Vietnam Vet Spits in Fonda's Face

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - A man who said he was a Vietnam veteran spat tobacco juice in Jane Fonda's face at a Kansas City book signing, calling her a traitor for a trip she made to Hanoi in 1972, police said on Wednesday.
The man, 54-year-old Michael Smith, waited in line for about 90 minutes before spitting a "large amount" of tobacco juice into Fonda's face, according to Kansas City police.

Smith was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

The 67-year-old Oscar-winning actress was in town as part of a book-signing tour for her newly released autobiography titled "My Life So Far."

In the book, she addresses her position as a polarizing figure for many Vietnam veterans and others outraged by her 1972 trip to Hanoi to oppose the Vietnam war.

During that trip she was photographed laughing as she sat on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft tank.

In an interview with the Kansas City Star, Smith said Fonda was a "traitor" who had been spitting in the faces of war veterans for years.

"There are a lot of veterans who would love to do what I did," the Star quoted Smith as saying.

www.reuters.com.../GetContent

I admit I do not know much about Fonda or her work as an actress, but what I do know of what she did in Hanoi makes me ill. I don't condone what this man did, but I understand it.

Good! She is a trader. If she like them so much she can go live there.

While American prisoners of war were languishing in POW prisons and being subjected to REAL torture, Fonda sat on a North Vietnamese ADA gun and said sh'e like to have the chance to shoot down one of those "sky pirates", referring to American pilots.

She also went to a prison, where she met with American prisoners. The prisoners, not yet realizing she was truly a traitir, slipped her notes with their names on them so that she might take the notes back to the states and their families learn that they were still alive. Instead, she gave the notes to the ones who ran the "Hanoi Hilton". Because of that, some of the prisoners did not survive their torture.

Enjoy her book. Read about her "threesomes", and put money in the pocketbook of a nobody. Well, I suppose a B-movie actress and murderer is not a nobody, but you know what I mean.

Originally posted by Thomas Crowne
She also went to a prison, where she met with American prisoners. The prisoners, not yet realizing she was truly a traitir, slipped her notes with their names on them so that she might take the notes back to the states and their families learn that they were still alive. Instead, she gave the notes to the ones who ran the "Hanoi Hilton". Because of that, some of the prisoners did not survive their torture.

That aspect of the "Shame on Jane" chronicals is pretty well debunked (snopes), but continues to resurface and make chain mails anyway.

The most serious accusations in the piece quoted above — that Fonda turned over slips of paper furtively given her by American POWS to the North Vietnamese and that several POWs were beaten to death as a result — are proveably untrue. Those named in the inflammatory e-mail categorically deny the events they supposedly were part of.

"It's a figment of somebody's imagination," says Ret. Col. Larry Carrigan, one of the servicemen mentioned in the 'slips of paper' incident. Carrigan was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 and did spend time in a POW camp. He has no idea why the story was attributed to him, saying, "I never met Jane Fonda."

The tale about a defiant serviceman who spit at Jane Fonda and is severely beaten as a result is often attributed to Air Force pilot Jerry Driscoll. He has repeatedly stated on the record that it did not originate with him.

The story about a POW forced to kneel on rocky ground while holding a piece of steel rebar in his outstretched arms is true, though. That account comes from Michael Benge, a civilian advisor captured by the Viet Cong in 1968 and held as a POW for 5 years. His original statement, titled "Shame on Jane," was published in April by the Advocacy and Intelligence Network for POWs and MIAs.

The unknown author of the "Hanoi Jane" e-mail appears to have picked up Benge's story online and combined it with fabricated tales to create the forwarded text. Some versions now circulate with Benge's name listed; others quote his statement anonymously.

In fact, Fonda carried home letters from many American POWs to their families upon her return from North Vietnam.

Nevertheless, the legend grows.

[edit on 21-4-2005 by RANT]

"The image of Jane Fonda, Barbarella, Henry Fonda's daughter...sitting on an enemy aircraft gun was a betrayal...It was the largest lapse of judgment that I can even imagine."
Jane Fonda

Gee, ya think?

This man should be given a medal. And Jane Fonda should be drawn and quartered for her crimes against our nation and its soldiers. She is a traitor and had it been anyone other than a celebrity, they'd still be in jail somewhere rotting away for it. It's sickening.

I've found so many wrong statements on snopes that I no longer go use them as an authority.

I read this in a book written by a POW survivor. Don't have the book anymore and do not remember the author. The book was "loaned to another soldier. You know how loaning works out most of the time.

yeah funny how when a celebrity does something like that it mysteriously isn't treason... Yet if you or I did the same thing now, the best we could hope for is a bullet to the back of the head rather than a trip to gitmo.

She should have been executed long ago.

Good for this man. She deserves a lot more then dip spit in her face.

He only done what thousands of us wanted too.

