into effect in January 1971). On March 27, 1974, Senator Harold Hughes informed the Senate that several witnesses had testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee about U.S. combat forces entering Laos and Cambodia after they were forbidden to do so. Department of Defense white papers revealed thirteen platoon-sized operations in Laos between January 1971 and April 1972.
Winter Soldier results
Immediately following the WSI, Senator
George McGovernGeorge Stanley McGovern is a former United States Representative, Senator, and Democratic presidential nominee. McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election in a landslide to Richard Nixon. As a decorated World War II combat veteran, McGovern was known for his opposition to the Vietnam...
and Representative
John ConyersJohn Conyers, Jr. is a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Michigan's 14th congressional district, which includes most of northwestern Detroit, as well as Highland Park, Hamtramck and part of Dearborn. A Democrat, he has served since 1965...
announced that they were calling for congressional investigations based on the testimony. This announcement was received with skepticism by the veterans, but VVAW representatives agreed to meet with McGovern and Conyers.
Senator Hatfield's Address to Congress
On Monday, April 5, 1971, Senator
Mark HatfieldMark Odom Hatfield is an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. A native Oregonian, he served in the United States Navy in the Pacific...
of
OregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
addressed the WSI allegation made in Detroit that war crimes were the result of military policy and racism was widespread in the armed forces. Hatfield noted that some of these allegations, specifically of war crimes, would place the United States in violation of the Geneva Convention and international laws of war.
Senator Hatfield made several recommendations. He asked that a transcript of the Winter Soldier Investigation be read into the Congressional record and made available to the public. Hatfield also asked congress to hold hearings discussing the use of military force in Vietnam and their relation to international agreements our country has ratified. He sent the testimony to the Department of Defense, the Department of State asked Marine Commandant,
Leonard F. Chapman, Jr.Leonard Fielding Chapman, Jr. was the 24th Commandant of the Marine Corps and served in that capacity from 1968 to 1972. He was World War II combat veteran — being decorated for his actions in the Battle of Peleliu and the Battle of Okinawa. He retired from the Marine Corps after 37 years...
, to investigate the allegations. He recommended consideration be given to forming a special commission that would look into these issues and provide a forum to determine the moral consequences of American involvement in Vietnam.
Media coverage
Mainstream media all but ignored the Winter Soldier Investigation. The East Coast papers refused to cover the hearings, other than a
New York Times story a week later. The local field reporter for the
Times, Jerry M. Flint, commented with disinterest, "this stuff happens in all wars." In a February 7, 1971 article he wrote that "much of what they said had been reported or televised before, even from Vietnam. What was different here was the number of veterans present." Several of the VVAW representatives speculated that there was an "official censorship blackout," and they would express this theory later in their newsletter.
A few articles that were sympathetic to the veterans appeared in lesser-known publications, and
Pacifica RadioPacifica Radio is the oldest public radio network in the United States. It is a network of over 100 affiliated stations and five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations that is known for its liberal and progressive political orientation. Many other U.S. and...
, known for its left-wing perspective, gave the event considerable coverage. The CBS television crew that showed up were impressed, but only three minutes made it to the nightly news on the first night—three minutes that were "mostly irrelevant to the subject," according to VVAW.
The
Detroit Free PressThe Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
printed several stories about the event, including comments from the military. This included confirmation by the Pentagon that WSI participants investigated by reporters were indeed Vietnam veterans. The Pentagons denials of large scale U.S. activity in Laos was reported as well, until reporters learned from several marines not involved with WSI that operations in Laos had been conducted.
The words of the participants have been permanently recorded in the Congressional Record. Portions of the testimony, as well as some photos of the event, appear in a book produced by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and
John KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, and is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee....
entitled
The New Soldier.
