Khe Sanh was a US military base in South Vietnam established in 1962 near the border with North Vietnam. By 1968, there were 6,000 US Marines stationed at the base who used it to patrol the nearby Ho Chi Minh Trail. North Vietnam saw capturing the base as strategically important, so in 1968 General Giap surrounded the base with 20,000 soldiers. Though the US claimed it closed the base for tactical reasons on July 5, 1973, it was seen as a victory in North Vietnam. The battle of Khe Sanh was one of the longest and most violent of the Vietnam War.
3. *Khe Sanh: US garrison base in South Vietnam since 1962.
*Its importance was a result of its position (near demilitarised
zone)
*US forces based at Khe Sanh were very well placed to patrol the
nearby Ho Chi Minh Trail.
*The base also acted as the western end base for the demilitarised
zone that separated the North and South Vietnam.
*By 1968, there were 6,000 Marines at Khe Sanh. The base was
an obvious target for the North Vietnamese. If they could defeat
the base, they would have an almost unobstructed control of the
northwest section of South Vietnam, which would allow them to
exploit the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the full.
*For this reason, General Giap (north vietnam) placed a great deal
of importance on capturing Khe Sanh – to the extent of surrounding
the base with 20,000 men.
Wednesday, 28 August 13
4. Khe Sanh was officially shut on July 5th. North Vietnam made
great play out of this. Nearly three-quarters of Hanoi radio
broadcasts for a week after July 5th were devoted to what they
described as their victory. In America, a changing tactical
situation was given as the reason for the closure and the closing
of the base was never referred to as a defeat. In fact, even after
July 5th, Marines still operated around Khe Sanh and engaged
the NVA in combat. The government made the point that
overwhelming NVA forces had failed to do what they had set out
to do – capture the base, and that it was a US command
decision to leave the base as opposed to a decision being foist
onto them by successful NVA activity.
Wednesday, 28 August 13
5. "Khe Sanh” (1978)
I left my heart to the sappers round Khe Sanh
And my soul was sold with my cigarettes to the
blackmarket man
I've had the Vietnam cold turkey
From the ocean to the Silver City
And it's only other vets could understand
About the long forgotten dockside guarantees
How there were no V-day heroes in 1973
How we sailed into Sydney Harbour
Saw an old friend but couldn't kiss her
She was lined, and I was home to the lucky land
And she was like so many more from that time on
Their lives were all so empty, till they found their
chosen one
And their legs were often open
But their minds were always closed
And their hearts were held in fast suburban chains
And the legal pads were yellow, hours long, pay-
packet lean
And the telex writers clattered where the gunships
once had been
But the car parks made me jumpy
And I never stopped the dreams
Or the growing need for speed and novacaine
So I worked across the country end to end
Tried to find a place to settle down, where my mixed
up life could mend
Held a job on an oil-rig
Flying choppers when I could
But the nightlife nearly drove me round the bend
And I've travelled round the world from year to year
And each one found me aimless, one more year the
worse for wear
And I've been back to South East Asia
But the answer sure ain't there
But I'm drifting north, to check things out again
You know the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
Only seven flying hours, and I'll be landing in Hong
Kong
There ain't nothing like the kisses
From a jaded Chinese princess
I'm gonna hit some Hong Kong mattress all night long
Well the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
Yeah the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
And it's really got me worried
I'm goin' nowhere and I'm in a hurry
And the last plane out of Sydney's almost gone
Wednesday, 28 August 13
7. Martin Luther King Jnr
Beyond Vietnam
4 April 1967, Riverside Church Meeting, New York City
“We were taking the black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand
miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East
Harlem. So we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens
as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools. So we
watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realise that they would never live on
the same block in Detroit.”
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/liberation_curriculum/speeches/beyondvietnam.htm
Wednesday, 28 August 13
8. Jane Fonda
actress, writer, political activist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=aLvnDXZZ5u0
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10. Bob Dylan - Blowing in the Wind
(1963) - This song was written and
recorded by a then 21-year-old Bob
Dylan as the United States escalated
their involvement in the Vietnam War.
The song, which gained larger
prominence when it was re-recorded by
the folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary,
became one of the most famous protest
songs to come out of the 60s as well as
an anthem for the African-American
Civil Rights Movement.
Wednesday, 28 August 13
11. (1984) – The Bruce Springsteen
single from the biggest selling
album of 1985 was written to be a
song about the troubles of a
working class man forced into the
Vietnam War but was largely
considered to be a patriotic song.
It was so popular that the Reagan
administration asked to use it as
part of the reelection campaign
but Springsteen, a strong liberal,
nixed the idea.
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
Wednesday, 28 August 13
12. (1969) – This intense Vietnam
protest song by Edwin Starr and
written by one of Motown’s top
composers, Norman Whitfield,
says it loud and clear “war, yea,
what is it good for - absolutely
nothing!” It was a #1 hit in 1970
and was later performed by
Bruce Springsteen and the E
Street Band during their tour of
1985.
Edwin Starr- War (What is it good for?)
Wednesday, 28 August 13
13. Eve of Destruction (1965) This
song written by a 19-year-old P.F.
Sloan, was made famous by Barry
McGuire and contained the lyrics
“you’re old enough to kill, but not
for voting, you don’t believe in war,
but what’s that gun you’re toting”
and “you can bury your dead, but
don't leave a trace, hate your next
door neighbour, but don't forget to
say grace.” It was the #1 song in
America around the time the United
States entered the war.
P.F Sloan- Eve of Destruction
Wednesday, 28 August 13
14. (1967) – One of the most
memorable moments of the
Woodstock Music and Art
Fair of 1969 was Country Joe
MacDonald’s solo
performance of this blatantly
obvious anti-Vietnam War
song with the chorus of “and
it’s one, two, three what are
we fighting for? Don't ask me
I don't give a damn, next stop
is Vietnam.”
Joe McDonald-I Feel like i’m fixing a die rag
Wednesday, 28 August 13
15. The Unknown Soldier (1968) –
This anti-war song was Jim
Morrison and the Doors
contribution to their opposition to
the Vietnam War. The Unknown
Soldier is likely in reference to
the Tomb of the Unknowns
military memorial at Arlington
Cemetery and the song contained
a sequence that resembles a
military funeral honours
ceremony complete with a firing
party.
Jim Morrison-The Unknown Soldier
Wednesday, 28 August 13
16. Orange Crush (1988) – This
song by the alternative rock
band R.E.M., was in reference
to the government’s use of the
controversial herbicide known
as Agent Orange to remove
trees and dense foliage that the
Viet Cong would use during
the Vietnam War.
R.E.M.-Orange Crush
Wednesday, 28 August 13
17. Activity:
Step 1: Embed a youtube clip or a recording of your chosen song
into your wiki.
Step 2: Find the lyrics to your song and embed them
Questions:
1. What is the overall message of the song? What
feeling and mood is it portraying?
2. Are there any particular aspects of the war it is against or referencing, or is it a
general anti-war theme? (pull lyrical examples out of your chosen song if you can).
3. Who is the intended audience for the song, and did it have any particular outcome or
agenda it was hoping for?
4. Using iMovie, create a visual clip for your song using images, drawings, film etc. you
can find to suit the songs point and feel.
Choose one of the ‘protest songs’
on the list (or find your own)
and complete the following.....
Wednesday, 28 August 13