Originally posted by Rasputin13
This man should be given a medal. And Jane Fonda should be drawn and quartered for her crimes against our nation and its soldiers. She is a traitor and had it been anyone other than a celebrity, they'd still be in jail somewhere rotting away for it. It's sickening.

This coming from someone with the name RASPUTIN, no less.

I'm well aware of what Jane Fonda did when she was young. I've seen the anger in SOME of my Vietnam vet friends/leaders eyes when her name was mentioned.

Who hasn't done things they regret when they were young (those of you with a little age to speak of)? We all have. They don't say youth is wasted on the young for nuthin.

I'm not gonna defend her actions some thirty years ago; or hold her in contempt for it. She found the Lord and her faith (however later in life); and has specifically gone out of her way, time and again, to address our veterans and APOLOGIZE for having done things that may have been hurtful or detrimental to them. She can't do anything more than that. As a veteran (myself) and more importantly a Christian, I believe those she has sought forgiveness from should in turn, be man enuff, or grown up enough to let it go already. Enough is enough.

Carrying that kind of anger around is way beyond unhealthy.

While I find the incident extremely comical, and deserved, it's kind of ironic timing....

Not too long ago, she actually made a public statement lamenting her actions and apologizing profusely, etc. In fact, I even read about it first here on ATS...

Of course, the phrase "day late and a dollar short" comes to mind...

I'm certainly not a fan of Jane Fonda, being a Vietnam-era veteran myself and all. I lost friends over there, as did most people my age.

But I think that my cohort should spend their time in making their lives count for something instead of against something.

What EastCoastKid said resonates with me; I too found the Lord and my faith relatively late in life (at age 47) and can only hope that forgiveness sought should be forgiveness granted.

Thomas Crowne says:

"I've found so many wrong statements on snopes that I no longer go use them as an authority."

I haven't found anything at Snopes that later proved to be incorrect. I'm not saying that it is correct in all things -- and i certainly don't like the fact tht it shows as falst things that i would like to believe as true -- but I certainly don't have any evidence that it has been wrong.

Thomas, what are some of the things you have seen on Snopes.com that have later on proven to be incorrect?

I think Jane got off too easy. What she did amounts to treason. She was aiding and abetting the enemy during a time of war and should be punished accordingly.

well.....i think its freaking awful what she did....a huge lapse of judgement and a traitorous act to say the least....but.....time moves on....painfully slowly for those vetrans....and vetrans of any war....its hard as hell but if you can just find it in your heart to move on and except that we all make mistakes then i think you grow as a person...certainly in strength of charachter....i dont blame that guy for what he did....but i solemley believe in forgiveness....no matter how hard....otherwise it eats away at you.

just a thought.

regards.

I fully expected to get flamed by a lot of folks for my comments. It was nice to see there are others who have come to the same conclusion that I put forward.

The bible sez we will be judged as we judge others. Just something to think about.

Originally posted by EastCoastKid


I'm well aware of what Jane Fonda did when she was young. I've seen the anger in SOME of my Vietnam vet friends/leaders eyes when her name was mentioned.

Who hasn't done things they regret when they were young (those of you with a little age to speak of)? We all have. They don't say youth is wasted on the young for nuthin.

well im pretty sure none of us SAT ON A NVA AAA GUN AND TOLD THEM THAT WE WANTED TO SHOOT DOWN AMERICAN "AIR PIRATES"

regrets when we were young? this is stupidity,

regrets when you were young would be having sex at a young age and have it ruin your relationship with your girl/boyfriend. or getting caught drinkiing at the age of 16 here in the states.

fonda should be shot.

[edit on 4-22-2005 by KrazyIvan]

Originally posted by KrazyIvan
fonda should be shot.

[edit on 4-22-2005 by KrazyIvan]

Are you from the USA?

You must be very sheltered if that's the worst of your regrets.

Careful.. I'm sure someone out there feels the same way about you, too.

Originally posted by EastCoastKid

Originally posted by KrazyIvan
fonda should be shot.

[edit on 4-22-2005 by KrazyIvan]

Are you from the USA?

You must be very sheltered if that's the worst of your regrets.

Careful.. I'm sure someone out there feels the same way about you, too.

well i havent done any of those things. those were just examples.

very sheltered? heh i went to highschool in the united states which is my native country. if i was sheltered there would be no way id go to school in one of thoses violent, drug infested, teen pregnecay(sp) ridden hell holes.


should i be shot? no. and if yes for what? i havent comitted treason. i did not go over to iraq and talk with insurgents and sit on a anti aircraft gun telling them "id like to shot down of of those 'air pirates'" or sit on a technical (pickup truck with a .50 cal machine gun mounted on the bed) or give up the names of american POWS who just wanted to tell theire familes that they are alive.

You are very judgemental.

I'd hate to be imprisoned by that.:bnghd:

from the book of Matthew:

7:1
Judge not, that ye be not judged.

7:2
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

7:3
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

7:4
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

7:5
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.