In addition, film footage of the event, as well as some pre-event and post-event footage, and commentary can be found in
Winter Soldier: A film /
Winterfilm CollectiveThe Winterfilm Collective consisted of: Fred Aranow, Nancy Baker, Joe Bangert, Rhetta Barron, Robert Fiore, David Gillis, David Grubin, Jeff Holstein, Barbara Jarvis, Al Kaupas, Barbara Kopple, Mark Lenix, Michael Lesser, Nancy Miller, Lee Osborne, Lucy Massie Phenix, Roger Phenix, Benay...
in association with
Vietnam Veterans Against the WarVietnam Veterans Against the War is a tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War. VVAW describes itself as a national veterans' organization that campaigns for peace, justice, and the rights of all United States military veterans...
. Winterfilm, Inc., 1972.
- Film version: 1972, B&W, 16mm, 93min.
- Videotape: 1992, B&W with some color, 110 or 130 minutes
- The Winterfilm Collective
The Winterfilm Collective consisted of: Fred Aranow, Nancy Baker, Joe Bangert, Rhetta Barron, Robert Fiore, David Gillis, David Grubin, Jeff Holstein, Barbara Jarvis, Al Kaupas, Barbara Kopple, Mark Lenix, Michael Lesser, Nancy Miller, Lee Osborne, Lucy Massie Phenix, Roger Phenix, Benay...
consisted of: Fred Aranow, Nancy Baker, Joe Bangert, Rhetta Barron, Robert Fiore, David Gillis, David GrubinDavid Grubin is an American documentary filmmaker, who has produced and directed numerous films, many of which are best-known from airing on PBS.-Filmography:*The Great Air Race of 1924 *LBJ *FDR...
, Jeff Holstein, Barbara Jarvis, Al Kaupas, Barbara KoppleBarbara Kopple is an American film director, primarily known for her work in documentary film. She has won two Academy Awards, the first in 1976 for Harlan County, USA, about a Kentucky miners' strike, and the second in 1991 for...
, Mark Lenix, Michael Lesser, Nancy Miller, Lee Osborne, Lucy Massie Phenix, Roger Phenix, Benay Rubenstein, Michael Weil.
A documentary film of the event, called
Winter SoldierWinter Soldier is a 1972 documentary film chronicling the Winter Soldier Investigation which took place in Detroit, Michigan, from January 31 to February 2, 1971. The film documents the accounts of United States soldiers who returned from Vietnam, and participated in this war crimes hearing.The...
, was first released in February, 1972 at the Cinema 2 theater in the Whitney Museum in Manhattan, New York. In May, 1972 it was reviewed at the Berlin and
Cannes Film FestivalThe Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.The 62nd edition started 13 May and ended 24 May 2009...
s. Due to the disturbing nature of the subject matter about an ongoing war, it got little distribution and support at that time and had been archived by its creators, collectively called the
Winterfilm CollectiveThe Winterfilm Collective consisted of: Fred Aranow, Nancy Baker, Joe Bangert, Rhetta Barron, Robert Fiore, David Gillis, David Grubin, Jeff Holstein, Barbara Jarvis, Al Kaupas, Barbara Kopple, Mark Lenix, Michael Lesser, Nancy Miller, Lee Osborne, Lucy Massie Phenix, Roger Phenix, Benay...
. In September, 2005, it was re-released across the U.S. in small
art houseAn art film is typically a serious, noncommercial, independently made film or a foreign language film that may have these qualities, but may have been made by a major company in its home territory and achieved popular success...
theatres. Most of the media reviews have regarded the film positively, with some calling it a "powerful" and "emotional" record of the era.
http://www.wintersoldierfilm.com/
Despite significant fund raising efforts by supporters of the VVAW, the cost of the Winter Soldier Investigation event financially bankrupted the organization. Organizers of the event hoped to recoup some of their expenditures through the above mentioned book, film and recording deals. Orders were taken at the event for copies of the film footage, which was to be made available for $300.
In 2005, a website
wintersoldierfilm.com was established to spread information about this documentary and to spread information about further showings of the film (in the United States).
http://www.alternet.org/movies/24437/